Customer Reviews

Confessions of a Teenage Drama

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

So there are these two 15-year-old girls who've wandered into the bedroom of a party-hearty rock star, right? And they've just come in from the rain and their clothes are soaking wet, so they have to change. And there's a big party going on downstairs.

What do you think happens next?

That's right: The girls, giddy with delight, jump into the musician's bed -- and jump up and down on the mattress. Then they fool around with his... guitar collection! And when they change their outfits... well, it happens off-screen and the rocker is nowhere in the vicinity.

That's a taste of the thoroughly wholesome flavor of "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen," a perky vehicle for Lindsay Lohan of "Freaky Friday" fame. It's set in a world where the streets of New York's Soho neighborhood are startlingly kid-friendly, police stations are squeaky-clean, and even garbage bags come in pastel shades.

A word to the wise: If you find the title tantalizing, you'll probably love the film.

Gail Parent's screenplay at least offers a few witty lines and some fresh twists on some standard situations, and the irresistibly lively Lohan gives her fans their money's worth, singing, dancing and clowning around cheerfully. She's nicely teamed with Alison Pill ("Pieces of April"), who puts her own distinctive spin on the timeworn wallflower-waiting-to-bloom role.

Lohan plays aspiring actress Lola -- her real name is Mary, but that's not exotic enough to suit her -- who is mortified when her mom (Glenne Headly) decides to transplant the family from Manhattan to Dellwood, N.J. A shared love of the band Sidarthur brings Lola together with Ella (Pill), a kind but socially awkward type. Lola and Ella scheme to crash Sidarthur's farewell concert in New York and the exclusive after-show bash, for which their archrival Carla (Megan Fox) already has secured an invitation.

What sets "Drama" apart from the run-of-the-mill teen tale is its surprisingly even-handed approach to its characters. Instead of being forced to sneak into the city to see the show, Lola and Ella actually work out a mutually acceptable compromise with their parents, who are not portrayed as useless neurotics or stern disciplinarians. Even Stu Wolff (Adam Garcia), the hard-drinking Liam Gallagher type Lola idolizes, is not drawn as an egomaniac or a louse -- and, aside from throwing donuts at the police, he's certainly a perfect gentlemen around the girls, even when he's sauced.

Lola's obsession with Stu is also very PG and pretty amusing as well. Stalking him through the streets of New York, she tells Ella, "Except for the garbage and the cars, it's just like following Heathcliff out on the moors!" Later on, an incident will drive our heroine into what she calls "a depression only Hamlet would recognize."

Like the Hayley Mills films of the 1960s or the Jodie Foster comedies of the 1970s, "Drama" continues Disney's tradition of creating silly yet endearing movies with immensely likable female stars. Just as previous generations embraced "That Darn Cat" and "Candleshoe," you can bet that 20 years from now a lot of moms in their mid-30s will see "Confessions" in the video store and tell their kids, "I remember seeing that one a long time ago -- it was soooo good!"

Oh yes, when you are tired and feeling particularly lazy on a Sunday afternoon this movie is an instant mood lifter that lends itself to eating ice cream Sundays and talking on the phone while you are watching because you don't have to pay particular attention to plot or character development in order to enjoy the pretty outfits, hilarious scenes and absolute truth of this glaringly brilliant psychodrama about a 15-17 year old girl who recently changed high schools.

First off, Lindsay Lohans confidence and pretty outfits ease the audience by reminding them that her family will never come under financial straights (note the extreme fortune one would have to possess in order to carry on such an imense wardrobe) during the movie so you don't have to worry about a tedious commentary on class structure.

Second, the physical maturity and the borderline R rated behavior and theme of the movie coupled with the simultaneous innocence and clandestine sexuality of the main characters put the teenage characters in a chronological limbo whereby the audience cannot dicern and give evidence to support the exact age of said characters. This allows male members of the audience to oggle the preponderance of mammary tissue exhibited by the protagonists with impunity because the characters are sexually mature(17) while the female audience can right off the innocence and naivete of the protagonists as being the result of young age (15).

