How to Deal
review by Gregory Avery, 18 July 2003

In How to Deal, the pop singer Mandy Moore, continuing to show promising acting ability, plays Halley, a Jersey girl who, during the course of her junior year in high school, has her cynical impressions about men and the impossibility of having true and genuine relationships with them confronted, then affirmed, by Macon (Trent Ford, amiable and not quite as louche as the advertising art makes him out to be), who starts out as friends with her but then wants to become more serious.

By the end, Halley -- who also has an older sister (Mary Catherine Garrison) who's getting married, a best friend (Alexandra Holden) who's going to become a mother, and a mother (Allison Janney) who's finalizing a divorce with the sisters' clownish father (Peter Gallagher, who looks rather too clownish) -- finds a way to deal with men, and life, in all its "messy", "out-of-order" fashion (two terms used by the fiancé How to Deal" tries to be thoughtful and pleasing, but it also comes across as a little blanded-out. The movie seems to find a way to get Moore and Ford's characters into a clinch by the end more for the reassurance of the audience than anything else (and this is not necessarily a "spoiler", by the way). However, the picture, without being preachy or instructional, does suggest that girls should think and take responsibility for how they live their lives and what they themselves do and do not feel comfortable or right about, even if it's not a part of the accepted norm.e, played by Mackenzie Astin, to describe, affectionately, Halley's sister).

How to Deal tries to be thoughtful and pleasing, but it also comes across as a little blanded-out. The movie seems to find a way to get Moore and Ford's characters into a clinch by the end more for the reassurance of the audience than anything else (and this is not necessarily a "spoiler", by the way). However, the picture, without being preachy or instructional, does suggest that girls should think and take responsibility for how they live their lives and what they themselves do and do not feel comfortable or right about, even if it's not a part of the accepted norm. Not a bad idea, at a time when some pop icons feel like they need to grease themselves up in order to attract an audience. Moore's character chops her hair short at the beginning of the film in reaction to something her dad says, and isn't afraid to look as if a lawn mower just did a job on it. And she convincingly plays some difficult scenes where her adolescent character puts the breaks on her actions for reasons she's not entirely sure about -- she's going into areas where she doesn't feel like she should go, right now, and she takes the risk of following what her instincts are telling her, even if that's not going to make everyone happy, and even if it's not easy for herself, either.

The film features strong performances by Holden and by Janney, whose character channels her disappointments over how things turned out with her marriage into such things as chopping vegetables and wedding the flower beds (the latter scene is a particular hoot); the late Nina Foch plays an adorable, medicinal cannabis-smoking grandmother -- the movie presents her rather risibly, even though Foch's performance is not. While the movie keeps its aim at being entertainment at the forefront, it turns out to be a small triumph for Moore, who creates a character who has integrity but is also someone you can relate to. You hope Trent Ford's Macon respects and appreciates what he's getting in the end with this girl.

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