LOL (2012)

Directed by: Lisa Azuelos

Starring: Miley Cyrus, Demi Moore, Ashley Greene, Jay Hernandez, Douglas Booth, Thomas Jane, and Marlo Thomas

Rated: PG-13

Genre: Teen, Teen Comedy, Drama, Coming of Age

A remake of the French film: LOL: Laughing Out Loud

Lola (Cyrus) begins a new school year thinking everything in her life is perfect. She has two great best friends, a cute boyfriend she adores, and a brand new year ahead of her. Things get slightly derailed when Chad (Mr. Perfect) breaks up with her, and she realizes she may have feelings for her long-time best friend, Kyle (Booth). As the year wears on she experiments with pot, alcohol, and the idea of sex. Her relationship with her mother, Anne (Moore) becomes strained, and all relationships are tested. Lola and her mother are forced to face the changes in their lives in order to move forward.

This movie is brought to you by your friends at Apple/Mac, Coca-Cola, Facebook, MSN, Mentos, and Trojan Condoms. (Sorry, the blatant product placement was annoying.)

Fair warning: Parents, if you are thinking about letting your pre-pubescent daughters watch this because they adore Miley – don’t. This film has its fair share of sex scenes and a strange scene with a chicken you will find hard to explain. This is not for anyone under thirteen, and is rated as such for good reason.

Now, onto the review: I didn’t care much for this film. It is supposed to be a coming-of-age drama/comedy focusing on the life of a sixteen-year-old girl. I didn’t see what anything in this movie did to attribute to “coming-of-age.” All this film displays is a slightly strained mother/daughter relationship and Lola’s transition from one romantic relationship to another. She doesn’t really have to deal with any big upheavals in her life, she doesn’t take an educational journey, and she doesn’t change much at all throughout the entire film.

There is practically no character development whatsoever. All we know about Lola is that she likes indie rock music (and the guys who play it), writes in her journal a lot, and loves her friends. She starts out the film gossiping with her friends – they talk about underwear, boys, the “skanky post-it,” and more boys. They don’t have any real conversation, everything is superficial. When she writes in her diary it is only a sentence, and she often shuts her laptop in mid-chat with someone – these things I didn’t really understand. Also, why would you paste a condom wrapper in your journal? Ew.

All the teen girls are one-dimensional: Ashley is the attention-seeker known as “the post-it;” Emily is very curious about exploring her sexuality (and hoping to do so with her Trig teacher); and Janice has no personality at all, and maybe two lines of dialogue in the entire film.

The parents aren’t much better. We never find out what Anne does for work, although it looks like she might be some kind of interior designer. She likes wine, pot, and sex, and also has two best girlfriends with whom she only discusses men and sex. She tries to relate to her daughters but doesn’t know how, and doesn’t seem to really learn throughout the film. I did appreciate the fact that she was interested in feminism and her inner conflict of the sexually liberated woman being her daughter. I thought that was an interesting point and could have been explored further – such as maybe a discussion with Lola – but of course not. Mother and daughter actually having a real conversation could never fit in this film. Instead they communicate through texts and Facebook messages. Yes, because that’s healthy.

Emily’s mother is ridiculously overly controlling, flipping out over her daughter owning thong underwear and being irrationally rude to pretty much everyone. She has incredibly high standards for her daughter and no redeeming qualities. Janice’s mother tells her that her poor grades won’t matter because she’s pretty and can find a rich husband. (Because that’s all life’s really about.) Kyle’s father needs to seek professional help and some anger management classes.

All of the characters are boring and irritating. The romance between Lola and Kyle is cute when it’s going well, and very frustrating when it’s hitting rough patches. Anne and James (Hernandez) are also pretty cute together. Still, while they are out bonding romantically, the relationship between mother and daughter doesn’t properly heal. The film makes romantic relationships seem more important than the one between Anne and Lola. The majority of the final half of the movie is based around Lola and Kyle making up, while maybe three minutes focuses on repairing damages between mother and daughter. As someone who has always been close with her mother – I feel that relationship is far more important than any guy. Men come and go, but your mother is a permanent fixture in your life, and I feel the relationship deserves more respect than this flick gives it.

The acting was okay at best. I’ve never really been a fan of Miley’s and she didn’t impress me much with this endeavor. Her southern accent was a little anachronistic considering the film was based in Chicago, where she had lived all her life and neither parent had one. Granted, she wasn’t given much to work with, so I will have to see her in more before I can say whether I think she’s talented or not. It’s hard to make a character likable when there’s really nothing to her. Even a seasoned, talented actress like Demi Moore couldn’t keep my interest. She didn’t seem like she even really wanted to be there. The two did act like mother and daughter, to the best of their abilities, but it is hard when the script is so vague. Marlo Thomas is actually the only actor that stood out to me. Her performance as the young-at-heart Gran was amusing and I enjoyed her presence in the film.

The plot as a whole felt kind of pointless. To me this was just another run-of-the-mill teen flick with nothing new to offer. We have shallow teen girls who have poor relationships with their parents and who lust after cute boys. I didn’t feel like anything was accomplished in this film. It was clichéd and predictable.

I also didn't understand why these girls treated their virginity like a disease. They couldn't wait to rid themselves of the pesky thing, apparently to seem "experienced" when they had sex with someone they really wanted to be with. I guess the days of wanting your first time to be special and with someone you love are gone. They also don't seem to realize that having sex one time doesn't make you that experienced - it often takes a lot of experimentation to find what works for you and your partner, and each partner likes different things. I feel like this didn't promote a positive message about sex to the younger viewers. Sex is not something you rush into with just anyone, especially when you've never done it before. Yet, that is just what these girls do: Emily gives it up to prepare her for someone she feels is superior to her current partner. (Also, she gives it up in the boy's bathroom, because that's classy.) 

Lola loses it to someone she does truly love, but not for lack of trying with others. Why is there such a stigma against virgins? Why promote such stigma to young viewers? I think it's irresponsible and doesn't teach young women to have any self-respect. Ugh, at least they promoted safe sex. 

One thing I did like was the band’s music. I thought the song, “Heart on Fire,” was sweet and catchy.

Overall: the movie wasn’t exactly terrible, but it wasn’t good either. It was very bland, cliché and predictable, with no developed characters. The acting could have been better if the performers had more to work with. It also doesn't do a good job promoting a positive relationship between mother and daughter, and the way the subject of sex is treated really bothers me. Skip it.

3.5/10