The Perfect Man

This is not a movie I would have turned on intentionally even if TiVo had recorded it for me but when you’re on a four hour flight with a free headset why not? Maybe the tiny screen will make it better. Reasonably formulaic, though with the odd interesting touches, The Perfect Man stars Hillary Duff as 16 year old daughter of Heather Locklear and Chris Noth is the titular target. As an aside, I know Noth is tall, dark and handsome but this is the second time (Sex and the City) where he’s held up as the ideal dream date and I don’t get it, though I expect that’s the point. Anyway, I did enjoy this enough for 90 minutes stuck on a 737.

Basics: Locklear has been burned so much by men that she simply picks up and moves her two daughters as soon as the latest romance goes south. At the open she decides to move to Brooklyn and being a world class baker there is of course a bakery anxious to have her services. Breadman Lenny (played by Mike O’Malley), who seems to think his favorite high school band, Styx, is the greatest ever, jumps on from the first sight of such a total hottie and Locklear grabs on as if he’s her last chance at love. Aside: Dennis de Young, the real lead singer of Styx, plays the lead singer of a Styx tribute band for a concert date.

Duff, horrified at the thought, connives with the semi-geeky boy who has the hots for her (Ben Feldman) to create a mysery suitor for mom based on gal pal Vanessa Lengies’s uncle (Noth). Hijinks ensue. Finally we must resolve the tension but I’m glad to say that director Mark Rosman and writer Gina Wendkos didn’t go for the standard Hollywood ending.

mildly recommended