Lindsay Lohan 'Liz & Dick' Reviews: Critics Say She Falls Short As Taylor
Audiences will finally get a look at Lindsay Lohan's first starring role in years when her Lifetime movie "Liz & Dick" premieres on Nov. 25, but the early reviews have not been kind to the 26-year-old actress.
"Liz & Dick" chronicles the life of the late Elizabeth Taylor and her long and tumultuous romantic entanglement with actor Richard Burton. Lohan plays Taylor while Grant Bowler plans her lover Burton.
The reviews of "Liz & Dick" have ranged from eviscerating to that-wasn't-so-bad embraces, but many critics agree that Lohan's long history of troublemaking and legal issues make it hard for her to slip into a role enough to become anyone other than herself.
The Washington Post's review praises Lohan's effort but says she simply falls short in transforming into Taylor, whose image is seared into the brains of those who knew her during her heyday as an international superstar.
"Lohan, bless her "Freaky Friday" heart, tries her absolute best, bawling at full-tilt and screaming at Bowler with all the ferocity her raspy, ravaged voice will allow. (Also, for the record, she's really quite good at throwing fragile objects). But she lacks Taylor's majesty and elegance. Even at her messiest, Taylor projected a sophistication and reserve of strength that Lohan simply cannot muster," The Washington Post review said. "The degree to which Lohan has been miscast here becomes even more apparent when she stands nose to nose with Bowler. In real life, Taylor was six years younger than Burton, but Lohan and Bowler are separated by 18 years. Since the makeup department does next to nothing to age Lohan over the two-plus decades in which the movie takes place, Bowler winds up looking like a long-lost older Baldwin brother who's dating his agent's hot niece."
"Liz & Dick" producer told Entertainment Weekly that working with Lohan was a joy, but she had to be tightly insured before the project could get off the ground.
"When we first met with her, she had two probations, and when we finally closed the deal with her, there was only one probation," Thompson said. "If we couldn't have gotten insurance, there would have been no movie. We wound up having to go to Lloyd's of London to get what we called incarceration insurance.... We had to protect ourselves that if she were to have violated her probation during production, we wouldn't have had to close down and lose our movie."
He also said he hopes Lohan finds more successful work in the future, though he warned that working with her can be hard at times.
"I want the best for Lindsay Lohan and anybody who ever hires her. But they have to know that making a movie with Lindsay Lohan is like jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet with a bolt of white nylon, a string, and a sewing machine. You're building a parachute as fast as you can," Thompson said.
