In Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen,Lindsay Lohan delivered the captivating larger-than-life persona that skyrocketed her to fame as a child actor, then teen star. She often played mature, wise-beyond-their-years characters like Cady Heron in Mean Girls, and the angsty Anna Coleman in Freaky Friday. Beginning with The Parent Trap in 1998, Lohan became an integral part of many childhoods of the ’90s and 2000s, and starring in countless coming-of-age hit films. It might not be as celebrated or remembered, but Lohan is just as iconic in a role that finally allowed her to act her age, in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.
Coming out in 2004, the same year as the critically acclaimed comedy-drama, Mean Girls, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen got lost in the chaos that was the Plastics hierarchy. Lohan starred in Mean Girls as Cady Heron, which has remained what many consider to be one of her best performances. Dealing with the cliques in a cut-throat high school, the Tina Fey penned script addresses bullying, female friendship, and self-idenтιтy. Though absent from the screen for a while, Lohan has made a return to her romantic comedy roots, with the Netflix originals, Falling for Christmas and Irish Wish.
It’s a welcome comeback for the actress who became a childhood idol to so many. The screwball comedy musical that introduced Megan Fox as a Regina George-like tyrant, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is a 2000s time capsule that embraces the inner turmoil of being a teenage girl.
‘Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen’ Is a Musical Comedy Dressed to the Nines
We meet Mary “Lola” Cep in her dream, dressed as Holly Golightly with a British accent in front of a Tiffany’s store, paying homage to Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Though she dreams of showbiz in the Big Apple, she wakes up and finds herself in her own personal hell: New Jersey. Ripped away from New York City and forced to move to a small town with her single mom and little sisters, Lola makes everyone bare witness to her pain. Insisting on being called Lola instead of Mary, her one goal in life is to become a star, and her quest begins by trying to rule over the drama department at her new school. Her dreams get disrupted though, when the most popular girl in school, Carla Santini (Megan Fox), fights for the leading role in that year’s musical.
A Disney movie first and foremost, it’s got a sweet pulse, and is one of the most underrated teen movies of the 2000s. Lohan does the best she can with the cheesy material, and thanks to her star status and charisma, she makes Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen an enjoyable watch by delivering a camp-worthy performance. And alongside a cunning, bright-eyed Fox, no scene is too small for the two women fighting for attention in thespian-soaked battles.
Lindsay Lohan Plays a Melodramatic Teen Actress
Lola’s monologues are ridiculous and tirelessly quotable. When she is unable to go to her favorite rock band’s (Sidarthur) last concert, she goes on a Ghandi-influenced hunger strike against her family, while hiding an eaten box of pizza under her bed. When someone dares insult her quirky mother who doesn’t fit the mold of upper-class suburbia, she responds with a reʙuттal describing her mother as “The woman who gave me life, the woman whose blood flows through my veins.” It’s Lohan’s commitment to the bits that make the movie such an outrageous, fun rump. Every moment and line is an audition for Lola to be a star, and Lohan cherishes it.
When Lola befriends fellow outsider, the shy Ella Gerard, played by Alison Pill, they form a bond as major Sidarthur fans, and plot to run away to New York City to watch their last concert. When the two host a funeral on the school campus in the aftermath of finding out about Sidarthur’s break-up, Lohan looks camp ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in the eye as she mourns in an all-black ensemble, and it’s a bullseye. It’s not as deep or profound as the school girl antics in Mean Girls, or Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis’s chemistry in Freaky Friday, but it’s undeniably a good time.
The Musical Comedy Was Megan Fox’s First Leading Role
Most of the fun and backstabbing in the movie comes from Fox and Lohan’s rivalry as theater kids. Fox is vicious in her first leading role as queen bee, Carla Santini. Marking just her third film credit, she was a natural against an already established star like Lohan. Afterward, her next film would be the starring role of Mikaela Banes in Transformers, which served as her breakout role. Fox clearly had the acting chops despite playing a caricature of a high school mean girl, and does the best she can to elevate the material with a sincere performance of a self-conscious teen. Fox would notably go on to play a complex, misunderstood mean girl who turns into a man-eating demon in the Diablo Cody cult-classic feminist revenge film, Jennifer’s Body.
As Lola and Ella plan their trip to New York City, Lola finds herself in an intense compeтιтion with Carla as they compete to get the leading role in a modern rendition of the musical, My Fair Lady. Confessions of A Drama Queen then shares many similarities to its successors, like High School Musical and Glee. Their greatest contest to decide who the most talented actress is comes in a Dance Dance Revolution compeтιтion at the local arcade. Fox is sporting a pink, juicy sweatsuit, and Lohan is wearing low-rise camouflage jeans. As they pop their hips and do their best high kicks, it’s a celebration of everything that makes the 2000s so tacky, and so memorable.
‘Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen’ Celebrates Female Friendships
Written by acclaimed comedy writer, Gail Parent, and directed by Sara Sugarman, the comedy musical is made by women, for women. It’s also an over-the-top satire examining how pop culture and the media portray teenage girls. The film claps back by embracing the drama with strong female leads, and rejoices in their theatrics. Once in the concrete jungle, Lola and Ella stumble upon the drunk lead singer of Sidarthur, Stu Wolff, pᴀssed out among garbage bags, and rescue him. From there, the movie calls out the plastic facade of show business, and the everlasting obsession teens have with rock stars.
Stu Wolff is another shining jewel of the film. The caricature of a drunk rocker is spot on, and is a good companion piece to the crazed musicians in the rock mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. Wolff is played by Adam Garcia, and he plays a mix between rockers Mick Jagger and Noel Gallagher in slurred speech and shaggy hair. In reality, it’d be grim, but Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen finds a way to make it a funny parody.