Moore shows us 'How to Don't'

My biggest question walking out of this movie was "How to Deal" with the fact that I just wasted 101 minutes of my life. "How to Deal" is the story of an oversexed high school girl played by Mandy Moore (what a surprise!) going through tragedy after tragedy all the while trying to figure out how to fall in love. Now, we've all been through the tormenting adolescence of high school, but is it necessary to drive the topic into the ground with yet another crappy teen movie?\nAccording to director Clare Kilner, it is necessary. It is also necessary to divert from innocent high school child's play into underage angst magnified by casual sex ideologies. There were scenes where I had an uncomfortable time distinguishing between this Moore flick and a teenage porn with John Mayer crooning in the background. The only interesting diversions are Moore's bitterly divorced mom (Allison Janney) and her pot-smoking grandmother (Nina Foch) who offers the only enlightening commentary. \nMaybe I'm not being fair. Moore is a decent actress and I appreciate her half-baked attempts to bring a new look to youth culture. The movie did strangle a laugh or two out of me, but the camera work is weak, the music is MTV and the plot has been done four million times before.\nI recommend this movie if you are a sixteen-year-old girl with a pregnant friend, a divorced mom, a crazy dad, a dead boyfriend or an obsession with falling in love.\nIf not, skip it.