Rating: 
Summary: Mandy Moore Movin' On!!
Review: The new flick from New Line Cinema starring Teen Pop Star turned actress (and not a bad one, better than Britney!)Mandy Moore is one teens 14-18 should defintly spend [$$$] to go see! It teaches lessons and had good looking people! Mandy Moore extends her acting into sour sarcasm in this flick which stands for a new side of her which shows she can act!! There is also a HILARIOUS Pot smoking grandma!!
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Summary: Why Have I Heard This Exact Story Before?
Review: "HOW TO DEAL" was a great movie and had a lot of things happen in it to make it interesting and a great pace. Mandy Moore does an excellent job portraying the main character, Halley Martin, it is even better than her role in "A WALK TO REMEMBER." HOWEVER, as I watched the movie, I couldn't help thinking that the plot sounded familiar. And guess what? I had read a book EXACTLY like this a couple years ago. Sarah Dessen's teen fiction book, "SOMEONE LIKE YOU", which was published in 1998 has the exact same story, and even the characters have the same names! So, if you don't want to watch this movie, you can read the book (which came first by the way)!!
Rating: 
Summary: How To Deal Best summer romance movie
Review: I went to see this movie last night and loved it. It tells the story of how a teenage girl deals with her parents divorce,her sisters upcomming wedding and her best friend becomming pregnent. She also falls in love for the first time. This might be a girls kind of a movie but boys will enjoy it as well. The grandmother is hilarious. I recomend this movie to people who are sick of the summer sequels and want to have a night out and see a romance movie.
Rating: 
Summary: How Does One Deal With This Unbearable Movie?
Review: "How To Deal" was a movie I did and didn't want to see. I like Mandy Moore. That was just about the only reason why I wanted to see it. I enjoyed her performance in "A Walk To Remember". In fact I really, really liked that movie. I felt Mandy was able to project compassion through the character. She was able to connect with the audience. And on top of all that she had a good screen presence to her. So I knew going into the movie that if I didn't like the movie it would not be because of Mandy Moore's performance. "How To Deal" might not turn out to be the kind of movie most people are expecting. It's actually a very depressing movie. I was expecting a lighthearted fun movie. Something a little more mainstream. But no. It's a sad sombering movie. Most people will recall the movie "Crossroads" with Britney Spears. There too one of the problems people had with that movie was they were not prepared to see a movie as sad as that. "How To Deal" I feel will suffer the same reaction. In fact the theatre I went to was just about empty except for a few 12-14 year old girls. Another problem I have with the movie is the characters. They are one dimensional. They are like cardboards. Flat and lifeless. The characters in this movie serve no other functions then to appear when needed in the story. Characters are introduced in the film and long periods of time go by until we see them again. There were a few moments in the film when I found myself asking "who is that?" I had forgotten who the characters were. Take for example the character Scarlett (Alexandra Holden) she plays Halley's (Mandy Moore) best friend. Scarlett is expecting a baby. But once we find out she is expecting she vanishes from the movie only to return again at the very moment she is due. Apparently nothing important happened to this character between points "A" and "B". The movie throws a lot of characters into the movie and just doesn't seem able to balance everything out properly where we actually care about these people. We don't! I never for a moment cared about Halley. I never felt sorry or happy for her. Now with all I've said about this movie I still think Mandy Moore can act. As with any other actress or actor no matter how talented they are if you are in a bad movie you are in a bad movie. Sure, sometimes "star power" accounts for something. Take the movie "Legally Blonde". It's actually not a very good movie. It's not well written and is predictable but Witherspoon manages to carry the movie and bring it to a new level. Because we like her so much. I thought perhaps "How To Deal" might have the same fate. It might not be a good movie but Moore would elevate it to the next level. Not so. "How To Deal" is based on a collection of novels by Sarah Dessen entitled "Someone Like You" and "That Summer". I've never read these novels but I wonder if they are as sappy and depressing and as poorly written as this movie. Or must we blame the screenplay by Neena Beber? I would appreciate someone e-mailing me and telling me what exactly was the tone of the two books? I understand Mandy Moore has quite a few movies upcoming. I can only hope that they are better than this. She can act. And if she wants to act in serious dramas that's fine. I bet she can pull it off. But, she needs to pick better projects. Movies that have fully developed characters. Movies that seem to breathe and have life to them. I still have hope for Moore. And I await her next movie. Bottom-line: Sad depressing movie with bad characters that never come to life. The movie has plenty of ideas but not one is done properly. Feels very long and is not paced correctly.
Rating: 
Summary: Multiple fine preformances still come up zero!
