My Horrible Year!

Okay, "made for TV" -- Showtime, actually -- rarely means "watchable," but Smallville star Allison Mack really shines as the clunky-but-aware kid with braces, strange friends and a first crush in this purported "slice o' life" comedy. Think "That '70s Show" crossed with "10 Things I Hate About You" and you've about got it. While there are no stand-out performances besides Mack's, most of the supporting characters are quirky enough to be memorable, including Caterina Scorsone as the Bret Harte-idolizing best friend. Credit Eric Stoltz for reasonably fast-paced direction and keeping the characters, if not necessarily the plot, interesting. This is definitely a "either you like it or you don't" movie. I like it.

Dear Reader ...this film, amidst the cesspool of teenage-hopeful movies, really sticks out, kinda shines even. It lacks a lot of the campiness that is usually token with this kinda film, and replaces it with some refreshing realism (occasional profanity, believable scenarios, etc). I mean "Sure".... the narrator Nik (oh MAN what a cutie) tells a rather relative, angst-riddled tale, and is complimented well by her supportin' cast, includin' Mimi Rogers as the "stacked Aunt Marion". Eric Stoltz did a bang-up job directing this, from start to finish, even if the ending did leave a bit to be desired (just, it was predictable, that's all!). All things told, for being made-for-TV, delivered. It gets this fella's Stamp O' Approval.

This one caught me by surprise this morning on a cable channel, and I watched it to the end with a big smile on my face. It's a lovely little light footed teen story, but not like I've come to expect in recent years, in that the girls are really smart and don't look like bimbos, and the guys seem to really care about them. The parents aren't dolts, either. The whole thing was refreshing. A great cast, most of whom I've never seen before, with the exception of Mimi Rogers and Karen Allen. The photography is superb, and even the music is fun. Offbeat, I'd say, not your typical fare, which I kind of like. I recommend it highly, it was really good.

Allison Mack, Karen Allen, Caterina Scorsone

I just wanna say that films like this (films that revolve around younger teens talking about boys and realizing how much life can suck) don't appeal to me. But this one was.. different, somehow. First of all, it's NOT about a loser girl with no friends and is always miserable, and by the end of the film, turns into the prettiest most popular girl who everybody loves; like 'She's all that' sort of. Nik Faulkner (Allison Mack) is a chirpy 15 year old, going on 16. She has to take care of her twin brothers and likes a boy at school but discouraged about having to wear braces.

The characters wasn't all annoying and like alot of teen movies, there wasn't someone that always had to stir things up. Even the boy that Nik liked at school wasn't that bad, he wasn't a booster of his own ego, like they usually are in movies like this. I liked Nik's friends Mouse and Babyface, they were charming and comical. The one thing that would have been better is if they'd have just stayed friends at the end, instead of dating each other. but ah well. And of course it had to have Karen Allen in it, who played Nik's mum, or mom. It's a TV movie. All thats missing is Jane Seymour and a cheesy soundtrack and you've got yourself a pretty half-decent made-for-TV-movie.

This is a charming little film, meant for kids I think.

The story is this; Nik (Allison Mack) is about to turn 16 and is

burdened with problems- her mom and dad (Karen Allen and a really funny

Brian Heighton) have hit financial hard times, and they are forced to

work at 'lesser' jobs until better times return. Also, Nik's uncle (Eric

Stoltz) has just died of a heart attack, and Nik thinks her dad is

fooling around with her sexy widowed aunt ( Mimi Rogers). But the

biggest drag is that Nik's mother recently had twins and Nik has to baby

sit them when Mom goes to work every day. It's a teenage girls

nightmare, but luckily she has some really great and funny friends that

bolster her (and us) whenever they're on screen.

It's basically teenage girl vs. the world, and from my point of view her

problems are very small, but like all teens, to her they seem

insurmountable. Consequently, sometimes I had a hard time caring about

her dilemma, but I did keep caring for her. Allison Mack gives a great

performance, deftly balancing comedy and (self involved) pathos- I

enjoyed her very much. I enjoyed the entire cast, to be honest.

There's a lot of odd moments and quirky laughs that came out of nowhere,

obviously they were trying to make more than just another teen film, and

for the most part they succeeded.