The Girl in the Picture

When I saw John Gordon Sinclair recently in the BBC/UKTV thriller Traces which was made in 2019. I hardly recognized him as he looked so different and aged so much.

It was a shock. He once specialized in playing gawky teenagers looking for love in 1980s Glasgow.

The Girl in the Picture looks like a movie written and directed by Bill Forsyth.

Unfortunately it is by an American Cary Parker and it seems this was the only movie he made. The movie seems underwritten.

Sinclair plays Alan, a photographer's assistant who is miserable with his his girlfriend Annie.

Contemplating breaking up with her, she calls it quits with him first.

Annie was hot, now Alan is moping around and realises that he had a good thing going with Annie. She has already had a fling with someone else.

Alan's younger work colleague Kenny is the one yearning for the mystery girl in the picture that he has developed.

Both are also engaging with a couple who are due to get married by taking various test shots of them in preparation of their wedding. However Bill (Gregor Fisher) who is older than his bride to be is harbouring doubts.

This is a genteel romantic Scottish comedy which has been largely forgotten. One of the reasons being it is derivative of Sinclair's other work which was better and funnier.

It does feel like a Bill Forsyth tribute act, but lacks the simple sophistication and humour that Forsyth effortlessly bought in movies such as That Sinking Feeling and Gregory's Girl.