HOW TO DEAL
Year: 2003
USA: New Line Cinema
Cast: Mandy Moore, Allison Janney, Alexandra Holden, Peter Gallagher, Trent Ford, Dylan Baker Mackenzie Astin, Mary Catherine Garrison, Connie Ray, Sonja Smits, Darrin Brown, Enis Esmer, Nina Foch, Inna Korobkina, Marvin Lara, Darryl Pring, Dana Reznik
Director: Clare Kilner
Country: USA
USA Rated: PG-13 for sexual content, drug material, language and some thematic elements
USA Release Date: 18 July 2003
Synopsis
Sometimes life gets turned upside down. And maybe that's why it's so hard to believe that anyone, especially 17 year-old Halley Martin (Mandy Moore), could actually experience that thing called love.
The people closest to Halley are in the midst of major upheavals in their love lives. Her mother, Lydia (Allison Janney), is embittered by her recently finalized divorce. Her sister, Ashley (Mary Catherine Garrison), is marrying a guy with whom she is constantly fighting. Her best friend, Scarlett (Alexandra Holden), can't keep her hands off of her first serious boyfriend. Most distressingly for Halley, her father, Len (Peter Gallagher), who is a DJ at a local radio station, combats his midlife crisis with a stereotypically boyish elopement to the station's much-younger traffic reporter.
So how's Halley supposed to deal? She isn't about to let herself succumb to the pipe dream of storybook romance, and Macon Forrester (Trent Ford) is the one guy who challenges her idea that love just complicates a perfectly good friendship. As Halley's life grows more and more complicated, she finds a friend in Macon, but when she feels herself falling for him, will Halley move beyond her fears and disappointments to experience real love?
A humorous and poignant look at teen romance, How to Deal stars Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember) as the independent and spirited Halley Martin. Allison Janney (AMERICAN BEAUTY, NBC's THE WEST WING) plays Halley's mother Lydia and Peter Gallagher (Mr. Deeds, CBS' CUPID & CATE) plays her father Len. The ensemble cast also includes Trent Ford, Alexandra Holden, Dylan Baker, Nina Foch, Mackenzie Astin, Connie Ray, Mary Catherine Garrison and Sonja Smits.
