“The Perfect Man” (Universal Pictures)
Hilary Duff and Heather Locklear make the perfect mother/daughter team in the new film “The Perfect Man.” This film also has a story that ends perfectly for everyone. But a perfect cast, a perfect ending, and a perfect title do not a perfect movie make. Far from it!
Duff plays Holly Hamilton, a high school student who lives with her mother Jean (Locklear) and her sister Zoe (Aria Wallace). Jean is a single mother who has made her share of mistakes with men, but as she gets older her desperation factor kicks in stronger than ever. This causes her to take up with the wrong men time after time; and each time she chooses wrongly her first reaction is to run away. This means the family moves over and over again.
The latest move takes them to New York City. Holly settles into school fairly quickly and even makes two good friends, played by Ben Feldman and Vanessa Lengies. However when Jean starts dating a loser named Lenny (Mike O’Malley), Holly decides it is time for some diversion tactics.
She and Amy (Lengies) go to talk with Amy’s Uncle Ben (Chris Noth)- a restaurant owner, not a rice king. He is the almost perfect man but he is getting married. Still Holy picks his mind for information about what her mom would respond to, and then she does these things for her mother. She signs the notes, e-mails, flowers, etc as “Ben.”
This all leads to fairly predictable complications, but also these are situations you know are going to be fine by the show’s end. It is all a bit of a fairy tale anyway with “happily ever after” written all over it.
Duff is a cute actress who does good job of playing typical teenage girls. In this film she plays basically the same girl she was in “A Cinderella Story” and “Raise Your Voice.” She doesn’t sing on camera in this film but her voice is heard on the soundtrack.
Locklear has a large fan base, based on her many TV ventures. Since this movie is a fairy tale she can play the mother of a seventeen-year-old girl. If it were a real life story then it would be hard to believe. Even without makeup she looks to be in her late twenties/early thirties.
Noth was “Big” in “Sex In the City.” This role is just him appearing on camera, no acting is required. Ben Feldman plays Duff’s love interest and he is a geeky type.
The film is rated PG for some mild adult situations.
Duff and Locklear are good in their roles but the movie as a whole is just mildly entertaining. It is so sweet at times you almost gag. Still it is nice to see a family film that is suitably entertaining for the family.
I scored “The Perfect Man” a flawed 4 out of 10.
