PICTURE THIS– 2 STARS

Before this 21st-century era of “prestige television” where major film stars come down from the multiplexes to dominate the booming offerings and paychecks of steady TV gigs, the pipeline of stardom used to go the other direction. From Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney to the consistent well of Saturday Night Live, actors and actresses getting big breaks and proving themselves on television launched them to the movies. In the 2020s, it’s nice to see that still happen from time to time. Thanks to the springboards of Phoebe Dynevor, Regé-Jean Page, and especially Jonathan Bailey surging out of Wicked and into a Jurassic World summer blockbuster, Netflix’s steamy series Bridgerton appears to be a new and exciting wellspring. For Amazon’s Picture This, it’s Simone Ashley’s turn, and she takes it.

Fresh from playing Bailey’s love interest in the two most recent seasons of Bridgerton, Simone Ashley toplines this British romantic comedy adapted from the little-seen 2024 Australian film Five Blind Dates. From that movie, Picture This traded a tea shop for a portrait studio, shifted the setting to suburban London, and, most exuberantly, infused Indian culture to match its lead and director Prarthana Mohan (The Miseducation of Bindu). That blending—promising freshness and uniqueness—results in an able, yet formulaic rom-com where the best part about it is its earmarked lead. 

Simone Ashley is Pia Pia, a brilliant photographer living above her studio called the Ninth Mandela. With a distaste for low-ball work, the Ninth Mandela specializes in portraits and larger projects, eschewing simple services like passport photos. That lack of regular foot traffic and business has the bills piling up and Pia’s one employee and loyal friend Jay (Luke Fetherston of Almost Never) worried. The one reliable project on the horizon is being able to provide portrait work for the wedding of Pia’s younger sister Sonal (TV actress Anoushka Chadha).

However, this is not a wedding of complete jubilation in Picture This for Pia. As the older, unmarried sister of the family pushing 30, her unhitched and fiercely independent lifestyle is met with constant disapproval from both Sonal and their divorced mother Laxmi (Sindhu Vee of Matlida: The Musical, playing Simone Ashley’s mother for the second time after a brief stint on Netflix’s Sex Education). To Pia, marriage–especially the arranged and matched variety of her family’s culture–is an unfair social binding that will take her away from her artistic career. As it stands, she’s not wrong, until a little twinkle of ethnic superstition strikes. 

At a family gathering, Pia receives a prediction from a guru that she will encounter peak career success and find her true love within the next five dates. Upon receiving this omen, leave it to a meddlesome mother to meddle as Laxmi sets up a series of matchmaking dates for Pia. Adding even greater drama is the fact that Pia’s college ex Charlie (Hero Fiennes Tiffin of the After film series) is back in town, successful, and mindful about the proverbial “one who got away.” 

LESSON #1: MOVIE GURUS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT– True to movie law, it’s only a matter of time before the guru will be proven right in Picture This, even if it’s after a series of twists, turns, and false finishes. While it’s true romantic comedies from every part of their world have their variety of cinematic pixie dust that enliven the serendipity of their plots, part of the modernity and flair sought by Picture This is hampered by the old hat of matchmaking and arranged marriages, which have been done to death in many all-to-similar movies. While it greatly counts as a spotlight of representation, there’s a point one sighs rather than counts the minutes to the inevitable Bollywood-style dance scene and other tropes. 

From this prophecy dropping at the end of the first act, Picture This unfolds into a gauntlet of comedic dating scenes involving Pia and the finalist suitors secured by Laxmi. These scenes shared with a rich heir (“Chabuddy G” personality Asim Chaudhry), a nebbish coworker of Laxmi (Nikesh Patel of London Has Fallen), and a guitar-plucking yoga instructor (Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster) allow Simone Ashley to play off of different personalities and screen partners. Quick sparks of romance arrive to give the actress a desirable glow, only for a quirky and occasionally hilarious dealbreaker trait to emerge in each candidate—especially with Dunster’s zen doofus—that requires her to shift to reviled reactions of dismissal.

LESSON #2: WHEN WERE YOU LAST IN LOVE?-- Through each of these bombed dates, the trusty Jay is the constantly present buddy pressing her this key question both in matters of romance and artistic success. He knows Pia doesn’t want the traditional shackles of predetermined couplings and a boring, unfulfilling day job. Still, when Pia’s answer to the question continues to be Charlie—and the fact that he is present, available, and contrite for past mistakes—makes the most logical and obvious foregone conclusion of Picture This only a matter of time. If anything, the biggest opposition to Pia’s success and happiness is revealed to be her self-centered stances, which the film is confident enough to call into question and not gloss over.

LESSON #3: GIVE AN EMERGING STAR AN EASY WIN– The clear goal here in Picture This is to make Simone Ashley look good for the leap from television to movies. Without question, she has every “it” factor necessary and gets to display them radiantly in the film. On the rom-com side, it’s quite the performative wringer between multiple rapid-fire Meet Cutes and face-saving exit strategies through those blind dates, and the actress never breaks a sweat. Even the simple measure of watching her cuss her way around the King’s English to be a casual, colorful, and contemporary woman released from Bridgerton’s prim corsets counts as an easy win.

It is a shame the rest of Picture This around its chosen new star could not equal her level of vividness. Luke Fetherston is a very supportive presence as Jay and Hero Fiennes Tiffin has the prerequisite external smolder to be the ideal catch in a movie like this. Both actors deserve their own launching pads, but Fetherston’s still saddled with too many of the usual Gay Best Friend motifs and Tiffin’s Charlie is, frankly, very dull next to Simone Ashley’s zest. No feet are being swept and that lack of extra energy shows.

Nevertheless, with luck, Simone Ashley isn’t going anywhere. Every dynamic performer worth their salt did their due diligence to put a few romances on their resumes as proof of broader appeal on their way to bigger things. More excellent roles and opportunities should come Simone Ashley’s way. Someday, audiences will look back at Picture This as the early proof and precursor of that charismatic appeal.