Critic Reviews
How to Deal (2003) Rank 5 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (160) reviews
Click on the numbers to the right of the graph to see reviews of that rating
Reviews by Score:
Film Blather (Eugene Novikov)
Would probably hold a special place in my heart regardless, due to the fact that it portrays a Star Wars geek as actually desirable, but this is a good movie by any standard. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Film Blather (Eugene Novikov)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Eleanor Ringel Gillespie)
A much better deal than you're probably expecting. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Eleanor Ringel Gillespie)
Moda Magazine (Brian Orndorf)
San Francisco Chronicle (Carla Meyer)
UTK Daily Beacon (Lindsey Desher)
dvdfuture.com (Randy Spiros)
ninth symphony films
The Boston Phoenix
Hollywood Jesus Visual Reviews
Entertain Your Brain! - Review
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
MovieEye.com (David Litton)
Christian Spotlight on the Movies
Chicago Tribune (Ellen Fox)
This is a movie whose title promises to show teenage viewers how to cope with the messed-up, grown-up world they are entering, not how to make it perfect -- or even how to make sense of it. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Chicago Tribune (Ellen Fox)
St. Paul Pioneer Press (Chris Hewitt)
Baltimore Sun (Chris Kaltenbach)
There's pleasure to be had in a film that suggests teen life can be hard without necessarily being tragic. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Baltimore Sun (Chris Kaltenbach)
MovieWeb (Evan "Mushy" Jacobs)
Peter Sobczynski
UpcomingDiscs.com (David Annandale)
Entertainment Weekly (Owen Gleiberman)
Moore makes Halley's awakening organic and touching. In an age when most teenagers are up to their eyeballs in postmodern consumer glitz, her movies seem radical not just in their retro squareness but in their unfashionable embrace of faith over ironic ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Entertainment Weekly (Owen Gleiberman)
Palo Alto Online (Jeanne Aufmuth)
The Popkorn Junkie
Palo Alto Weekly (Jeanne Aufmuth)
The plot pulls off a few unexpectedly dramatic kinks, adding unforeseen edge and a welcome surprise factor to the sentimental proceedings. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Palo Alto Weekly (Jeanne Aufmuth)
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (Josh Larsen)
...handles swooning material with something that can almost be called tact. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (Josh Larsen)
Bucket Reviews (Danny Baldwin)
DVD Town (Yunda Eddie Feng)
The Lumière Reader
The Cranky Critic (Chuck Schwartz)
IndependentCritics.com (Richard Propes)
ToxicUniverse.com (Brandon Curtis)
DVD Verdict (Bill Treadway)
CultureDose.net (Brandon Curtis)
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Entertainment Zone Review (Michelle Snow)
Guess the Gross
DVD Net (Martin Friedel)
Exclaim! (Erin Oke)
Steve Rhodes <Steve.Rhodes@internetreviews.com>
Mandy Mooreswears, trespasses and almost rounds third base inHow to Deal, an unkempt comedy/drama held together by barrettes and its cast's camaraderie.As usual, Mandy and her perfect skin always end up in some highstress situation. InDeal, she stars as ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Steve Rhodes <Steve.Rhodes@internetreviews.com>
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Sun Newspapers of Cleveland
Reel.com (Kim Morgan)
The Onion (A.V. Club) (Scott Tobias)
There's a surprising intelligence and gravity working beneath its bubbly surface, informed by an unusual degree of empathy for its adolescent audience and a rare willingness to confront the darker regions of youth experience. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at The Onion (A.V. Club) (Scott Tobias)
Screen It! Entertainment Reviews for Parents
Salon.com (Stephanie Zacharek)
Janney's role is smaller than Moore's, but it's hardly insignificant. Moore has youth on her side, and youth is timelessly appealing. But Janney is the bigger, more memorable presence, and she's much more fun to watch. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Salon.com (Stephanie Zacharek)
Slant Magazine - DVD Review
hybridmagazine.com
Austin Chronicle (Kimberley Jones)
PopMatters (Cynthia Fuchs)
Contra Costa Times (Mary F. Pols)
An amiable, after-school -special-style teen drama. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Contra Costa Times (Mary F. Pols)
