A Father at 15? No Problem!

Lifetime’s two-hour message movie, “Too Young to Be a Dad” (at 9 tonight), is as unsubtle and painfully earnest as an “Afterschool Special.” It’s also twice as long, and despite a solid cast that includes the usually noteworthy Kathy Baker and Bruce Davison, it feels it, long before the happily-ever-after wrap-up.

Baker and Davison are parents rocked by the revelation that their 15-year-old, straight-arrow, honor-student son Matt (Paul Franklin Dano, personifying sweet vulnerability), is going to be a father.

Pushed into a first-time sexual encounter that he wasn’t ready for by troubled classmate Francesca (Katie Stuart), Matt sees his college-bound future derailed when that liaison leads to pregnancy.

Distraught Francesca agrees with her parents’ aggressive planning to give up the baby for adoption, but Matt anguishes over the decision as he accepts responsibility for the pregnancy.

When school policy dictates that both teenagers transfer to an alternative school, Matt aces all the parenting classes. He gets a part-time job and sells belongings to help his parents pay for their share of Francesca’s medical bills. His parents’ disappointment turns to pride; his rebel sister is inspired to rethink her own future.

The cautionary messages about teen pregnancy and a father’s responsibility ring true, but the well-meant, rosy conclusion in Edithe Swensen’s teleplay is unintentionally contradictory: Matt proves so nurturing and mature that fatherhood at 15 doesn’t seem too young after all.