Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen

Lola thinks that her life has reached an all-time low when her single mom Karen makes her leave exciting New York City and move to the “new planet” of New Jersey. Reality soon proves that her upturned life can fall further yet. In addition to being separated from her popularity and the city that could offer her chances at becoming an actress someday, her absolute favorite rock-and-roll band, Sidarthur, is breaking up.

But Lola meets Ella Gerard on the first day of school and an instant friendship forms. Although Ella is a socially awkward girl, she possesses a similar obsession with Sidarthur and its lead singer Stu. And school can’t be so bad when there’s the local hunk Sam to think about. Yet things don’t improve, because snobby Carla Santini—who just happens to own tickets to Sidarthur’s last performance and party—knows how to make life miserable. Lola has to fight for the oh-so-important lead part in the school play, and she has to come up with tickets for the last performance of Sidarthur. (If not for her love of the band, then to prove that she has tickets like she said she did.)

THUMBS UP: Lola openly loves her separated parents, and she doesn’t dwell on the fact that she was forced to leave New York. She didn’t want to move, but now that she has, she focuses on making the best of it. Her parents are portrayed as caring, and they are quite patient with their emotional daughter. Although Lola’s character comes across as emotional and a bit wild, she never resorts to alcohol, drugs, or sex. There is mention that Lola was a “love child,” but Lola says that her parents were both in love and married. Lola finds out that her dream guy Stu the handsome and popular singer—is not who she made him out to be. When she and Ella find him drunk, she realizes that this dreamy star isn’t worthy of her idolization (she does defend him at first, however, by saying that all geniuses drink.) Friendship is also a positive image portrayed in this film. Carla tells Lola that she has to choose between popularity or awkward Ella. Lola chooses her friend.

THUMBS DOWN: I was disappointed with how freely Lola lied. When Lola doesn’t have permission to have a certain dress, it’s no problem because Sam helps her “borrow” a dress from the costume room. She pretends to go on a hunger strike. She lies to Carla and says that she has tickets to the Sidarthur performance. She does often receive consequences for her actions, but she never really comes to terms with the importance of honesty. Some conservative viewers may feel uncomfortable when Lola dances somewhat inappropriately. She also wears a very short, form fitting outfit that is not modest for anyone, never mind a fifteen-year-old girl. There are also midriff revealing shirts, Carla shows some cleavage, and Lola—through the camera’s point of view—stares at a guy’s clothed backside.

Some other possible, uncomfortable scenes include a poster portraying a shirtless young man with his guitar, a brief kissing scene, and there are some objectionable phrases or words, such as “crap” or “Oh my G*d.” Lola is also a bad influence on her friend Ella, who doesn’t find lying to be as easy as Lola does. When Ella finally gets grounded for lying, Lola tells her that she is proud of her.

CONCLUSION: Somehow I left this movie thinking that only the surface of character development and plot had been scratched. The slap-stick comedy and humor were sometimes overplayed and just not funny. For example, when Lola pretends to go on a hunger strike and acts like she is meditating and chanting (while really eating pizza in the meantime), I found it to be yet another example of Lola’s childish escapades to get her own way. Although she does lose her allowance as a result of her lying about the hunger strike, the audience is left wondering if she really learned her lesson.

Maybe the most bothersome thing about this movie, however, is its message. Lola’s worldly desires may seem selfish and childish at times, but they are the center of the whole film and are not rebuked. This goes against Christ’s message of storing up your treasures in heaven and not on Earth. While “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” may be clean according to today’s standards, some Christian families might choose to bypass this film due to the shallow plot and worldly message.