The romantic comedy is an unfairly maligned, generally shat upon genre we all know where the storys heading and very rarely does it challenge us on its way there. Just My Luck, the latest from Miss Congeniality director Donald Petrie, does little to change this unfortunate perception. Not that its key market of US Weekly readers and teenaged girls are expecting The Apartment, but you cant help but be disappointed by the continued insistence of Hollywood to underestimate its audience.
Touted as Lindsay Lohans first "grownup vehicle, this movie represents another step backward since her breakout performance in Mean Girls, rather than the showcase her underrated comedic chops deserve (no, really). Playing freakishly lucky Manhattan P.R. assistant Ashley Albright, the normally charming and engaging Lohan is reduced to a vain, conceited clotheshorse who doesnt appreciate her good fortune including an unfathomably large apartment and the ability to control the weather until she is forced to switch places with shit-out-of-luck love interest Jake Hardin (Chris Pine) through a fate-sealing kiss.
After a series of indignities and humbling experiences, she learns the very important lesson to not take anything for granted, but her redemption is unsatisfying; shes somehow just as insufferable at the films conclusion as she was at the very beginning. Forget the cookie cutter boyfriend if romantic comedies are all about female wish fulfilment, then the most obvious leap of faith here is that her two inexplicably devoted best friends dont try to slip cyanide into her latte at any point.
Adding further insult to injury, UK "power pop boy band McFly have a prominent role as the "hip new band Jake is trying to promote their bland, formulaic melodies are the perfect soundtrack to a bland, formulaic film. Lets hope Lohan redeems herself with the upcoming Prairie Home Companion. (Fox)
Touted as Lindsay Lohans first "grownup vehicle, this movie represents another step backward since her breakout performance in Mean Girls, rather than the showcase her underrated comedic chops deserve (no, really). Playing freakishly lucky Manhattan P.R. assistant Ashley Albright, the normally charming and engaging Lohan is reduced to a vain, conceited clotheshorse who doesnt appreciate her good fortune including an unfathomably large apartment and the ability to control the weather until she is forced to switch places with shit-out-of-luck love interest Jake Hardin (Chris Pine) through a fate-sealing kiss.
After a series of indignities and humbling experiences, she learns the very important lesson to not take anything for granted, but her redemption is unsatisfying; shes somehow just as insufferable at the films conclusion as she was at the very beginning. Forget the cookie cutter boyfriend if romantic comedies are all about female wish fulfilment, then the most obvious leap of faith here is that her two inexplicably devoted best friends dont try to slip cyanide into her latte at any point.
Adding further insult to injury, UK "power pop boy band McFly have a prominent role as the "hip new band Jake is trying to promote their bland, formulaic melodies are the perfect soundtrack to a bland, formulaic film. Lets hope Lohan redeems herself with the upcoming Prairie Home Companion. (Fox)
