Lindsay Lohan has been more famous for her drug abuse, on-and-off again relationship with Samantha Ronson and mysterious weight loss than her acting career. She hasn't had a film released since 2007 (when she released the abysmal I Know Who Killed Me in which Lindsay portrayed an amputee stripper), Lohan has been desperately trying to prove she's actually got acting chops. Her only recent projects seem to have been an ad campaign for Italian label Fornarina (with the laughable commercial), her leggings line and line of spray tan products. Throw all that together and its been relatively easy for the public to forget that Lindsay is actually a pretty good actress.
The Comeback That Never Was
Labor Pains, originally intended for a theatrical release, was relegated to become an ABC Original movie and its easy to see why. The film will still have a cinematic release in Russia, Spain and Romania, but elsewhere viewers will have to catch a re-run on ABC Family or purchase it on DVD when it comes out in August. Ouch.
Set to be Lohan's big comeback, Labor Pains, presents an enjoyable enough plot about a young woman named Thea who fakes a pregnancy is order to keep her job. Unfortunately, the hook is presented in the first 10 minutes of the film, making the rest of it seem to drag on and on. For a movie that probably had a total airtime of a little less than an hour and a half, it did seem to go on for much longer than it did. But that's not exactly Lohan's fault. In this offering, she actually proved, once again, that she really does have comedic timing and can do something else besides chase her girlfriend down the Las Vegas Strip or spend 15K at Louis Vuitton. Maybe she just has to pay her dues and this is just a small step toward a much bigger artistic contribution. Maybe.
Sloppy Editing
The big issue for this film is the fact that it wasn't actually made for TV. While Cheryl Hines and Lindsay Lohan offer adequate (or should we say adequite?) performances, the intention of the film for theatrical release caused major episodes of sloppy editing. Scenes seemed to cut off in the middle in order to accommodate for commercial breaks and several things seemed to be awkwardly bleeped out. Not only were swear words cut off, but brand names (that presumably conflict with ABC Family) were cut out, making awkward dialogue. It will be interesting to find out if these will also be cut from the DVD release, although its not certain that the movie has even retained an audience wide enough to care.
Boring Story
While the skeleton of the story seems comedic and quirky, the rest of the movie not only dragged but seemed completely unrealistic. Lohan portrays a young woman forced to drop out of college and care for her younger sister after the tragic death of their parents. While there is no doubt that this kind of thing does, unfortunately, happen, some of the dialogue surrounding it seemed to be quirky and corny--almost as if they were unintentionally making fun of the incident. While the romance with her boss seemed believable enough (although the ending and everyone's radical acceptance of her complete deception was a little questionable), the relationship end with her first boyfriend was unpredicted and unprecedented. With only one scene to show the audience that Thea and Miles (the first boyfriend) had any trouble in their relationship, it was quite bizarre to see her dump him after an immature act of pushing her into the pool. Perhaps the full details will be revealed in the Russian cinematic release....
Verdict
While Labor Pains doesn't exactly bring back the longed for Mean Girls version of Lindsay Lohan, its certainly a film to watch if you're bored and have absolutely nothing to do. Fans of her older work may enjoy the movie, but shouldn't be surprised when halfway through they feel the urge to turn it off and do something else.
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