Weekly Reviews (Nathan Weinbender) - Capsule
eFilmCritic Reviews
The Flick Filosopher (MaryAnn Johanson)
Chicago Tribune
Premiere (Alexis Mersel)
The handful of comic moments will serve up a few good laughs. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Premiere (Alexis Mersel)
Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
How to Deal is pop singer Mandy Moore's fourth movie, and already the winsome waif shows signs of becoming heiress apparent to '80s teen queen Molly Ringwald. The film, based on Sarah Dessen's young-adult novels Someone Like You and That ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
Film Freak Central
Denver Rocky Mountain News (Robert Denerstein)
Despite attempts at seriousness, How To Deal remains a bland and mostly predictable coming -of-age story. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Denver Rocky Mountain News (Robert Denerstein)
Dallas Morning News (Matt Weitz)
Require[s] only the presence of Scott Baio to qualify as fodder for an after-school special. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Dallas Morning News (Matt Weitz)
SPLICEDwire (Rob Blackwelder)
Austin Chronicle (Kimberley Jones)
It’s just too much drama for one modest film to service adequately. In an effort to cram it all in, scenes abruptly jump from one to the next with nary a smooth transition in sight, relationships evolve far too quickly, and certain subplots drop ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Austin Chronicle (Kimberley Jones)
Mark Reviews Movies (Mark Dujsik)
Harvey S. Karten
Netflix (James Rocchi)
Rushed, crowded teen drama kinda-sorta satisfies as pop star-turned-actress Mandy Moore leans to embrace ... love. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Netflix (James Rocchi)
Los Angeles Times (Kevin Thomas)
Works up some genuine emotion offset by occasional humor and creates individuals of a certain degree of complexity, but the film is glazed over with an aura of artificiality. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Los Angeles Times (Kevin Thomas)
Jam! Movies (Jane Stevenson)
Part comedy, part tragedy, this teen romance rises above most of them out there, due in no small part to the sexy chemistry between Moore and Ford. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Jam! Movies (Jane Stevenson)
New York Times (A.O. Scott)
After a while the bad lighting, graceless editing, sluggish dialogue and self-conscious performances begin to seem like marks of authenticity, as if the movie had been made not just for and about teenagers, but by them. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at New York Times (A.O. Scott)
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (Ken Hanke)
It has more indigestible plot contrivances than a Claxton fruit cake has raisins, but at bottom it's not insultingly facile and it's moderately entertaining within its own soapy aims. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (Ken Hanke)
Village Voice (Laura Sinagra)
As Mom, Allison Janney easily dominates every scene she graces, as does Morning Zoo jock papa Peter Gallagher. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Village Voice (Laura Sinagra)
Los Angeles Times (Kevin Thomas)
Some moments ring true, others seem contrived, but the film is by and large sustained by strong central performances and by its depth. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Los Angeles Times (Kevin Thomas)
cinEncanto (Pablo del Moral)
Boxoffice Magazine
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Godard famously informed us that the history of cinema is the history of boys photographing girls, and although "How to Deal" may not be very good, it is splendidly historical in Godardian terms. The girl is Mandy Moore, who has such an unaffected natural ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Las Vegas Weekly (Jaime Buerger)
The Land of Eric (Eric D. Snider)
The Movie Mom (Nell Minow)
Fantastica Daily (Mervius)
The best thing I can say about How to Deal is that the camera loves Mandy Moore. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Fantastica Daily (Mervius)
Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
The film, based on Sarah Dessen's young-adult novels Someone Like You and That Summer , isn't that good. But Moore is. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
Comingsoon.net
“How To Deal†is based on the young adult novels ‘Someone Like You’ and ‘That Summer’ by Sarah Dessen.
