Movie Review--'The Perfect Man'
A few nights ago I had the opportunity to view a perfectly charming movie, which would be pretty cool to take in this summer. 'The Perfect Man', starring Hilary Duff, Heather Locklear (the queen of several TV Gen-X series, dating back to 'Dynasty', 'Melrose Place', and 'Spin City', as well as Christ Noth of 'Sex and the City' and 'Law & Order' fame, is a surprisingly fun look at the struggles that a teen daughter of a single mom who is still hopeful for love (but needs to learn to be strong in her own skin), has to endure. The film takes the attitude that it is the daughter who needs to learn to be appreciative of the struggles and heartache of her mom, and in so doing, makes it a morality play (though a nice, subtle one), about the need of teens to respect and honor parents. While that is true, the movie for me showed how much children often try mightily to have some sense of normalcy in their lives. Poor Holly Hamilton, played by Miss Duff, is totally distraught about how her mom Jean, played by Ms. Locklear, always seems to go 'vamonos muchachas' when she gets dumped by another second-rate, bottom-feeder kind of guy. She doesn't just get upset, no, she gets out of town, which means another school, another attempt at new friends and fitting in. Being drop-dead pretty doesn't hurt that struggle, and being mature and responsible for her age, but it doesn't seem to matter.
When Jean wants to leave Wichita, Kansas, after being dumped again, she moves to New York, where she takes a job at a bakery. Turns out that Jean has a great talent at baking, and is encouraged by an old friend to enter a professional contest. But in the meantime, Holly, who doesn't want her and her precocious 7-year old sister (Aria Wallace) to get into another traumatic situation with her mom's men problems, suddenly comes on an idea: she concocts a composite (and false) boyfriend, which she arranges for Jean to meet on--where else--the Internet. She borrows, with the help of a new friend at school, a picture of her friend's uncle, who owns a classy Manhattan restaurant. All at the same time, she struggles with the opposite problem from her mom, Holly has a young man (Ben Feldman), who is falling for her--hard, and she is struggling to overcome her own fear of commitment to let her heart lead her into his arms. The shenanigans in keeping up the image of the faux boyfriend for Jean has Holly sucked predictably deeper in the whirlpool of her lies. Fortunately for her, mom finds a way to see beyond the offenses to the reasons for them, her own inability to face heartbreak and her need to stand strong on her own, without a man. Again, almost predictably, it is when Jean discovers her own inner strength that she meets Mr. Right, (Noth).
A side element to the movie is the scene where Holly practically begs Noth to act as a father figure for her. The fact that it is accomplished with matter-of-fact elan on Ms. Duff's part is a testament of how really sad our society has become, when her rootlessness is the reality for over 40% of children and teens in America, and much the same in most of the developed world--children not able to enjoy the love and presence of their mother and father--together. Much the same thing is, almost inadvertantly stated when, not knowing that it is Duff's boyfriend on the other computer, Jean talks about her unwed pregnancies as happy, perfectly acceptable within her life's goals. She doesn't get the point that, irregardless of the love she gives and receives from her daughters, the mistakes of illegitimacy are at the heart of her own lack of roots and unhappiness---not the children themselves---but the lack of character in failing to exercise abstinence.
'The Perfect Man' is a sweet, though sometimes predictable movie. The acting is actually surprisingly good. Locklear is thoroughly believeable as a single mom, none of the glamorous, sexy, power woman of her other roles, this is a very vulnerable woman. Noth, in a minor role, carries the place of strong yet sensitive man quite well. And Hilary also surprises in her ability to make her character believable. There's some lack of depth, but that's what you expect in a 16-year old. She's clearly got a bright future. Compared to a lot of pretty shallow teen movies, clearly catering to the 10-17 yr.-old crowd, this film is quite good. It's an obvious come-down after seeing 'Cinderella Man' eleven days earlier, but I would still give it a surprising three stars out of four.
I'll be back for more tomorrow. Got Father's Day to celebrate first, though. Adios and God bless.
When Jean wants to leave Wichita, Kansas, after being dumped again, she moves to New York, where she takes a job at a bakery. Turns out that Jean has a great talent at baking, and is encouraged by an old friend to enter a professional contest. But in the meantime, Holly, who doesn't want her and her precocious 7-year old sister (Aria Wallace) to get into another traumatic situation with her mom's men problems, suddenly comes on an idea: she concocts a composite (and false) boyfriend, which she arranges for Jean to meet on--where else--the Internet. She borrows, with the help of a new friend at school, a picture of her friend's uncle, who owns a classy Manhattan restaurant. All at the same time, she struggles with the opposite problem from her mom, Holly has a young man (Ben Feldman), who is falling for her--hard, and she is struggling to overcome her own fear of commitment to let her heart lead her into his arms. The shenanigans in keeping up the image of the faux boyfriend for Jean has Holly sucked predictably deeper in the whirlpool of her lies. Fortunately for her, mom finds a way to see beyond the offenses to the reasons for them, her own inability to face heartbreak and her need to stand strong on her own, without a man. Again, almost predictably, it is when Jean discovers her own inner strength that she meets Mr. Right, (Noth).
A side element to the movie is the scene where Holly practically begs Noth to act as a father figure for her. The fact that it is accomplished with matter-of-fact elan on Ms. Duff's part is a testament of how really sad our society has become, when her rootlessness is the reality for over 40% of children and teens in America, and much the same in most of the developed world--children not able to enjoy the love and presence of their mother and father--together. Much the same thing is, almost inadvertantly stated when, not knowing that it is Duff's boyfriend on the other computer, Jean talks about her unwed pregnancies as happy, perfectly acceptable within her life's goals. She doesn't get the point that, irregardless of the love she gives and receives from her daughters, the mistakes of illegitimacy are at the heart of her own lack of roots and unhappiness---not the children themselves---but the lack of character in failing to exercise abstinence.
'The Perfect Man' is a sweet, though sometimes predictable movie. The acting is actually surprisingly good. Locklear is thoroughly believeable as a single mom, none of the glamorous, sexy, power woman of her other roles, this is a very vulnerable woman. Noth, in a minor role, carries the place of strong yet sensitive man quite well. And Hilary also surprises in her ability to make her character believable. There's some lack of depth, but that's what you expect in a 16-year old. She's clearly got a bright future. Compared to a lot of pretty shallow teen movies, clearly catering to the 10-17 yr.-old crowd, this film is quite good. It's an obvious come-down after seeing 'Cinderella Man' eleven days earlier, but I would still give it a surprising three stars out of four.
I'll be back for more tomorrow. Got Father's Day to celebrate first, though. Adios and God bless.
