How to Deal (2003) Reviews

• A pleasant surprise

  stills-62004-07-08

  I almost considered passing up watching this one, but I'm glad I didn't. This movie has all the hallmarks of a bad afterschool special, actually four or five of them smashed together. But just when you think it's about to fall off a cliff of cliches, something unexpectedly intelligent happens. Just when it's about to turn into a tear-jerker, the director puts her camera, almost joyfully, above the rain to show everyone shielding themselves with the church program. Just when you think it's going to turn into a soppy love story, the characters flee from each other, scared out of their minds at the possibility. Just when you think it's going to be a soap opera, Mandy Moore acts her way out of the paper bag that people seem to pigeon-hole her into. You get the idea. The actors all do well, especially Allison Janney, who puts a real edge to a role that could have easily been mush. I must admit, though, Peter Gallagher, usually a reliable guy, doesn't do much with his aging hipster role. The real joy here is Moore. She's got just enough stuff to hook you into the story, and she's just raw enough that she'll make you believe. And, yeah, the dialogue is corny here and there, but not outrageously so. I have to hand it to the director to keep everyone loose enough to pull off some of these lines, and to make the shots interesting enough for us to care what happens when they do. The plot, which does have its convolutions and weird devices, is not nearly as interesting as Halley's growth as a character. It's basically a character piece wrapped in a teen romance. And Moore brings it all together.

• Entertaining

  headshot692004-12-27

  I found this movie to be funny, serious, entertaining, a little sad in parts, but overall, it didn't suck! I don't think it would win any awards, but it served its purpose well - it entertained me for a couple of hours - isn't that all we ask of a movie? It deals with some VERY serious teenage problems - parents divorcing, finding new partners, teenage pregnancy, young love (and old love), and the cruncher, whether to have sex or not. It covered just about most of the problems teenagers face these days. It was essentially a good movie and dealt with these issues quite well - not too heavy, not too light. Mandy Moore was pretty darned good too - she has a nice little career ahead of her me thinks! :)

• Lesson 1: Don't throw two books together and expect it to work (possible spoilers)

  rlemusic2003-07-26

  I am a seventeen year old teenage girl; basically, the entire demographic that this movie was going for. Having seen "A Walk to Remember," I figured it'd be another Mandy Moore chick flick - not bad, but nothing special. This movie just *didn't work.* Using two different teen novels as a basis for a "plot" didn't work. The plot was all over the place; my friend (also a seventeen year old female) and I would stare at the screen and whisper, "What the hell was that?" every five minutes. This movie had every cliche imaginable: teenage pregnancy, divorce, marriage, birth, death, car accident. If reading that seemed random, try watching it. It's ridiculous. Oh, and I neglected to mention the pot smoking grandmother. Here are a few examples about what just didn't work in this movie: About 10-15 minutes into the film, a boy collapses on the soccer field. He's clutching his stomach, and my friend and I both immediately thought, "Oh, appendicitis." Next shot (this is after he passes out and people are surrounding him), he's on the ground clutching his chest. Dramatic voice-over is something along the lines of him dying of a heart defect. Insert my friend and I (and other audience members) saying, "What the hell?" Another scene. The best friend is pregnant. She and Halley (Mandy Moore) are talking afterwards, and Scarlett (the friend) is wearing a tank top with four pictures of the GERBER BABY. "What the hell?!" It goes on and on. Honestly, if we'd realized 20 minutes into it how disorganized and poorly put together it was going to be, we would've left. The only reason we stuck around the whole time was because we'd sat through it for so long that we couldn't get our $9.25 back if we left. As far as the acting goes, Mandy Moore was decent, but I didn't really get her character. As I haven't read the two novels this movie was based on, I don't even know if she was playing two different characters or one. Actually, when Halley would do a total 180 between scenes, my friend and I joked whether they pulled the scene from novel one or novel two. As for Trent Ford...I'm not going to discuss his looks other than in this statement, because I don't think criticizing an actors appearance does any good. As far as the actual acting went...It was pretty rough. Didn't do anything for me. A couple of the supporting characters (played by Allison Janney and Alexandra Holden) were ok; others (Mackenzie Astin, Mary Catherine Garrison) were as terrible as Trent Ford. One can only hope that if Mandy Moore wishes to be taken seriously as an actress, she'll accept a better script next time, because she's not a terrible actress. I gave it 3/10, and that's only for the non-comedy induced laughs my friend and I, as well as several other members of the very small audience, had.

• It's NOT a romantic comedy

  CuriosityKilledShawn2005-03-05

  New Line has sold this movie short and filed it as a Romantic Comedy but I must stress it is not. It's a teen drama with some romance and humor. Think of it as a teen version of American Beauty. Though it's all rather light, How to Deal does have some seriousness and important parts. Mandy Moore (marry me?) is Halley Martin, a teenage girl who refuses to believe that true love exists (like me). Her best pal does but is heartbroken when her boyfriend drops dead on the football field of a heart defect (err...like me). Halley's parents have split and found others, her sister is engaged to some guy and all they do is argue. It seems like the best way to deal with love is to avoid it. All that changes when Halley meets Macon (stupid name) a geeky Star Wars nerd. He seems like a dweeb at first but his character grows on you, as he does Halley. He's played by Trent Ford and on the cover he's wearing a white vest and is marketed as a sexually neutral, non-threatening pretty boy (Orlando Bloom, Justin Timberlake etc) but that ain't him or his character at all and he never appears in a vest at any point in the movie. I expected to hate him just because of the cover but that ain't so. In the course of her steadily strengthening relationship with Macom (really, what a stupid name!) Halley learns how to deal with teen pregnancy, being a bridesmaid, her dope-smoking grandmother, car crashes, stepmoms, stepdads etc. Stuff that every kid learns. Real kids, not the kids that make love to pastries or live in mansions, which are the only 2 types of kids Hollywood thinks exist. Taken from 2 separate novels by Sarah Dessen called 'Someone Like You' and 'That Summer' it's possible that How to Deal might have a sequel. And if it does its literary roots guarantee it will a better sequel than most. I recommend How to Deal for anyone who is sick to death of endless American Pie clones or Harold and Kumar or Maid in Manhatten/Laws of Attraction/Two Weeks Notice/Sweet Home Alabama/blah blah blah. It's not a romantic comedy, not by a long shot. It's far more realistic than that and it doesn't insult your intelligence. Give it a go. The DVD is in great-looking 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound. The extras are actually quite good for a change, one of them focusing on Young Adult Literature and it's definitely a good DVD for the price.

• Accept it on its own terms and don't expect "American Beauty"

  thefan-22004-02-14

  The bright primary colors in which the plot, dialog and characters of this movie are cast gives it away early on: this is a cross between a soap opera and a sitcom, made purely to entertain. As such, it's actually pretty good. Mandy Moore is adorable. She seems to be learning how to act as she goes along, but isn't that how most of them did it? Give her a few more years and some better scripts to work with and she could be a major star. The real problem is that for the movie's target audience of middle-class suburban white teenagers it's positively overflowing with groaners -- embarrassing "banter" between the kids, cartoonish characters (idiotic philandering husbands, evil boy-stealing girlfriends), and a preposterous storyline. My own teenage daughter and her friends thought How to Deal was, and I quote, "stupid." But for us middle-aged parents nostalgic for a time in their lives they've almost completely forgotten, it really isn't that bad. Give it a chance.