A Terminally Cute ‘Horrible Year!’

Evidently, Eric Stoltz is one of those actors who always wanted to direct. He does just that in “My Horrible Year!,” Showtime’s self-consciously quirky coming-of-age comedy in which he also has a small supporting role.

Stoltz’s leading lady is Allison Mack, a young actress loaded with spunk, charm and a limitless array of facial expressions that convey each visible emotion, virtually from minute to minute.

Mack plays Nik, a winsome teen on the verge of celebrating her 16th birthday and the removal of her braces. So much for the good news. The bad news: Nik suspects her downsized father (Brian Heighton) and overworked mother (Karen Allen), who have twin infants, are about to sell the house and get a divorce.

She also thinks Dad is fooling around with her vivacious aunt (Mimi Rogers), the wife of her beloved Uncle Charlie (Stoltz), who recently died of a heart attack.

Emotional support is provided by Nik’s best buds Babyface (Caterina Scorsone) and Mouse (Daniel Petronijevic), two wrestling fans who are reluctant to act on their feelings for one another because they fear rejection.

On top of all that, Nik has a crush on a good-looking transfer student (J. Adam Brown) who likes her too.

Sounds fairly watchable, right? The problem is Stoltz stuffs the film with so many whimsical flourishes and odd flights of fancy that he loses a grip on the basics. In other words, he overplays the cute stuff instead of allowing the story to unfold gradually on its own simple terms. It’s as if he didn’t trust the material.

Beyond that, the P.J. McIlvaine script has Mack speaking directly to the camera for much of the film, which is one cliche we could do without.

* “My Horrible Year!” can be seen Sunday at 8 p.m. on Showtime. The network has rated it TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children).