Romantic misery gives "The Perfect Man" a case of the giggles. There are times when you want to tell this perky tale of woe to stop laughing and go to sleep because we all have to get up early in the morning. Other times, the charm peeks through.

In "The Perfect Man," teen star Hilary Duff plays Holly, the 16-year-old daughter of lonely single mom Jean (Heather Locklear). Jean can't seem to find a good man, so she hooks up with second-raters, who inevitably dump her. This means Jean, Holly and Holly's 7-year-old sister are on the move again, trying yet another city.

The latest landing is Brooklyn, where Holly must again make new friends at a new school, and Jean gets a job as a baker in a grocery. Holly is tired of moving and senses it's only a matter of time before her mother's sadness will lead to another move. The fear is compounded when Jean dates a co-worker, a doofus breadmaker who takes Jean to see a Styx tribute band on their first date.

So Holly concocts a plan with a friend, inventing a secret admirer for her mother, sending her flowers and love letters, admiring her from afar. For advice, Holly turns to the charming uncle of her best friend, a local restaurant owner played by Chris Noth. He unwittingly gives the girls advice on how a man charms and woos a woman, not realizing that advice will be used for further scheming.

It works for a while, as Jean is happy, and Holly becomes closer to her own potential first love, a comic-book-loving fellow student. The scheme with her mother is destined to unravel, though, especially when Holly realizes her friend's uncle is the perfect man for her mother. If they meet, though, Holly's antics will be exposed. It's a conundrum.

"The Perfect Man" is giddy, harmless and emotionally shallow stuff, working overtime to stay innocent and maintain its PG simplicity. It has little in common with the tougher "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," a film that digs a little deeper. The only chance-taking arrives in the sidebar character played by Carson Kressley of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," who spouts an endless stream of often amusing lines clearly establishing that his character is also looking for a good man.

In our real universe, Heather Locklear can find a good man if she so chooses. In the world of "The Perfect Man," concepts are simplified, and comic adventure is sitcom styled. Duff may eventually develop some chops as an actress, but for now she's likable and competent, little more. The same can be said for "The Perfect Man," an oxymoron of a title, to be sure, but a film fluffy and friendly enough to distract us.