Mandy Moore is a charming actress. Yes, now I can call her an actress, I just can't look at her as the singer who constantly belted out manufactured pop songs. She has talent in acting and she should stick with it. For her I say "Quit your day job and keep tight with acting". Unlike many before her she's received critical acclaim and it's not hard to believe. Moore can deliver her lines and deliver them well with charm, grace, and deadpan delivery to others who just seem to be astounded by her character. Though hardly anything new, she's great with her character aside from the dialogue she's given which is just so god-awful.

With her, she's given a very nice cast of actors including the always adorable, always cute as a button Alexandra Holden who is good as Scarlett, Halley's best friend who mysteriously disappears halfway through the film, and then there are seasoned veteran actors such as the hilarious Allison Janney as Halley's mother who refuses to let go of her grudge on her husband after their divorce even screaming at a camera after demonstrating how her friend should tape her date video, and then there's Pete Gallagher who is shockingly un-credited in the film credits but alas he's quirky and odd as Halley's father who is somewhat of a media whore, even marrying his new wife in front of his fans from his radio show much to the embarrassment of his daughters. These actors are so fun to watch in this, and it's a shame how some are wasted.

"How to Deal" is one of those films that feels like a film, looks like a film, has a cast of a film, but deep down the plot is just out of a cheap television drama, and boy is it bad. Mandy Moore has managed to impress me more and more as an actress and I hope she sticks with it, because she surely does have a future in it, now if she could only choose better films. Starting off as a cookie cutter blond pop singer to a unique actress, "How to Deal" surely will not propel her into the acting world any further, and I doubt it will do so to any other of the cast members here.

The problem with this is not the acting, there's a good cast, it's not the direction which is light and airy as would be required, but it's simply the awful script which translates into an awful film. Trite, contrived, and with situations that are so emotionally manipulative, "How to Deal" was a rather painful experience.

Moore plays Halley Martin, the youngest in a family and a somewhat jaded and cynical girl, as the formula provides, she's a girl who whines and bellows, she's rebellious, but we're
never sure why, maybe for the sake of being rebellious, and attempts to analyze romance in such a contrived way spouting out dialogue about romance that we've heard so many times it's almost predictable.

So after a few vain monologues in which she breaks down life and babbles about her screwed up family, which isn't that screwed up, we have an eccentric pot smoking grandma, an
uptight sister, a father and mother going through middle aged crises, it's not that harsh comparing to other families.

So after the obligatory set-up we meet Hally's friend Scarlett (the adorable Alexandra Holden: Sugar & Spice, The Hot Chick) who is seeing a soccer player. Scarlett is the obligatory friend who always has secondary dialogue, but the problem is, her subplot is so interesting, and we never really get to see her situation.

After a ridiculous scene in which Scarlett's boyfriend dies, an emotionally manipulative
scene, Scarlett realizes she's pregnant, and must now decide to keep or abort the baby, it's a great premise for her character, but rarely ever touched upon. "How to Deal" is never sure what it wants to be; drama, romance, comedy, slice of life, coming of age, it's all over the place. So, after Scarlett discovers she's pregnant, we never hear from her again.

We go through fifty minutes without hearing or seeing from her, though her subplot would have made for some good fodder, however we go straight into Halley's plot with her crush, Macon (Trent Foster), a smug, self-analytical ne'er do well who gains Halley's interest. Trent sparks no charisma, but nonetheless he's forced upon us and we're supposed to believe they're falling in love through an awkward montage watching them dating, and playing, and laughing with music from some adult contemporary band playing in the background to which leads us to a horrible scene where Moore begins dancing to some twenty's music.

Anyway, either way we're supposed to believe they've fallen in love and they go through turmoil, because what's a romance without turmoil, they nearly diddle one another and, they accidentally get into a car crash. Why would that happen? Who the heck knows, either way it's a ridiculous scene without any set-up and it's so blatantly attempting to jerk a tear from us, but we get to discover what Moore looks like in a wrist cast, and Macon leaves Halley at the hospital.

t's a basically cold-hearted thing to do, but it sets up the two characters for the usual kiss
scene. So, we're taken through other sub-plots, the badly under-developed subplot with Halley's sister which is supposed to symbolize blossoming romance Halley frowns upon but is just trite, and the plot with Halley's mom who meets a new beau conveniently after a confrontation with her husband who is dating his secretary.

Yes, there are a lot of sub-plots, and all are so horribly under-developed to the point where they're almost non-existent, but we're supposed to cry, and there's Halley's grandmother
who is eccentric and smokes pot, she's a plot device used to make us laugh. Are we supposed to laugh or cry? The writers are never sure.

We muddle through meaningless dialogue after meaningless dialogue, from situation after situation, until we reach the climax which is not only sappy setting up an ending that's supposed to bring a tear to our eye, but also displays a painfully annoying exchange between Ford and Moore. Ultimately, nothing works here, though it tries desperately.

Great cast, well-acted but ultimately a bad, cliché, cheesy, sappy and contrived piece of emotionally manipulative fluff that never really makes any sense nor does it know where to go with the plot.