"Perfect Man" follows the life of Holly (Duff) as she struggles with her inept mother, Jean (Locklear). Firstly, the plot itself is a sinker. Basically, Jean is a single mother of 2 who finds the need to move to another state every time she gets dumped by a guy. That is the most unreasonable thing I've heard since Veronica got mad at Betty after she had a dream that Betty kissed Archie (take my word for it - it was pretty unreasonable). However, according to the makers of "Perfect Man", such unreasonable behavior breeds comedy ("I'm jeopardizing my children's future. HAHA - that's so funny") Because of her mom's lack of rational thinking, Holly has never been to a prom (shock horror). Perhaps if she got up and told her mom that she was being utterly crazy and selfish instead of just sitting there complaining on her weblog and calling herself a "teenage gypsy", she could've made some progress with the situation. Then again, if Holly was smart enough to do that, we wouldn't have this movie. In fact, that'd be true if ANYONE in the movie was smart. No wait...Holly's little sister is smart - after all, she did win the spelling bee. My bad.
It gets worse. Holly moves to Brooklyn where BAKER mom manages to afford an amazingly pretty, spacious apartment. Jean starts work and immediately, the loser bread-maker (O'Malley) asks her out. Holly freaks because this means she'll have to move again in the not-so-distant future as mom goes into selfish mode again. Holly's life is also full of surprises. First day of school, she becomes best friends forever with Amy (Lengies) and already has an admirer in quiet comic book guy Adam (Feldman). Apparently, taking someone's seat makes you very attractive...that's what made Adam take an interest in her.
Back to freako-mom's case. Holly doesn't want to move anymore and so teams up with Amy to "trick" her mom into thinking she has a secret admirer. The two base this "perfect man" on Amy's restaurant owner uncle, Ben (Noth...who was also the reason why I actually watched this sad sad film) and subsequently ask him for advice on how to woo women. Ben, being in the movie, is also not very bright and actually believes that the girls need this type of information for school. So, following Ben's advice, they start sending Jean flowers and letters. Jean, who just arrived in town does not find it creepy that she already has an admirer who knows where she lives and happily accepts these gifts. Chalk one up for Holly's brilliant plan!! As expected, the lie gets more complicated and Holly eventually has to send her mom a picture of her admirer to convince her that he's real. Being so shrewd, she sends Ben's photo and even names the imaginary admirer "Ben". In the 21st century when we have access to magazines and internet to look up pictures of people, she chooses to send a picture of a man who lives in the same neighborhood. A lot of wooing ensues which is quite disturbing in many ways. One, the wooing is between mother and daughter which is just wrong. Two, Jean STILL doesn't find it creepy that this "secret admirer" who she's never met in her life is sending her some pretty mawkish messages. Three, Holly enlists Adam to act as Ben and talk to Jean on the phone. He starts imaging that he's talking to Holly and starts to say that he loves her...pretty disgusting considering mom's on the other line.
Holly is probably addicted to deception. Not only does she lie to her mom and toy with her emotions, she also uses Ben. In one part, Jean goes to Ben's restaurant. Scared that they might see each other, Holly sets off the sprinklers in the eatery, chasing out ALL of Ben's customers and practically destroying his restaurant. Does Holly feel bad? Nope! At another point, she goes up to Ben's house alone despite only meeting him 2 times (if I were Ben, I'd be pretty freaked) and realizes that he TRULY is perfect for her mom. Her reason? They both do the Times crossword puzzle in pen!! Like Duh! OK, I exaggerate, there was also something about the moon and having a nice kitchen. Holly has some really weird way of determining whether two people are soul-mates or not. After realizing that Ben is perfect, Holly runs, in a very dramatically, to stop what she believes to be Ben's wedding to another woman. This woman and Ben could've had an 8 year relationship or something before but Ben and Jean both do crossword puzzles in pen so whatever to the other woman - she's not Ben's soul-mate. Turns out, Ben was just best man at the wedding but Holly manages to wreck it anyways. Does Holly feel bad? Nope! Ben gets angry (FINALLY) and Holly amazingly manages to make it seem like he's the unreasonable one. When Jean finds out that the whole admirer thing was just a scam, Holly's the one who yells at her mom. Not once does she apologize for her totally unacceptable behavior.