Review: This movie turned out to be a schizophrenic combination of every teenage cliche that exists. The transitions of the story as well as the emotions of the characters flip-flop at the drop of the hat. The worst of it is the fact that many of the performances were really strong and the story had great potential. In the end, the editing and dialogue destroyed anything valuable in this film. Mandy Moore put in a surprisingly strong performance, but it really was the best friend Scarlet who stole the show with a luminous presence. If you are bored this summer with money to burn and two hours to waste, feel free to go to this film, otherwise I think it is a slumber party video rental for fans of Mandy Moore.
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Summary: How NOT to Deal
Review: I saw the trailers for this movie and it looked good. I read the Sarah Dessen book SOMEBODY LIKE YOU which this movie is based on, and I really enjoyed it. The book was fun, realistic and basically highlighted the struggles a teenager Hailey goes through with her family and friends. This movie tries way too hard to deal with many issues without even dealing with them. Most things are an afterthought, like Hailey's dad getting married again, or her sister getting married, or her best friend who's boyfriend dies and leaves her pregnant. First off, this movie is very very loosely based on the book. In the book, Hailey's parents are happily married, she does not even have a sister, and they actually deal with her best friend and their friendship as well as her pregnancy. As well in the book, her friends mom wanted her to get an abortion, later changing her mind. At one point in this movie the mother wants her to get an abortion, but later is happy she had the baby without any explation as to why she changed her mind. Instead, for almost half the movie we don't even see her friend so by the time she's back and ready to give birth, you've basically forgotten all about that story. This movie basically deals with Hailey and her boyfriend Macon, as well as all these "big events" in between that are never been dealt with. Mandy Moore is a good actress but this is not the best role for her, it just didn't work. I guess the lesson is how to deal, is to not deal with it at all. Pass on this one. It's forgettable.
Rating: 
Summary: "How To Deal" had promise but is ultimately disappointing...
Review: How To Deal tries to "deal" with too much in too little time, making for one crowded and not fully satisfying teen drama. It probably wasn't such a good idea to try and cram two books worth of material into one movie. But even so, I'm sure it could have worked better than it does here. There's so many characters and relationships, which would be fine but dividing the time up between them doesn't leave much time for each one. And the main one we are supposed to care about feels rushed. Although I'm actually thankful the relationship with Halley (Mandy Moore) and Macon (Trent Ford) didn't have more time, because it was a joke and the whole time I kept rolling my eyes and screaming inside "NO! Don't get together. You guys couldn't be more wrong for eachother." I never wanted them to be together. They had zero chemistry, and I never felt they really cared for eachother. It felt like a waste of time watching a so called "relationship" between these two. I'm shocked at how contrived this relationship was. I haven't seen a more contrived relationship in a teen movie in quite some time now. I don't see how anyone, even pre-teens, could not see through this. It was simply pathetic. It felt like all Macon wanted was to get in Halley's pants, and that's all she wanted too. So then later on when she says to him something to the effect that she was starting to love him, I couldn't help but think "Love? Ha! You obviously don't know what love is because there's no way you could love him when you don't even know him and haven't had a single deep conversation, unless it was shown off-screen." I never once cared about Macon, and couldn't see how it would be at all possible for Halley to either. Hmm, maybe all of the dysfunctional relationships around her blinded her and made her a bad judge of character? It would certainly seem so. When a romance movie ends and you are left thinking that it's very likely the two could break-up the next day and don't have a chance in hell at staying together, it's not exactly a good thing. Of course in this case, I'd have been more satisfied with them breaking it off before the movie ended. Now that would have been a happy ending for me. But at least it's comforting knowing that they don't stand a chance at lasting, and Halley might eventually find real true love. Surprisingly, the best relationship comes from Halley's best friend, Scarlett (Alexandra Holden), and her new boyfriend, Michael (John White). Sadly, they only get a few seconds of screen time, yet the two characters seemed to have the most chemistry and had me more interested than the Halley/Macon relationship. I swear anything would be more interesting than the relationship between Halley and Macon though. I'm willing to bet that a cardboard box and a rock have more chemistry. Mandy Moore (A Walk To Remember) gives a nice, natural performance again. It's too bad it wouldn't have been in a better movie. Trent Ford, on the other hand, gives what is sure to be the worst male performance of the year. Every time he spoke I would roll my eyes. He delivers his lines so atrociously bad that it has to be seen to believe. Even the two girls sitting a few seats over from me would make fun of him every time he was on the screen. I couldn't have agreed with them more. This guy was just so awful. Him and Moore had absolutely no chemistry. I actually think with a better actor playing Macon that the relationship between Halley and Macon wouldn't have been so laughable. In fact, I think the lead role should have went to John White, who had the small part of Michael, and someone else should have