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The Perfect Man

The Perfect Man

Comedy · Drama · Family · 2005

Holly is tired of moving every time her mom Jean breaks up with yet another second-rate guy. To distract her mother from her latest bad choice, Holly conceives the perfect plan for the perfect man, an imaginary secret admirer who will romance Jean and boost her self-esteem.

Movie details

The Perfect Man

“Is it all too good to be true?”

2005 Comedy · Drama · Family 1h 40m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

Holly is tired of moving every time her mom Jean breaks up with yet another second-rate guy. To distract her mother from her latest bad choice, Holly conceives the perfect plan for the perfect man, an imaginary secret admirer who will romance Jean and boost her self-esteem.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Perfect Man?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Mark Rosman

Written by

Gina Wendkos · Katherine Torpey · Heather Robinson · Michael McQuown

Hilary Duff

Hilary Duff

Holly Hamilton

Heather Locklear

Heather Locklear

Jean Hamilton

Chris Noth

Chris Noth

Ben Cooper

Mike O'Malley

Mike O'Malley

Lenny Horton

Ben Feldman

Ben Feldman

Adam Forrest

Vanessa Lengies

Vanessa Lengies

Amy Pearl

Caroline Rhea

Caroline Rhea

Gloria

Court is in session

Put The Perfect Man on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.