Hillary Duff concocts the ideal mate for her mom in the romantic comedy, THE PERFECT MAN. Heather Locklear is Jean Hamilton, a single mother of two who skips from boyfriend to boyfriend, but not by choice. After each relationship fails, Jean moves her and her kids to the next town in hopes of a new beginning. The Hamilton’s latest home is New York City, and Jean has already landed a date with her bakery co-worker. Realizing that this can only lead to heartache, her eldest daughter Holly, played by Duff, decides to create a secret admirer to boost her mom’s spirits, but not provide any emotional baggage.
In many ways, THE PERFECT MAN is a near-perfect example of a poor romantic comedy. Its characters are exasperating, situations preposterous and there’s little that’s either romantic or comedic. Jean is established early on as a woman who only finds happiness through men. This makes her pathetic, but the fact that she drags her kids down with her, makes her a selfish and careless mother. THE PERFECT MAN is centered on Jean’s happiness, and the efforts of her child to find it for her. By creating such a maddening mother like Jean, little interest is invested in her happiness. If anything, I was pulling for her children to find their own joy since their mother wasn’t very concerned about it. THE PERFECT MAN also tinkers with ideas of female empowerment, before caving to a candy-sweet finish. Avoid this mess at all costs.
Grade: F
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