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Duff Helps Locklear Find 'The Perfect Man'

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Not satisfied to rest on her teen queen laurels, Hilary Duff (search) is looking to broaden her fan base by co-starring with Heather Locklear (search) in this weekend's "A Perfect Man." (search)

The romantic comedy focuses on a single mother and her two kids who move from town to town every time mom breaks up with a second-rate boyfriend.

However, this is not really a date movie.

"I think that the story is more about the love story between the mother and the daughter than finding a man," Duff told FOX News.

Click on the video box at the top of this story to see Duff and Locklear on FOX.

To distract her mother from her latest bad boyfriend, Holly (Duff) conceives the perfect plan for the perfect man — an imaginary secret admirer who will romance her mom and boost her shaky self-esteem.

When the virtual relationship takes off, Holly finds herself having to produce the suitor, borrowing her friend's charming and handsome Uncle Ben (Chris Noth (search) of "Sex and the City") as the face behind the e-mails, notes and gifts.

Holly must resort to increasingly desperate measures to keep the ruse alive and protect her mom's newfound happiness, almost missing the real perfect man when he does come along.

Finding the perfect guy in Hollywood is tough — but it's not easy anywhere. Locklear, long married to rocker Richie Sambora (search), says the key is knowing what you are willing to do for love.

"You know how you can sometimes kind of bend for some people and you can bend this way and that way depending on what you can put up with," she said, adding that at one time she thought there were about 100,000 perfect guys for each gal out there, but now she thinks there's only about 25.

The movie, however, is less than perfect according to critics, who have been giving it an average C-grade, Yahoo Movies reports.

Entertainment Weekly asks, "What sin did Heather Locklear commit to deserve her role in 'The Perfect Man?'"

Associated Press film critic David Germain writes: "The movie is a toxic buzz of sweetness that Duff's teen gal fans might lap up, while all others suffer through a prolonged sugar fit," adding that Locklear and Noth put in fine performances and show a hint of chemistry in spite of the outlandish plot.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution sums up: "It is what it is — a Hilary Duff vehicle that makes for a relatively pleasant mother-daughter outing."

FOX News' Mike Waco and William LaJeunesse contributed to this report.