The Perfect Man DVD Review:

The mother/daughter relationship fiasco has been done before, and most of the time it is very serious. The mother usually gets involved with guys that are abusive and unhealthy. The Perfect Man is filled with guys who are just goofy instead of unhealthy, making the film as light as possible while still going through the same motions. If a movie has no aspirations about being original or artistically groundbreaking, all on can hope is that it is entertaining. The Perfect Man is certainly entertaining, despite the fact that some of the moments which are meant to be charming are actually quite annoying.

Holly Hamilton (Hilary Duff) and her younger sister are used to moving. Every time their mother is dumped by a guy, they switch towns. She is desperately searching for love and seems to believe that the best way to find it is by covering as much ground as possible. When they move to Brooklyn Holly decides that she wants to stop moving, so she does everything she can to stop her mother from dating another loser. She creates an elaborate secret admirer in order to take attention away from a bread boy at the bakery her mother works at, but the plan backfires when Holly realizes that the guy she has based the romance on may actually be perfect for her mother.

Hilary Duff and Heather Locklear go well as a mother/daughter team. They are convincing and their relationship is actually quite believable. What baffles me is where the younger daughter came from. Her existence is never quite fit into the story which has a single mother dumped and forced to raise a child alone. So how did another child appear, and so many years later? This is just one of many questions which cannot be asked in order to enjoy the film.

Many of the characters in the film are actually quiet likable. Chris Noth is quite good as the love interest who doesn’t know he is a love interest, but the bartender is a stereotypical gay supporting cast member. I am tired of the best friend that is gay and carries the task of being comedic relief and fulfilling every stereotype that should be eliminated. To me I see this as no different than the way African Americans were once shown as shufflers and slaves in film. Stereotypes enforced are not only unhealthy, but they are also annoying to anyone who isn’t ignorant enough to believe them.

Although the film is rated PG it could possibly reach a larger audience than just younger girls. It is a sweet story and many people could enjoy the entertaining value of the film, but it seems as though the DVD was made primarily for younger teens. The menu is actually really classy, so in that way it seems more like a film for adults, but most of the special features seem directed towards a younger audience. There are deleted scenes and outtakes, which are padded a bit so that finding any entertaining ones means watching all of the fluff as well. There are a number of features which would appeal to fans of Hilary Duff, including a lot of on set/behind the scenes footage. There is also a featurette about the costumes and one about the onscreen relationship that Duff and Locklear had.



Ryan Izay

Every time Holly’s (Duff) mother Jean (Locklear) broke up with her latest boyfriend, her and her sister Aria (Wallace) had to move. This meant that Holly could never really make any true friends or have a relationship of her own. When they end up in New York, Holly finally feels that his could be her home but when her mother starts seeing another no-hoper she comes up with a plan to inject some real romance into her life by creating the perfect man. The problem is that her creation is so good that Jean starts to fall for him.

Hillary Duff is growing up but can she move on from her usual teen flicks into something with a little more substance?

Teen Queen, Hilary Duff’s big screen experience had been limited to the usual romantic comedies and ‘The Perfect Man’ is no different but this time the emphasis isn’t all on her. The film plot revolves around her slightly dysfunctional family that is constantly uprooted and moved around the country as her mother goes from one disastrous relationship to another. Hilary, of course, takes the lead but Heather Locklear also has a much plot-time as Jean.

The film revolves around Holly’s desire to settle down in one place and the only way she can do that is to find her mother the perfect man. After she is told that he doesn’t exist and her mother latches onto another potential loser, she takes matters into her own hands and decides to create him herself. Using her new friend’s Uncle Ben as a template and source of information and then combining this with internet research, she creates someone her mother can’t help but be interested in. While she succeeds in sparking an interest in her mother, Holly never expected her to fall for him.

This isn’t the most challenging role for Hilary Duff but it is one that she does well. It will be very interesting to see if her career can continue past her teenage years and if she has the dramatical skill to move onto more challenging roles. Heather Locklear gives her best performance in years as Holly’s mother Jean. She captures the unlucky in love character perfectly, proving that even good looking women can be drawn to the wrong man. There is also good support from Chris Noth as Uncle Ben, Vanessa Lengies as Holly’s friend Amy and Ben Feldman as Adam.

‘The Perfect Man’ is a slight step forward for Hilary Duff but not one that will start defining her career as she moves into adulthood. There is a lot to enjoy for the film’s target audience and this time her film isn’t just about teenage problems but issues that will appeal to a wider, female audience.

Star Rating = * * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the movie is presented well.

BONUS FEATURES

Deleted Scenes (18.45 mins)
‘On the road… Again (Original Opening), ‘First piece of advice’, ‘A Rapper’s defence’, ‘Play ball?’, ‘Daughter knows best’, ‘I love Rock n’ Roll’, ‘Lenny gets the girl’, ‘Tough Love’, ‘The Lady from Dubuque’, ‘Breaking up is hard to do’, ‘Stop drawing and kiss me (original ending)’ and ‘ Hit me with your best shot’, these deleted or alternative scenes suffer from a lack of an introduction or commentary track.

Outtakes (4.32 mins)
Watch Hilary Duff, Carson Kressley and Heather Locklear fluff their lines and have fun on set.

Mom and Me (4.36 mins)
Director Mark Rosman and stars Hilary Duff and Heather Locklear talk about the on screen chemistry between mother and daughter and how important this dynamic was to the movie.

Getting the perfect look (7.18 mins)
Director Mark Rosman and stars Hilary Duff, Heather Locklear, Chris Noth, Vanessa Lengies, Carson Kressley and Aria Wallace look at the hair and makeup and the wardrobe departments for the movie.

The Clever Clapper (1.18 mins)
Hilary Duff talks briefly about the creative clapperboard loader on the set

Ready, set, soak, shoot (4.22 mins)
Producer Marc Platt and stars Hilary Duff, Heather Locklear and Carson Kressley take you behind the scenes of the sprinkler scene. They reveal how they had to capture the scene in one take and all the preparation that went into it.

The Sweet Arts – Creating the Cakes (3.08 mins)
Stars Heather Locklear, Aria Wallace, Kym Whitley, Mike O’Malley and Caroline Rhea are joined by professional cake decorator Bonnie Gordon, to reveal how what it takes to create the ornate cakes used in the movie

Getting the Drift – Feature Commentary
Director Mark Rosman and producer Adam Seagal provide a chatty commentary track for the movie. The pair talks about the changes to the script as the film developed, casting and characters and what it was like working with the actor and actresses involved. This is a decent commentary but it would have been better if some of the stars would have contributed.

Hanging with Hilary (3.59 mins)
The teenage star of the film talks about her character, her favourite flower, her perfect date and her perfect man

Hanging with Heather (3.24 mins)
Heather Locklear talks about her character, her favourite flower, her perfect date and her perfect man

Chattin’ with Chris (4.00 mins)
The former ‘Sex and the City’ star talks about his character, his favourite flower, his perfect date and his perfect woman

OVERALL

Universal have done a very good job with the DVD treatment of ‘The Perfect Man’. While the featurette may be short, there are plenty of them to enjoy and when you add to this a good commentary and some deleted scenes you have a DVD that fans should enjoy



Jamie Kelwick