Having seen Mandy Moore‘s last film, A Walk To Remember, I figured going into the theater that I would walk out crying, and I wasn’t wrong. Certain scenes moved me to tears. Sure, the storyline is unstable. Sure, the acting is mediocre. And yet How To Deal is surprisingly touching.
It’s also embarrassingly cheesy, and the issues it addresses are more than a little clichéd. To list just a few of the subplots: Halley’s parents are divorced; she’s jealous of her sister, Ashley (Mary Catherine Garrison); she can’t communicate with her mother; and her best friend, Scarlett (Alexandra Holden), is pregnant with her dead boyfriend’s baby.
OK, that last one’s pretty original.
Still, despite its wide-ranging coverage of so-called “teen issues,” How To Deal doesn’t really add up to anything more than a love story, focusing on the two main characters, Halley Martin (Moore) and Macon Forrester (Trent Ford).
Moore is irresistibly adorable, no matter what your taste. When her character feels heartbreak, every teenage girl can relate, and that’s a trait that’s hard to come by. Though she’s not the world’s best actress, she does her best and the audience can’t help but appreciate her efforts.
The bigger surprise in How To Deal is the fact that producers were able to find a love interest to match swoon-worthy Shane West, who costarred with Moore in A Walk To Remember. If for no other reason, I would go to see this movie just for Ford–his character is charming and has a mysterious quality that you can’t help but love. Plus, his tendency to bring both happiness and heartache to Halley will hit girls close to home.
If you’re a fan of Moore–and if her album sales are any indication, there aren’t many of you–then I recommend seeing this movie. But if you absolutely cannot stand gushy love stories and teenage drama, then spend your two hours watching something more substantial.
Soundtrack Sidenote
Immediately after seeing this movie, in an impulsive moment, I rushed to the CD store and purchased the soundtrack. The poppy Liz Phair hit, “Why Can’t I?,” was so moving during one of the scenes that it brought me to tears. Two days later I’m stuck with this stupid soundtrack–but fortunately it doesn’t include any Moore songs. I lucked out.
