One of Hilary Duff’s most attractive qualities is that she’s not a borderline anorexic like too many Hollywood starlets; she has a warm, full-bodied presence that makes her dangerously glossy prettiness accessible. Similarly, Heather Locklear–who’s been an iconic plastic blonde on television for decades–is cultivating a bruised humanity as she matures. These two combine forces in The Perfect Man, a curious teen comedy/adult romance hybrid about a single mother named Jean (Locklear, Melrose Place) whose tactic for getting over a broken heart is to move to a different part of the country, uprooting her two daughters Holly and Zoe (Duff, Cheaper by the Dozen, and newcomer Aria Wallace) in the process. Holly, to keep her mother from falling into another desperate and doomed relationship, uses advice from a schoolfriend’s uncle (Chris Noth, Sex and the City) to send Jean flowers and love letters from a secret admirer. Of course, sustaining this fantasy requires some wacky antics, but The Perfect Man balances goofiness with an emotional mother/daughter tug-of-war and has some entertaining supporting actors (including Caroline Rhea, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and Carson Kressley, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy). The plot, however, has holes so big that it collapses even as it unfolds. –Bret Fetzer
Honey
Jessica Alba swivels and pops her way to the top (or at least into Missy Elliot’s heart) in hip-hop dance flick Honey. Honey Daniels (Alba, Dark Angel) dances in nightclubs; when she accidentally gets videotaped, a hip-hop video director spots her unique talent and hires her first as a dancer, then as a choreographer. But when he wants her body as much as her talent, how will she sustain her career? And how will this affect her dream of creating a dance studio for the local street kids? Honey is the usual Hollywood silliness, executed with sincerity but not much imagination. For some reason, Alba’s sexy gyrations are supposed to be more empowering than other dancers’ sexy gyrations, while being no less titillating. Featuring Mekhi Phifer, David Moscow, and cameos by hip-hop stars like Missy Elliot and Ginuwine.
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