Critic Reviews

• Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

  The pop diva goes down with the bubbles in this hopelessly shallow soap opera.

• Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

  I've seen a lot of dumb teen romances in the last couple years, but How to Deal, is a welcome exception.

• A.O. Scott, New York Times

  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.

• Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

  Painless to watch, but it's marred by some significant flaws.

• Desson Thomson, Washington Post

  A bad, unimaginative story posing pretentiously as the very opposite.

• Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

  Another soundtrack-driven, disposable, not entirely objectionable teen movie.

• Nell Minow, Common Sense Media

  Even Moore fans may find this hard to deal with.

• Mark Collette, Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

  Fails to acknowledge the real problems teenagers face.

• Kurt Dahlke, Apollo Guide

  The girlies get a bevy of extras, including a cast/ director commentary track, four deleted scenes, and three short featurettes.

• Kurt Dahlke, Apollo Guide

  Will enthral pre-teen chippies with its wholesome, marshmallow-peep-sweet vacuous-ness.

• Daniel M. Kimmel, Worcester Telegram & Gazette

  [T]his is a movie that teenage girls -- and nearly no one else -- should enjoy.

• Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

  "Love is a big scary concept," she says. Indeed Halley, now can you please pass some of that ganja your funny little grandmother is smoking?

• Mark Palermo, Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

  In delivering its message of teen perseverence, How to Deal piles on "issues" without finding a reasonable connective narrative.

• Jason Anderson, eye WEEKLY

  Overcrowded with characters and subplots, the film gives short shrift to the parts that should matter.

• Todd Gilchrist, FilmStew.com

  How To Deal eventually folds because it stacks its deck against a true belief in the possibility of love. . .

• Eugene Novikov, Film Blather

  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.

• Mark Dujsik, Mark Reviews Movies

  How to Deal is about dealing, I guess; I mean, that's what the title says after all.

Read all 17 critic reviews