How to Deal (2003)

Film Title: How to Deal

Released: July 18, 1993

Directed by: Clare Kilner

Written by: Neena Beber based on the novels Someone Like You & That Summer by Sarah Dessen

Starring: Mandy Moore, Trent Ford & Allison Janney

Plot: A romantically jaded teen is forced to reevaluate her views when she meets a guy she starts to fall for.

IMDb: 5.6/10

Rotten Tomatoes: 28/100

My Score: 2/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

How to Deal has a lot a going for it: a good cast, a good soundtrack and good source material (the Sarah Dessen books That Summer and Someone Like You were both American Library Association selections for "Best Fiction for Young Adults"). Unfortunately, the sum is not greater than the parts. Mostly the issues I have are with the script because there are too many plot threads going on to weave a cohesive narrative. Mandy Moore is a teen with a bleak outlook on love stemming from her parent's divorce. She meets Trent Ford and has to rethink her fatalist philosophy when he sparks romantic desires in her. Alexandra Holden, Moore's best friend, was dating Ford's best friend (John White) when he died on the soccer field of a congenital heart defect. After the funeral, she finds out she is pregnant with his child. Allison Janney is Moore's embittered divorcee mother who finds her second chance at love in new beau Dylan Baker. Moore's older sister, Mary Catherine Garrison, is busy planning her wedding to Mackenzie Astin and dealing with all of the stresses related to that event. And if all that wasn't enough, Moore's father, Peter Gallagher, elopes with the younger woman he left Janney for. With so much going on, the script doesn't stay with any one thread for too long, giving the movie a disjointed feel. Its as if the movie is actually pieced together from episodes of a teen soap opera instead of being a stand alone narrative. The soundtrack includes John Mayer, the Donnas, Liz Phair, Beth Orton and Cat Stevens but the highlight for me is the Flaming Lips track "Do You Realize??," a personal favorite, appropriately played by Ford at White's funeral. Co-starring Nina Foch as Moore's marijuana smoking grandmother and Connie Ray as Holden's disapproving mother. Watch the trailer below or the full film here.