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Teen girls shouldn't have to 'Deal' with this
Trent Ford and Mandy Moore star in 'How to Deal'
Sophie Giraud/New Line Productions
Director: Clare Kilner.
Stars: Mandy Moore, Allison Janney.
MPAA Rating: PG-13, for drug use, sexual content, language.
Michael Machosky can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7901.
And yet one gets the sense that even 13-year-old girls deserve better. Mandy Moore -- not quite a musician, not yet an actress -- is this movie's reason to be. The camera likes her, and she's got a certain onscreen charisma that other pop-stars-turned-wannabe-actresses lack.
But with such cliche-infested, sub-moronic dialogue, clueless direction and utterly banal observations about life and love, Moore has trouble just maintaining a sympathetic character throughout the film.
Moore's 17-year-old Halley is a nice teenage girl with a rebellious streak and a taste for thrift-store chic. When her obnoxious rock radio DJ father (Peter Gallagher) leaves her mother (Allison Janney) for a younger woman, Halley resolves to never fall in love. Her sister chooses that same day to announce that she's getting married.
On this fateful day, Halley also walks in on her best friend Scarlett (Alexandra Holden) and her new boyfriend in the throes of passion. A few days later, Halley is introduced to the boyfriend's best pal Macon (Trent Ford), a loveable twit who inspires some clumsy dating montages, and ingratiates himself in that cloying, cute romantic comedy way so you don't forget for a second that he's The One.
But Halley resists. Two poorly shot, but surprisingly racy love scenes are abruptly cut short and an absurd plot twist makes her doubt her feelings for Macon. Since Moore's only other film was the chaste, Christian-themed romance "A Walk To Remember," it might surprise some fans to see sex depicted so nonchalantly -- although it's certainly presented as having consequences.
Will circumstances contrive to keep Halley and Macon apart, or will their "true feelings" for each other win out? Take a guess.