Well, it's a Hilary movie so it all ends well. Holly finally opens up and admits that she likes Adam and she realizes her dream of going to the prom. Ben finally meets Jean and they hit it off. All loose ends are tied off which should be very satisfying but sadly, is not because this is such a ridiculous movie about how lying and cheating can get you what you want. None of the actors are convincing in their roles (Locklear as woman who can't get a decent boyfriend? Hilary Duff as the insecure outcast-ish character? Like in ALL her movies? Someone as cute as Ben Feldman as the not-so-noticed geek?).
Still I HIGHLY recommend watching this movie to see how UNBELIEVABLE and selfish these people really are!!
It gets worse. Holly moves to Brooklyn where BAKER mom manages to afford an amazingly pretty, spacious apartment. Jean starts work and immediately, the loser bread-maker (O'Malley) asks her out. Holly freaks because this means she'll have to move again in the not-so-distant future as mom goes into selfish mode again. Holly's life is also full of surprises. First day of school, she becomes best friends forever with Amy (Lengies) and already has an admirer in quiet comic book guy Adam (Feldman). Apparently, taking someone's seat makes you very attractive...that's what made Adam take an interest in her.
Back to freako-mom's case. Holly doesn't want to move anymore and so teams up with Amy to "trick" her mom into thinking she has a secret admirer. The two base this "perfect man" on Amy's restaurant owner uncle, Ben (Noth...who was also the reason why I actually watched this sad sad film) and subsequently ask him for advice on how to woo women. Ben, being in the movie, is also not very bright and actually believes that the girls need this type of information for school. So, following Ben's advice, they start sending Jean flowers and letters. Jean, who just arrived in town does not find it creepy that she already has an admirer who knows where she lives and happily accepts these gifts. Chalk one up for Holly's brilliant plan!! As expected, the lie gets more complicated and Holly eventually has to send her mom a picture of her admirer to convince her that he's real. Being so shrewd, she sends Ben's photo and even names the imaginary admirer "Ben". In the 21st century when we have access to magazines and internet to look up pictures of people, she chooses to send a picture of a man who lives in the same neighborhood. A lot of wooing ensues which is quite disturbing in many ways. One, the wooing is between mother and daughter which is just wrong. Two, Jean STILL doesn't find it creepy that this "secret admirer" who she's never met in her life is sending her some pretty mawkish messages. Three, Holly enlists Adam to act as Ben and talk to Jean on the phone. He starts imaging that he's talking to Holly and starts to say that he loves her...pretty disgusting considering mom's on the other line.
Holly is probably addicted to deception. Not only does she lie to her mom and toy with her emotions, she also uses Ben. In one part, Jean goes to Ben's restaurant. Scared that they might see each other, Holly sets off the sprinklers in the eatery, chasing out ALL of Ben's customers and practically destroying his restaurant. Does Holly feel bad? Nope! At another point, she goes up to Ben's house alone despite only meeting him 2 times (if I were Ben, I'd be pretty freaked) and realizes that he TRULY is perfect for her mom. Her reason? They both do the Times crossword puzzle in pen!! Like Duh! OK, I exaggerate, there was also something about the moon and having a nice kitchen. Holly has some really weird way of determining whether two people are soul-mates or not. After realizing that Ben is perfect, Holly runs, in a very dramatically, to stop what she believes to be Ben's wedding to another woman. This woman and Ben could've had an 8 year relationship or something before but Ben and Jean both do crossword puzzles in pen so whatever to the other woman - she's not Ben's soul-mate. Turns out, Ben was just best man at the wedding but Holly manages to wreck it anyways. Does Holly feel bad? Nope! Ben gets angry (FINALLY) and Holly amazingly manages to make it seem like he's the unreasonable one. When Jean finds out that the whole admirer thing was just a scam, Holly's the one who yells at her mom. Not once does she apologize for her totally unacceptable behavior.
Well, it's a Hilary movie so it all ends well. Holly finally opens up and admits that she likes Adam and she realizes her dream of going to the prom. Ben finally meets Jean and they hit it off. All loose ends are tied off which should be very satisfying but sadly, is not because this is such a ridiculous movie about how lying and cheating can get you what you want. None of the actors are convincing in their roles (Locklear as woman who can't get a decent boyfriend? Hilary Duff as the insecure outcast-ish character? Like in ALL her movies? Someone as cute as Ben Feldman as the not-so-noticed geek?).
Still I HIGHLY recommend watching this movie to see how UNBELIEVABLE and selfish these people really are!!