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| Holly Hamilton is tired of moving every time her single mom Jean has another personal meltdown involving yet another second-rate guy. To distract her mother from her latest bad choice, Holly conceives the perfect plan for the perfect man...an imaginary secret admirer who will romance Jean and boost her shaky self-esteem. |
(2005) Film Review |
| This
page was created on May 26, 2005
This page was last updated on
June 16, 2005
—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections
—Interview with HEATHER LOCKLEAR and HILARY DUFF
—Review by Michael Smith
—Review by Greg Wright
Dial up modems will take a few moments |
| CREDITS |
| Directed
by Mark Rosman
Story
by Michael McQuown and Heather Robinson and Katherine
Torpey
Screenplay
by Gina Wendkos
 Cast
(in credits order)
Hilary Duff .... Holly Hamilton
Heather Locklear .... Jean Hamilton
Chris Noth .... Uncle Ben
Amy Acker
Dennis DeYoung .... Dennis DeYoung Impersonator
Mazin Elsadig .... Dexter
Ben Feldman
Christopher Gilbertson .... Additional Voices (voice)
Marvin Kaye .... Construction Worker
Carson Kressley .... Lance
Vanessa Lengies .... Amy Pearl
David Michie .... State Trooper (voice)
Ashley Newbrough .... Marjorie
Michelle Nolden .... Amber
Mike O'Malley
Darryl Pring .... Squonk
Caroline Rhea
Aria Wallace .... Zoe Hamilton
Produced
by
Susan Duff .... producer
Billy Higgins .... executive producer
Marc E. Platt .... producer
Troy Rowland .... associate producer
Dawn Wolfrom .... producer
Original
Music by Christophe Beck
Cinematography
by John R. Leonetti
Film
Editing by Cara Silver
MPAA: Rated PG for some mildly
suggestive content.
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM,
and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG
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| TRAILERS
AND CLIPS |
Trailer:
QuickTime,
Hi-Res
QuickTime,
Med-Res
QuickTime,
Lo-Res
Windows
Media Player, Hi-Res
Windows
Media Player, Med-Res
Windows
Media Player, Lo-Res |
| CD |
The
Perfect Man
Track
Listings
1. Collide
- Howie Day
2. I Will Learn To Love Again - Kaci
3. Better Than This - Kimberley Locke
4. Real Life Fairytale - Plumb
5. Let It Go - Jadon Lavik
6. The Real Thing - Sara Overall
7. If You Got What You Came For - Beth Thornley
8. Make Room - Grits
9. Mr. Roboto (Live) - Dennis DeYoung
10. Lady (Live) - Dennis DeYoung
11. Babe (Live) - Dennis DeYoung
12. Best Of Times (Live) - Dennis DeYoung
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| POSTER |
|
AVAILABILITY
ON VIDEO AND DVD |
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|
| SYNOPSIS
|
 In
"The Perfect Man," teenager Holly Hamilton (Hilary Duff)
is tired of moving every time her single mom Jean (Heather Locklear)
has another personal meltdown involving yet another second-rate guy.
To distract her mother from her latest bad choice, Holly conceives
the perfect plan for the perfect man...an imaginary secret admirer
who will romance Jean and boost her shaky self-esteem. When the virtual
relationship takes off, Holly finds herself having to produce the
suitor, borrowing her friend's charming and handsome Uncle Ben (Chris
Noth) as the face behind the e-mails, notes and gifts. Holly must
resort to increasingly desperate measures to keep the ruse alive and
protect her mom's newfound happiness... almost missing the real perfect
man when he does come along. |
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| Everybody wants a perfect, life, man, woman, date, day at the fair…etc. Nobody ever gets one, though. In the movie The Perfect Man we find before our eyes the illusive fantasy being played out as effectively and enjoyably as anyone could imagine. Especially if you are a daughter of a single mom who needs to see her life resemble normality. However, what we finally see in this movie, as in life, is that you only know what you’ve got. You have to imagine something different than you have. So you imagine only partial truths and “happy thoughts.” Your life doesn’t really change. Your fantasies impact those around you much more than they change you.