Thirdly, the relaitionship of the protagonists as portrayed by allison pill and lindsey lohan is absolutely entertaining, right on, pitch perfect and brilliantly scripted. In effect this becomes a buddy movie which preaches that no one in the high school hiearchy is down-trodden or abused if they have their own group of friends who support them and interact with them in a respectful manner. Lindsay lies to Allison, but when Allison confronts Lindsay about her trespass in verity Lindsay respectfully apologizes and they become stronger friends as a result which is what happens in real life.

Fourth, Adam Garcia is absolutely awesome as the lead singer for Sidarther, because he is a really funny dudley mooresque drunk who deserves more wide acclaim.

Fifth, the bright colors, hot outfits, fit girls and healthy complexions make this a great movie in which to forget the dark colors of the night, your drabby clothes, sagging waistline and aging skin so you can just munch the night away and bask in the glow of a well made trip back into the carefree wold of adolescent teenage girls.

This is the type of movie that belongs on TV. Lindsay Lohan is multi-talented and charismatic as "Lola" who feels like a fish out of water when her mom moves from NY to NJ. She wants to be the drama queen in more ways than one, and engages in making up stories to impress peers in her new town. The drama instructor character is a bit annoying, and the battle for acceptance among teenage girls is becoming a cliche. The music in the film is OK (Lohan sings multiple songs, and this movie features another cover version of Bowie's "Changes," recently included in Shrek 2) while the whole storyline about Lola and her not-dead dad and the Sid-Arthur concert are like something from a TV comedy show or TV movie. This movie is aimed at a young audience and it shows. That said, this movie is fine for what it is, but it could have aspired to more, especially at the end where things are wrapped up too quickly.

This is the best movie ever. If you have not seen this you've got to. me and my girlfriend Caroline saw this film and both recommened it to everyone (even my headmaster)
See this movie
Jacob Warner

15 year old mary elizabeth cep- or lola has to move to a dull city called dellwood, or 'deadwood.' while trying to get her mom to say yes to letting ella and her go to sidhartha's farewell concert and party, while also dealing with carla santini, the popular, school witch. Lola meets the lead singer in Sidhartha while he's drunk, and helped him through that night! his name is Stu Wolfe, and he wanted to meet lola's dad.

havnt seen the movie, but read the book.
hint- sam and lola dont get together in the book. sam creek was just the punk kid.

Reasons I like this movie:

First of all, I like anything with Lindsay Lohan in it, she just has this way of making movies shine, including this one.
It's funny at times, and has a few good things to say, and it's a good family movie.

Stuff I didn't like about this movie:

It was predictable, and some of the characters were just plain stupid.

Overall:

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen isn't a great movie, but I liked it anyway. This movie would have been more at home if it were on the Disney Channel, instead of paying to see something you 'd expect to be better.

What can I say? When I was 12, I read the book and loved it. I leant it to my friends and they loved it. We were glad when we heard the movie came out. But we were dissapointed. What could have been an excellent movie was wreaked by the animated scenes, and the focus on the rock concert because she has a crush on the lead singer. Carla Santini was portrayed as being just a little mean when in the book she's much more.
The book, had the movie been faithful to it, could have been as good as Mean Girls but right now it's just the Lizzie McGuire movie meets New York Minute, all played by Lindsay Lohan wearing feathers and a head scarf. I though that the girl who played Ella did a good job but Lindsay Lohan was just somehow out of sync when everything was going on. Hey, maybe I got so attached to the book that I just expected to much. But I recomend the book far more highly, if you're over 11. Happy viewing.

It was bad...i expected more from Lindsay Lohan. The movie was quite pointless and cheesy...and you basically knew what was going to happen in the end.

When I walked into the movies it was either this movie or Starsky and Hutch so i pikced this one because Lindsay has hilarious in The Parent Trap, I made the right choice. This movie was not as good as Mean Girls (This movie is semi- Mean Girls) Well when you have Disney promoting it what do you expect!
It is a good movie for preteen girls! It's fluffy a little too fluffy but it works well in the end. Overall pretty good movie but still Mean Girls is better

I'm sure everyone's already given away the plot enough by now. I just wanted to say I hated this movie.
Lindsay Lohan is a really good actress and all, but this movie was one of her worst. She can definitely do better.
I thought the singing, dancing, and the outfits Lola (played by Lohan) wore in the movie were cool, but that's all.
This movie is extremely boring.
I hope Lindsay's upcoming movies are better.