Escape is just a ‘cute meet’ away in ‘Perfect Strangers’

A made-for-television romantic comedy of the neo-screwball variety, “Perfect Strangers” (premiering Sunday night on CBS) stars Rob Lowe and Anna Friel as advertising executives, respectively based in New York and London, who, in a kind of intra-corporate exchange program, switch cities, jobs and apartments for a month. He’s a little uptight, and she’s a total sprite; her place is full of animals and effects, while his looks like the lobby of a Philippe Starck hotel, all white nothingness. They’re made for each other, of course.

If you wanted to make a TV movie reminiscent of something Hugh Grant might star and stammer in, that would not be a bad start. Television has long brought you cheap knockoffs of things you would actually pay for in the movies. If this does not always translate as “less good,” mostly, you know, it does. (But note, too, that theatrical spinoffs of TV shows are almost never any good at all.) The fact remains, however, that Hugh Grant can only make so many movies, and that some people might settle for Rob Lowe in the meantime.

Truth is often stranger than fiction, but not usually in such sustained bursts, with so many people acting in unlikely (and yet, strangely, predictable) ways. This is escapist fare in the purest sense -- it has nothing to do with life as it’s lived, but rather appeals to a romantic dream logic, in which fulfillment is just a “cute meet” away. Although the “meet cute” here is a “delayed meet cute” -- while they speak a lot on the phone, slowly turning enmity to amity, it’s not until near the end that Lowe and Friel actually occupy the same space.

“Perfect Strangers” is a Happy Ending Machine, in which characters are enslaved to their predetermined fates. When it isn’t completely predictable, it’s only because it is absurd beyond expectation. Certainly it is as inaccurate a portrayal of the world of advertising as TV has seen since Darrin Stephens was in his heyday at McMahon & Tate. Lowe has a fiancee (Jennifer Baxter), who, we understand quickly, is all wrong for him, and not only because she shares a haircut with her yappy little dog, and is rich -- being rich is rarely a good thing in the movies. It’s enough that being his girlfriend at the beginning of the film, she can’t be his girlfriend at the end. Friel, likewise, acquires a New York boyfriend (Gabriel Hogan), as bland as he is blond, and written to be written off. There is a lot of plot regarding a colleague’s attempt to ruin Lowe’s reputation while he’s away. I give nothing away by drawing your attention to Khandi Alexander, a fine actress in a thankless role. Lowe is appealing in a kind of low-boil way -- he is easy, untaxing company. Though he got famous in the movies (and bootlegged home video), he is now a TV actor, and barring some late-career revival in which he will be cast against type by some indie filmmaker, that’s what he’ll likely remain; the medium is just his size and his speed. It lets him be Hugh Grant.

Friel, on the other hand, is made for bigger things; she has an energy this vehicle can barely contain. It’s probably too much to say she’s worth the two hours you’ll never get back watching this, but when she’s on screen, you won’t feel your time is being wasted. She swamps cliche with life.

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‘Perfect Strangers’

Where: CBS

When: 9 to 11 p.m., Sunday

Rating: TV-14 D, L (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14, coarse language, suggestive dialogue)

Rob Lowe...Lloyd Rockwell

Anna Friel...Susie Wilding

Khandi Alexander...Christie Kaplan

Executive producers, Simon Wright, Analisa Barreto. Director, Robin Sheppard. Writer, Simon Booker.