Michelle Trachtenberg

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Carrie Beal is conflicted. Oh man, is she conflicted. She doesn’t know if she should stay with this guy, or that guy, or run away, or go home, or help this friend, or be true to, you know, herself.

It’s an awful lot for a young woman to have to chew on, but when your story is the central plot line to an original movie airing on Lifetime, this is what is known simply as having a normal existence.

So it goes in "The Dive From Clausen’s Pier," which despite the title has nothing to do with pickles. It’s about a lady seemingly stuck in an adolescent mindset who has taken the art of being wishy-washy to stellar new heights. It makes rooting for her and her perpetually angst-riddled self a tall order, yet the story line here is involving enough to at least hold our interest through a lazy summer evening.

Based on a novel about "a young woman’s courageous journey of self-discovery" (the press release’s words) by Ann Packer, "Clausen’s Pier" stars Michelle Trachtenberg ("Harriet the Spy," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Ice Princess") as Carrie. She’s 23, luminous, fully lipped and seemingly fighting an internal battle over the whole womanhood thing in her hometown of Madison, Wis.

Carrie also is engaged to marry Mike Mayor (Will Estes), though she’s having some major second thoughts and is about to tell him she’s leaving him. So it’s horribly inconvenient when Mike busts his neck in a diving accident and winds up a quadriplegic. Now when she separates from Mike, everyone thinks Carrie is running because she can’t handle his being in a wheelchair. Instead, she’s running because she needs to find herself ("Yoo-hoo! Me! Hello? Where are me?")

Life just so totally sucks when you’re misunderstood. Fortunately for Carrie, she’s able to flee to New York and instantly take up with a charming and enigmatic eccentric named Kilroy (Sean Maher, in a spirited performance) who briefly makes her forget that she’s engaged to a guy who can no longer move. Turns out that Kilroy has plenty of demons of his own, but she’s having too much fun to care. Then the ol’ conflict bug strikes again and Carrie is off, back to Madison for a wedding, and of course there’s Mike looking hurt.

John Wierick’s adaptation of the Packer book labors to make this a poignant coming-of-age tale, and Trachtenberg is nothing if not an appealing waif. But director Harry Winer seems to have some trouble knowing what to do with his star. She’s a vulnerable doe one minute, a steely flake the next. The indecision and internal battle grow so pronounced as to be a bit absurd, and in any case, Carrie becomes very difficult to love. It’s one thing to have empathy for her plight, another to sit and watch her emotionally scorching the earth beneath her wherever she goes. And it doesn’t help that the men in her life wind up being contrite and mealy mouthed in that trademark "Television for Women" way.

"The Dive From Clausen’s Pier" is a story of tragedy, all right, but not in the traditional sense. It’s about the horrors of immaturity and the inability to articulate one’s true remorse, confusion and grief when life hands you challenges. In that way, perhaps the film is realistic. But it invariably leaves us with little other than the notion that when the going gets tough, the tough get selfish.

Cast: Carrie Beal: Michelle Trachtenberg; Kilroy: Sean Maher; Mike Mayor: Will Estes; Jamie: Kristin Fairlie; Rooster: Dylan Taylor; Simon: Matthew Edison; Marcia: Janet Land; Jan Mayor: Diane Reis; Stu: Corey Turner; Mr. Mayor: John Dartt; Lane: Tara Doyle; Viktor: John Beale; Christine: Susie Counsel.

Executive producers: Brenda Friend, Bruce Davey, Nancy Cotton; Producer: Michael Mahoney; Director: Harry Winer; Teleplay: John Wierick; Based on the novel by: Ann Packer; Director of photography: David Greene; Production designer: Louise Middleton; Art director: Glenn Coolen; Costume designer: Kate Delmage; Editor: David Simmons; Music: Bruce Broughton; Sound mixer: Paul Adlaf; Casting: Molly Lopata, Forrest & Forrest Casting, Sheila Lane.