Halley Martin’s life is coming crashing down around her. Her parents are getting a divorce and her DJ father is remarrying a bimbo. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Comingsoon.net
Premiere Magazine (Alexis Mersel)
The handful of comic moments will serve up a few good laughs. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Premiere Magazine (Alexis Mersel)
Detroit Free Press (John Monaghan)
How to Deal might be a serviceable drama for kids. For anyone with a driver's license, though, Moore's sophomore vehicle hits too many wrong notes. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Detroit Free Press (John Monaghan)
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
Reeling Reviews (Robin and Laura Clifford)
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Jack Garner)
[The movie] targets 12- to 16-year-old girls, and they're going to enjoy it. But it's hard to imagine someone outside that spectrum getting very excited. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Jack Garner)
Boston Globe (Wesley Morris)
This movie is the worst episode of Gilmore Girls ever. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Boston Globe (Wesley Morris)
The Movie Chicks
Cinema Confidential (Thomas Chau)
It may taste like teenage sap, but How to Deal reminds us how we once felt the same way. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Cinema Confidential (Thomas Chau)
Hollywood.com (Guylaine Cadorette)
Screenwriter Neena Beber injected the script with scenes that didn't necessarily fit, but were added because they're expected in angst-y teen pics. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Hollywood.com (Guylaine Cadorette)
Miami Herald (Connie Ogle)
How to Deal can't make up its mind what it is, which makes for a confusing experience. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Miami Herald (Connie Ogle)
Sacramento Bee (Joe Baltake)
This is a pretty ghastly movie, except for the fact that, every once in a while, a glimmer of genuine humanity is allowed to peek through all of the artificial teen angst. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Sacramento Bee (Joe Baltake)
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
I watched the movie with interest, yes, but not emotional involvement, and my appreciation of Moore was based more on her essence than on her character. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
New York Post (Jonathn Foreman)
The sad truth is that TV series like "Dawson's Creek" do a better job with precocious teen dialogue. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at New York Post (Jonathn Foreman)
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
The pop diva goes down with the bubbles in this hopelessly shallow soap opera. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
San Francisco Chronicle (Carla Meyer)
A thoughtful but uneven teen picture, also has too much going on. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at San Francisco Chronicle (Carla Meyer)
Dallas Observer (Bill Gallo)
Competently if unremarkably directed by Englishwoman Clare Kilner, should prove compelling enough to Moore's huge legion of fans. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Dallas Observer (Bill Gallo)
Chicago Reader (J.R. Jones)
Disposable teen romance. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Chicago Reader (J.R. Jones)
Boston Globe (Wesley Morris)
This movie is the worst episode of ''Gilmore Girls'' ever. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Boston Globe (Wesley Morris)
DVD Clinic ("The Arrow")
Reel Movie Critic (Shelley Cameron)
Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
Director Claire Kilner and screenwriter Neena Beber don't walk the tightrope between comedy and drama skillfully enough to make either aspect work as well as it should. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
Miami Herald (Connie Ogle)
Mostly honest in its portrayal of teen sexuality -- it exists, whether we like it or not -- but also offers up the troubling notion of teen pregnancy as romantic and magical. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Miami Herald (Connie Ogle)
Salon.com (Stephanie Zacharek)
"How to Deal" is painless to watch, but it's marred by some significant flaws. For one thing, Halley's romance with Macon takes up a huge, sodden chunk of the movie, and it's the least interesting thing about it. Moore, with her sunbeam smile, is a ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Salon.com (Stephanie Zacharek)
Los Angeles Daily News (Bob Strauss)
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
The pop diva goes down with the bubbles in this hopelessly shallow soap opera. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
Hartford Courant (--)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Kilner and crew cough up a mish-mash of contrasting tones and tempos and wind up a rather odd, misshapen curiosity that wavers into too many styles to avoid a slow death by overkill. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Seattle Post-Intelligencer
LA Weekly (Hazel-Dawn Dumpert)
How much can one girl grapple with over the course of an hour and a ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at LA Weekly (Hazel-Dawn Dumpert)
Variety (David Rooney)
A bland romance that suffers from choppy development, dramatic overload and dearth of personality. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Variety (David Rooney)
