I suppose it's tough getting bored when doing the same project, albeit with a different cast bringing different sensibilities to the table, and of course, being set in different countries allowed for an exploration of the modern / current day teenage trials and tribulations, and see how they would have differed from the very first film. For starters, this is an out and out teenage chick flick, set in high school where topics are rather constricted, ranging from bad grades to boys, to hot teachers and cliques, circle of trust and betrayals, and so on. High schools make for very fertile ground as a story setting, but you really can't get away from the formula, even if technology from webcams to IM chat sessions enter to spice things up a little
Miley Cyrus had a scene involving smoking of drugs here cut out, because a real life shenanigan blew way out of control with the teenage idol hell bent and desperate to leave behind her Disney child-friendly persona of Hanna Montana. Be it having provocative personal pictures making their way online, to recreational drug use or otherwise, the filmmakers probably thought it best to leave behind the negative publicity, and cut that out of the film. Which didn't do the flow any favours at times, with other less than stellar editing efforts such as a following scene that contradicted what was said before.
In any case Cyrus plays Lola, a teenager who opens the film being dumped by her boyfriend Chad (George Finn), and we'd just about know that she'll fall head over heels with her best male buddy Kyle (Douglas Booth) especially after gushing ad nausem about him and confessing so in her secret diary. But the road to true romance is always a bumpy ride, so you can bet your last dollar it has to deal with misunderstandings which led to temporal breakups and the like, not to mention falling school grades all over the shop make school life quite the bane to a relationship. Kyle too has issues with his dad's frowning upon his musical CCA, but since this is a chick flick, who really cares about the male characters anyhow, except when they fail to pout and look hot.
Subplots in the film that pad it up include a focus on Lola's best friend Emily (Ashley Hinshaw), who has the hots for her math teacher (Austin Nichols) with dream boat looks, and is the female equivalent of a Stifler or that obligatory rude, shock jock in any teenage sex comedy, and of course, Mom Anne, which the film splits 50-50 with her own relationship, being unable to move on from the husband (Thomas Jane) she divorced, and being at the crossroads to begin one with a rather persistent cop James (Jay Hernandez). Plus the dynamics between mother-daughter getting the highlights and focus as well, between Anne and Lola where sometimes they drive each other nuts, only to always inherently realize blood runs thicker than water.
LOL, after so many iterations, came off as flat and offered little surprises to fans of such films, who lap it up only because of a different cast. It's the usual chick flick dealing with rudimentary issues for its formula, which in real life may not even be issues at all. It's mildly amusing with nary a class act from anyone in their delivery, and perhaps it's that generation gap that's fast driving a wedge between myself and issues brought up in the film which may seem like a big deal for one growing up. Surely it's a coming of age tale, but I'm not getting it, nor am I the right demographic targeted to begin with.
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