played Michael. Although the only problem with that is that it might cheapen the nice relationship between Michael and Scarlett if he were played by someone else. Either way, Trent Ford should not have been in this, unless he was just an extra that walks by the camera in a scene and doesn't have to speak. I don't mean to be so harsh, but his performance was just so downright terrible. I highly suggest some acting lessons before attempting another role, that is if anyone is even going to want to hire him after this. Anyway, enough about him. A nice surprise was Alexandra Holden (The Hot Chick), who was just adorable as Halley's best friend. I really would like to see her in more roles soon. She made her character so likable that I rather would have been watching a movie about her instead. In my opinion, she stole the show from Moore. Also providing a good performance as usual was Allison Janney (Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Hours) as Halley's mom. She provides for a very welcome and somewhat shocking (considering the kind of movie) laugh in one of her first major scenes. It was probably the best scene she was in. Also worth a note is Nina Foch as Halley's pot smoking grandmother. She manages to give us a few laughs in the few scenes she's in. In the end, How To Deal had promise but is ultimately disappointing. I give it credit for trying to be edgier, and I really did appreciate it actually throwing in a couple of sudden and unexpected shocks our way, but there's just too much going on for one movie, leaving it all cluttered and feeling somewhat phony. I couldn't help but be reminded of a much better edgier PG-13 movie involving teens, the downright superb and well acted Crazy/Beautiful (9/10 or A-). Now that's one that managed to succeed with flying colors. This one is all stale. Sure, it brings up real problems that teens face, but the way it presents most of them just doesn't ring true. Don't get me wrong, it was decent and not really boring or anything, but sadly, it doesn't live up to its full potential. For a movie that claims to be "a lesson in love for non-believers," I sure don't see anyone learning much. Grade: 6/10 (C+)
Rating:
Summary: Worth a look...
Review: Judging from the small Saturday night crowd I viewed "How to Deal" with, this movie will not rate much of a mention among the summer blockbusters. And I guess that's fair, because this is not a great movie, or even a small gem like "A Walk to Remember". But, there are good things in it, and a pleasing soundtrack to move along the slow parts. Mandy Moore is great throughout -- she is reason enough to see it. There is an attention to detail and slightly overstuffed plot that reminds us at all times that this is based on a richer, longer book. It may not be a great movie, but it's an interesting one.
Rating:
Summary: if you like 'chick flicks' & dramas you'll love this movie
Review: A movie that displays relationships with whomever (Mother/ daughter, Friend/ friend, boyfriend/ girlfriend, sister/ sister) in such true ways... this movie was also very captivating and powerful to me... and as I write this I wonder: What will the characters' fate be?- as many films like this make me do...The movie that does great justice to the books it was based on..... I really loved 'Someone Like You,' although 'That Summer' wasn't as good, and was so glad that the movie stayed true to the books messages... I think the music was very suitable... and the leads were a great fit for the characters... I can't wait to see what will happen to these promising actresses... and I really hope Sarah Dessen contiues to write meaning ful and powerful books... If you don't know if you want to see this- trust me if you like 'chick flicks' and dramas you, as I did, will see the movie and hope to see the movie again... soon
Rating:
Summary: I was hoping for so much more...
Review: I went into this movie with high expectations, mostly because I love Mandy Moore and "A Walk to Remember" is one of my favorite movies. However, I was disappointed with the film. Mandy Moore gives a good performance, but she is not given good material to work with and the film is crowded with under-developed characters and too many plots. The story follows Hallie, a cynical teenager who, after her parents' divorce, doesn't believe in love. Despite this, she ends up in a relationship with Macon, a boy from school who uses his "Jedi mind tricks" on her, but her fear of getting too close to him causes some problems. Meanwhile, her best friend gets into some trouble, her sister plans her wedding, her father gets remarried, her crazy grandma visits, and there are a few too many shots of her tossing and turning in bed. The editing in this movie needs work, as shots are cut off too soon and there are very few transitions from one scene to the next. The music isn't too great, either. The most annoying thing about the film, however, is that there isn't enough time for all of the things the filmmakers try to include in it - a pregnancy, a death, a car crash, a divorce, two weddings, a birth, and that druggie grandma. If a few of these had been taken out and the movie had been focused on one thing (such as the romance between Macon and Hallie and/or her parents' divorce), it would have been stronger. The serious parts of the movie weren't very touching, although perhaps I would have been more emotional at the birth scene if not for my friend laughing hysterically beside me (or clomping down the theatre stairs so she could quickly go to the bathroom and come back - I'm still not sure why she felt the need to rush back into the theatre). I think Mandy Moore is a talented actress and singer, and I will go see her other movies, but I think this one could have been a lot better. I tried very hard to like this movie, but after Hallie's voice over in the car crash scene where she says, "Some people fall in love - I had to crash into it," I realized I just couldn't.
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