Jam! Movies (Louis B. Hobson)
There really is enough material to fuel a soap opera, which is what How to Deal is -- only it's crammed into 100 minutes. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Jam! Movies (Louis B. Hobson)
Arizona Republic (Kathy Cano Murillo)
There's one way to deal with Mandy Moore's new drama, How to Deal : Don't. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Arizona Republic (Kathy Cano Murillo)
Boxoffice Magazine (Sheri Linden)
Despite its humorous touches, Deal overindulges an appealing gentleness to become increasingly cloying. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Boxoffice Magazine (Sheri Linden)
Toronto Star (Daphne Gordon)
Providence Journal (Michael Janusonis)
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (James Adams)
Just the umpteenth replay of the girl-meets-boy/boy-loses-girl/boy-gets-girl story. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (James Adams)
New York Daily News (Jack Mathews)
Unlike pop rival Britney Spears, Moore does project star quality on the screen, but she gives Halley an edge of nastiness that makes her harder to empathize with than she should be. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at New York Daily News (Jack Mathews)
USA Today (Claudia Puig)
Moore and Ford rise above the hackneyed story, infusing the proceedings with their own chemistry and appeal. If only the adults responsible for this film could learn how to deal. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at USA Today (Claudia Puig)
Parent Previews
Washington Post (Ann Hornaday)
Another soundtrack-driven, disposable, not entirely objectionable teen movie. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Washington Post (Ann Hornaday)
Citysearch (J. C. Farrow)
Any melodrama that introduces both teen pregnancy and a 17-year-old's funeral within the first act would seem to have nowhere to go but up, yet this joyless exercise just wallows in empty navel-gazing. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Citysearch (J. C. Farrow)
Dark Horizons (Garth Franklin)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Sue Pierman)
There are some charming moments -- Moore and Ford generate heat together and charisma separately -- but director Clare Kilner desperately needed to pare down and tighten the material. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Sue Pierman)
Kvikmyndir.com (Jon Hakon Halldorsson)
efilmcritic.com (Collin Souter)
Imagine Sixteen Candles as re-written by Britney Spears or Ghost World as re-written by Lizzie McGuire. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at efilmcritic.com (Collin Souter)
Salt Lake Tribune (Sean Means)
The script ... is so cloyingly pitched to its teen-girl demographic that you would bet the thing was written on pink paper and every 'i' was dotted with a heart. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Salt Lake Tribune (Sean Means)
Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
Embodies all that's wrong with the sellout culture of Hollywood. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
Tail Slate (Darisa Diaz)
The Movie Insider (Lynda Lin)
TV Guide Entertainment Network, Movie Guide
Boston Herald (Amy Amatangelo)
DVD Talk (Don Houston)
filmcritic.com (Sean O'Connell)
Globe and Mail (James Adams)
There's a kind of timeless, weirdly chaste 'nowhereness' to the whole enterprise, its dilemmas and behaviours as applicable to 1973 as 2003. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Globe and Mail (James Adams)
Seattle Times (Ted Fry)
Sounds like a bad episode of Dawson's Creek , but even the show's worst saga would have more emotional value than the tepid and amateurishly presented goings-on here. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Seattle Times (Ted Fry)
ShowBIZ Data (--)
TV Guide (Angel Cohn)
To call this scattered and cliché-ridden film less-than-cohesive would be generous, and Moore lacks the ability to imbue hackneyed dialogue with resonance. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at TV Guide (Angel Cohn)
Washington Post (Desson Thomson)
A bad, unimaginative story posing pretentiously as the very opposite. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Washington Post (Desson Thomson)
TV Guide's Movie Guide (Angel Cohn)
A muddled mess of melodrama. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at TV Guide's Movie Guide (Angel Cohn)
filmcritic.com (Sean O'Connell)
You could take a camcorder to the mall, videotape strangers at random, and end up with a better movie. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at filmcritic.com (Sean O'Connell)
Orlando Sentinel (Jay Boyar)
You do need a pretty strong stomach to swallow this sappy teen soaper. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Orlando Sentinel (Jay Boyar)
eye WEEKLY (Jason Anderson)
Overcrowded with characters and subplots, the film gives short shrift to the parts that should matter. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at eye WEEKLY (Jason Anderson)
One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) (Mark Collette)
Fails to acknowledge the real problems teenagers face. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) (Mark Collette)
Newsday (John Anderson)
A movie which you will find almost unbearable unless you are 1. already a huge Mandy Moore fan, 2. 12 years old and 3. clinically dead. ...read the complete How to Deal movie review at Newsday (John Anderson)
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