The Perfect Man (PG, 2005)

THE PERFECT MAN centers on 16-year-old Holly (Hilary Duff), who worries that her mom, a baker named Jean (Heather Locklear), keeps moving their family from place to place. Apparently, mom only dates louses and cheats, whom she escapes by literally running away. When they move to New York City, Holly devises a plan to keep the family in place: she invents a "perfect man," based in part on romantic advice she solicits from Ben (Chris Noth), a handsome restaurateur who also happens to be the uncle to her new best friend Amy (Vanessa Lengies). Soon Holly is sending her mom flowers and writing her letters from the made up "Ben" to distract her from lumpy, well-meaning bread-baker Lenny (Mike O'Malley). Things get complicated when Jean finds out that Holly is having her own romantic troubles with a nice boy and comic book artist named Adam (Ben Feldman), and writes him emails while pretending to be Holly. The mixed-up identities are eventually sorted out, but not before some difficulties arise and both Jean and Holly endure some sadness and disappointment in one another.

A mostly lighthearted, double-layered romantic comedy that deals with serious issues, The Perfect Manresembles previous Hilary Duff movies in tone and resolution. To grant Holly some space to express herself, the movie uses the Internet: she keeps a blog (called "Girl on the Move") and starts writing emails to Jean, supposedly from "Ben." This leads to a partly comic, partly strange situation where she's essentially flirting with her mother. While kids won't likely think much of this, the visualization of the idea -- mother and daughter at their computer screens, writing romantic notes to one another -- is at least odd.

Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Mark Rosman
Cast: Heather Locklear, Hilary Duff
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 96 minutes
Theatrical release: June 17, 2005
DVD release: November 1, 2005
MPAA Rating: PG
MPAA explanation: some mildly suggestive content