THE PERFECT MAN
US, 2005, 101 minutes, Colour.
Hilary Duff, Heather Locklear, Chris Noth.
Directed by Mark Rosman.
Just as well you were not at the press preview for this film. If you wanted to catch grumpy old men in action, denouncing Hollywood rubbish, then that was the place to be. As they became more vociferous, they really seemed to be assuming that The Perfect Man was actually made for them and they were affronted.
Of course, The Perfect Man was made for an audience of teenage girls (and, probably, their mothers). To be judging it along the lines of, say, Citizen Kane is really beside the point.
So, The Perfect Man centres on a sixteen year old and her younger sister with their single parent mother. They have been on the move for years since mother wants to leave as soon as a relationship fails. The unlikely (we hope) premise of the film is that daughter and her friends create an ideal man (who is away in China) who corresponds with mum. Eventually, of course, things get out of hand as the perfect computer plan goes awry in real life – until the happy ending. (Clearly not a plot for old-age reviewers!!!)
This is another Hilary Duff movie for the teens. It is a Heather Locklear movie for parents. Unfortunately, the perfect man is played by Chris Noth whose performance, one could charitably say, is very wooden. Even in a dysfunctional age, we all want things to be nice and perfect.
1.A vehicle for Hilary Duff? Teenage audience? A vehicle for Heather Locklear, for her television fans?
2.The American setting, the town, homes, schools, bakeries, restaurants …? The contemporary atmosphere with the use of the internet?
3.The title, expectations – and the creation of the perfect man by suggestion, by emails …?
4.Holly, teenager, her love for fashion, the school dance? Her love for her mother? Relationship with Zoe? The move to Brooklyn? Her mother working in the bakery? Holly and her friends at school? Meeting Ben?
5.Holly’s plan, her disapproval of her mother’s dates? Her sending the flowers, the secret admirer? Holly and Adam, their friendship, sending emails from the secret admirer, naming him after Amy’s uncle? The photograph? Holly and the mix-up about Amber and Ben? The incident with the fire sprinklers, to stop her mother meeting Ben? Adam and the plan to phone Jean, tell her that the romance was off? Holly and the wedding, discovering Ben was the best man? Offering him the emails? The blind date with Ben? Her confession? Wanting to move? Adam and the photo? Ben reading the emails – and the happy ending? Adam and Holly at the prom?
6.Jean, with the two young girls, working in the bakery? The split with her boyfriend after he was cheating? To Brooklyn, the bakery? The encounter with Lenny, the rock fan? Her mother and the choice of men? The reaction to the secret admirer, the flowers, the emails, the blind date? Lenny and the proposal? Holly and her schemes, her mother hearing the truth? Packing, deciding to stay, the happy ending with Ben’s arrival?
7.Ben, the restaurateur, the strong silent type, the best man at the wedding, his being the perfect man? (But rather stolid in performance?)
8.Jean and her men, Lenny and the rock music, the dates, the proposal?
9.Holly and her friends, Amy, Vanessa, Adam and his help?
10.The background of Cyrano de Bergerac and the setting up of romances? For a 21st century teenage audience?
