By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * *)
American studies are pointing to increasing time spent reading among young women, put down to the emergence of the "young adult novel". Here one of the emerging talents of Hollywood, Mandy Moore, stars in a story based on two such books, Someone Like You
and That Summer by Sarah Dessen.
Moore's character, Halley Martin, narrates the story, which begins just after her father has left home for a "radio weather bimbo", her sister is marrying into a family of rich snobs, her best friend is dealing with a moral decision, and Halley may be about to embark on her first romance. He's a nice boy, Macon (Trent Ford).
The movie tries to deal with teenage sexuality, broken
marriages and Learning To Be Yourself. Much of its success is down to Allison Janney (best known as CJ, the White House spokesperson in The West Wing) as Halley's mom, and Alexandra Holden, as her best friend.
It's a movie that you want to like because it's more intelligent and sensitive than the average teen movie. It comes up short, however, because the characters aren't drawn deeply enough for us to care about them.
DVD features: movie (101min); commentary with Clare Kilner, Mandy Moore, Alexandra Holden; 4 deleted scenes with optional commentary; Moore on Mandy, Macon Trent, To Be Clare features on Moore, Ford, director Clare Kilner; How to Deal with Young Adult Literature, 28min doco on young adult fiction; 2 music videos, Skye Sweetnam's Billy S, Liz Phair's Why Can't I?; trailers.
