Though it stars
Hilary Duff,
The Perfect Man's
soundtrack is surprisingly low on
teen pop (and
Duff doesn't contribute any tracks to it). Instead, most of the album focuses on easygoing
adult contemporary pop that has as much, if not more, appeal for
Duff's character's mom -- as played by
Heather Locklear -- as it does for the teen set.
Beth Thornley's
"If You Got What You Came For," a feisty,
rock-edged
pop song, and the propulsive
rap of
Grits'
"Make Room" are the most youthful songs on the album. Though
Kaci's
"I Will Learn to Love Again" and
Sara Overall's
"Real Thing" lean toward
teen pop, the sweet, sensitive vibe of both these songs makes them fit well with mom-friendly tracks like
Howie Day's
"Collide" and
Kimberley Locke's
"Better Than This." Toward the end of the album,
The Perfect Man takes a surprising left turn by featuring four live tracks by
Styx's
Dennis DeYoung, including
"Mr. Roboto," "Lady" (which quotes a passage from
Ravel's
Bolero), and
"Best of Times." This choice probably makes more sense within the movie's context, but the
DeYoung tracks are jarringly different from everything that came before them on the album. Still, for better or worse, quirky choices like these set
The Perfect Man apart from run-of-the-mill
romantic comedy soundtracks. ~ Heather Phares