 Let’s use the fleeting improbability of a “perfect life” as our basis. We imagine our perfect life being anything but what we experience. Whether we’re poverty-stricken or part of a wealthy family with virtually everything we could imagine, we all have the expectation that our lives should be different than they are. Why do we do this? Perhaps it’s something ingrained into each of us driving us to improvement. Perhaps there is a genetic soul-searching biology that makes us dissatisfied with the status quo. I’m not sure of any of this. What I am sure of is that most people I’ve met are not happy with who they are, where they’ve come from or where they are going, regardless of their current state of affairs.
 Tony Robbins makes a fortune by selling people the idea that they have a destiny that they can achieve only through their own discipline or tenacity. Naturally the main course on the promised plate of life is a larger income. Do we really need more money to be happy? Ask yourself: what are your happiest memories?
 In The Perfect Man, Holly Hamilton (Hilary Duff) tries to make life “perfect” for herself by finding the perfect man, as she sees it, for her mom (Heather Locklear). A perfect-looking girl, with a perfect-looking mom, searching for a perfect-looking man with perfect qualities to augment her apparently less-than-perfect life. She invents the guy of her dreams with the help of a couple of friends, a computer and a perfect man (Uncle Ben, played by Chris Noth). Her inventive plot to woo her mom through her invented momma’s guy has some funny side effects. She is understandably over the top in her plot.
 Wouldn’t you go ape if your life was so messed up by your mom’s bad luck with men? (I won’t discuss the implausibility of Heather Locklear getting dumped in the real world here). Through this romp of a coming-of-age and coming-to-reason story we find the ever-charming Hilary Duff coming to terms with her own reality. Not to mention the realization that her pursuit of a different reality has had a negative effect on those around her.
 She learns some valuable lessons about herself, her mom and staying in the game, so to speak. It’s a fun frolic of a movie. No pressure to discover a sinister or complicated plot. Just a couple of knockout beautiful women figuring life out through self- and other-inflicted hard knocks.
Comment on the blog
—Interview with HEATHER LOCKLEAR and HILARY DUFF
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“This world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through,” we used to sing. I grew up in church, you see, and forty years ago that was one of the new-fangled choruses that found its way into the “Youth Sings” songbook. That meant the song was okay to use at evening services or around campfires, but wasn’t suitable for Sunday mornings. Too lively. Not reverent enough. Just too new. Maybe even theologically incorrect (gasp!). Some would whisper, “Think that way and you’ll be so heavenly minded that you’ll be no earthly good!”
But the sentiment is one that won’t die. Fifteen years ago or so, the song showed up on a Lone Justice album, and even the band’s anthology album was titled “This World is not My Home.” Switchfoot’s Beautiful Letdown riffs on the feeling that “I Don’t Belong Here.” Somehow, the theme of our transitory existence just keeps coming back.
The Perfect Man deals in part with this very issue. Granted, the question isn’t posed in an existential fashion but is rather grounded in sitcom-ish workaday realities. But isn’t that where the rubber hits the road?
As the movie opens, Holly is excitedly trying on a new dress, dreaming of the possibility of actually living in one place long enough to emotionally invest in attending a school dance. At that very moment, quite literally, Holly’s mom Jean yet again finds romance on the rocks—and Holly knows from the Patsy Cline tunes in the living room that it’s time to move on yet again.
So the family lands in New York. Determined to prevent her mom from landing once again in a too-soon-started and too-soon-ended relationship, Holly invents the Perfect Man to be her mom’s secret admirer. Naturally, the unsuspecting accomplice upon whom Holly bases her Perfect Man gravitates into Jean’s life and the ensuing complications drive Holly—not her mom—to the conclusion it is time, yet again, to move on. Holly just can’t seem to grow roots anywhere.
But the lesson Holly and Jean both need to learn—and learn they do, through the not-so-convincing and not-so-entertaining device of cinematic instant-messaging sessions—is that, most often, the perfect place is right where you’re at.
So, yes. This world is not our home. We are just passing through. But while we’re here, God wants us to be here. Toward that end, Jesus died to save us from the penalty of the mistakes we make while we’re here, and the Holy Spirit is with us to help make things better as we go. Like Holly, and like Jean, we’ve just got to learn to stop running from the trouble that surrounds us (and the trouble that we make), and learn to persevere a little.
It’s just too bad that the characters in The Perfect Man, aside from Holly, never seem to feel (or think about) anything very deeply. In the Perfect Movie, the lesson might have been more convincing.
Comment on the blog
—Interview with HEATHER LOCKLEAR AND HILARY DUFF
—Review by Michael Smith
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