Meg’s Review: Lifetime’s Liz & Dick

For a movie that promised sex and sizzle, Lifetime’s Liz & Dick was all fizzle.

The biopic following the decades-long tumultuous love affair between Dame (get it right) Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Taylor was touted as a major comeback for lead actress Lindsay Lohan. Early reviews were, well, brutal, but I decided to watch last night in hopes that LiLo might have been able to pull it off.

The similarities between her and Taylor are striking: both child stars heralded for early performances, both hounded by paparazzi, struggling with addiction issues, struggling to define themselves in the often brutal light of stardom. I thought Lindsay would be able to use these similarities to create a believable portrayal of the infamous Dame Taylor, but it was just a hot mess. And I mean HOT MESS.

I felt like I was watching Lindsay play dress up for two hours. She made no attempt to capture Taylor’s soft, almost girlish voice; she simply read her lines in her trademark “I-just-smoked-an-entire-carton-of-cigarettes-and-then-garled-with-gravel” rasp. I never once saw her as Elizabeth—excuse me, DAME Elizabeth—Taylor.  The portrayal only worked on a superficial level, and credit there is due only to a fabulous team of hair and makeup artists and a ridiculously awesome wardrobe.

 The story itself was weak, hitting only the high points of the epic romance. Granted the acting was straight-up awful, but we never had time to truly connect with the characters, as the plot was too busy zipping from one scene to the next, never lingering enough for any emotional depth to be reached. Lindsay Lohan’s much-lauded “comeback” ended up being nothing more than clever casting. It seemed to me that Lohan was chosen in an attempt to create promotional buzz for the film—not to give the hard-up actress a chance back in the spotlight.

 Liz & Dick is good for a few laughs, even if they’re unintentional. I knew about five minutes into the film that it was going to be delightfully terrible, and it was. Keep an eye out for Liz & Dick to stick around as a cult classic for years to come.

Check out the trailer for Liz & Dick below: