Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen

In a Nutshell: Fun and quirky, and I liked the message. Great for tweens, despite what you might think of Miss Lohan and her behavior of late.

Quick Plot: A New York City teen is transplanted to Jersey, creating much real and imagined drama in her life. But if she can *just* get in to see her favorite band at their final concert, life will be complete.

In Detail: It was a lot of fun, and I liked it fine. With what little I've seen of both of them, I think between Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, Lohan is the better actress. If she'll just grow up and get over herself (and stop taking after Paris Hilton), I think she'll make a remarkable actress. I also liked the message of the film. The Princess Diaries bothered me because they seemed to emphasize fitting in, most particularly with her appearance. Here, the message was "be yourself and don't worry so much about what others think." I was a little concerned about some of her behavior, particularly the lying, but it turned out fine. Not only did she lose friends and respect for lying, she also got grounded for various things she did that were against the rules. Be yourself, but obey the rules, and live up to your obligations. Sounds like a fabulous teen message to me!! I could have done without the musical interlude every 5 minutes or so (do we really need a different song chorus *every* time we change scenes?), but some of it was quite good. I don't think they integrated the concert storyline and the school musical storyline very well, but that's okay. It was a low-budget kids' film, there's only so much you can expect. I was most irked by the fact that the title song, performed at the end of the school musical, had absolutely *zero* to do with anything in the musical itself. It was simply tacked on because there was singing involved. It is clear, however, that it was meant as a vehicle for The Divine Miss L, and she clearly worked hard on it. The outfit was a little much, as were some of the others in the film, but if that's my only complaint, then it can't have been that bad. :-)

Will I Buy It? Hmm, I'm not sure. Since I have a boy, I'm not sure he'd appreciate it like he should, and besides, it may all be irrelevant 10+ years from now anyway. Cute, but not something I would watch again just for me.