The Perfect Man (2005) starring Hilary Duff, Heather Locklear, Chris Noth, Mike O'Malley, Ben Feldman, Vanessa Lengies, Aria Wallace directed by Mark Rosman Movie Review

The Perfect Man (2005)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Hilary Duff in The Perfect Man (2005)

Some Duff Fluff

So let's put things into perspective "The Perfect Man" is a romantic comedy aimed solely at the teen market, those who have grown up watching Hilary Duff on TV. As such you can ignore the fact that it stars a beautiful Heather Locklear and a handsome Chris Noth as this is not a movie for anyone other than fans of fairytale fluff & Hilary Duff. And if you watch "The Perfect Man" expecting anything more, anything close to originality and intelligence you are going to end up picking it to pieces. Don't get me wrong as even as a teen fairytale romantic comedy "The Perfect Man" is not anything more than average but for young teens who still believe in fairytale romance it works.

For teenager Holly Hamilton (Hilary Duff - A Cinderella Story) life has become a predictable routine, her mum Jean (Heather Locklear - Texas Justice) meets a man, things go wrong and within 2 weeks she's listening to Patsy and they have packed up and moved to another town and it's all getting too much for her. So after the latest upheaval to Brooklyn Holly decides to intervene and creates a fake man called Ben who sends Jean flowers and love letters as well as emails, using her new friend Amy's (Vanessa Lengies) Uncle Ben (Chris Noth) as the basis for this perfect man. But as Jean becomes more and more intrigued by this man she has never met Holly is forced to go to extreme lengths to try and keep the ruse going especially as her mum has never been happier.

Chris Noth in The Perfect Man (2005)

To put it simply "The Perfect Man" feels like ideas taken from more adult romantic comedies and reduced to a level that teenage girls will enjoy. So you have an element of "You've Got Mail" with two people who have never met corresponding via email, you also have various elements from various food influenced movies and there is a whole lot more. But these elements which are so obvious to an adult are put together in a way that younger audiences will enjoy. And as such whilst for an adult everything is obvious and often spoon fed by a narration, taking on the form of Holly blogging, it delivers a fun romantic fairytale for younger audiences.

Now the thing about "The Perfect Man" is that it is a movie designed predominantly for teen girls and so whilst it does seem such a ludicrous set up as Holly pretends to be Ben to try and lift her mother's low self esteem it will bring smiles to younger audiences faces. The whole fairytale nature of it from the real Ben being a really good guy to the lengths Holly goes to create this faux version of him is amusing. And whilst it doesn't take a genius to spot the twist when it arrives it works. Technically it's not a great movie, the plot holes in all of this are seriously huge but sometimes plot holes don't matter and a movie can get by on simple romance and charm.

That charm comes from Hilary Duff because whilst what she does is stupid her heart is in the right place and it is easy to warm to this young girl who is tired of living life on the move. There is no great depth to her character but she is likeable and in many ways that is all that really matters. And likeable extends to everyone be it Heather Locklear as her mother or Chris Noth as the handsome and kind Ben. Yes it is all quite dull from an adults point of view but again this is a movie for young teens and young teens will enjoy the faux romance as well as the comedy of a guy called Lenny and his cheesy chat up lines.

What this all boils down to is that from an adult's point of view "The Perfect Man" is not a good movie, it's dull, predictable and too unbelievable. But for the teen market who is its target it will work because it is a charming, sweet fairytale romance with the popular Hilary Duff at the centre of it.


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