Lying to be perfect - review

When overweight Nola is told by her editor that she doesn’t have the image to be an advice columnist, Nola invents Barbara Apple, a slim confident writer who excels at giving advice and who is swiftly given the job.

With Nola as her editor, Barbara’s advice is followed by every woman in the country including Nola’s friends Nancy & Deb who decide that after being denied a seat at a restaurant to follow Barbara’s advice and make a pact to lose weight together.

As they each create a goal for themselves, Nola is excited when she meets Chip, a guy from work who offers her a ride home after her car breaks down and is happy when they arrange to meet up again.

With each of the friends beginning to lose weight their confidence soars, but when Nola is informed by her editor that a book is being put together of Barbara’s columns and she will need to make an appearance at the book launch, she has a problem as no one apart from her knows that Barbara doesn’t exist.

As the launch party gets closer, Nola realises she needs to tell someone about her problem and confides in Nancy who settles her fears and encourages her to tell everyone the truth, but when Nola discovers that the man she has been seeing isn’t who she thinks he is, the existence of Barbara Apple becomes all the more important.

Based on the novel The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Strohmeyer, Lying to be Perfect was an enjoyable TV movie. 

Perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon.