In just over a week, Lindsay Lohan will make her return to the small screen, playing Elizabeth Taylor in the highly-anticipated Liz & Dick.
With Grant Bowler playing Richard Burton — the Hollywood icon’s husband number five – in the Lifetime TV movie, the story follows the couple’s hot and heavy romance that spanned for what felt like centuries.
On Friday, Lohan, 26, told ABC’s Good Morning America that she pushed hard for the role, and wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“I had seen that they were going to be making the movie and I got the producers’ numbers and started harassing [producer] Larry Thompson,” she said on the morning show. “I didn’t even care if my agents were going to do it or not, I just did it myself too…because I was like, ‘No one else is going to play this role, I have to do this.’”
But did Lohan’s persistence earned her enough buzz for the role?
Here’s what critics have been saying about Liz & Dick so far:
The New York Daily News: “It’s tempting to say the movie’s big problem is that Lohan is no Liz Taylor. And she isn’t — though that’s not entirely her fault. There aren’t all that many actresses, or women, who can stop a room simply by walking into it.
Liz Taylor in her prime could do that. She could make men melt. Lindsay Lohan’s Taylor does not.”
The Hollywood Reporter: “Lohan is woeful as Taylor from start to finish. But, whatever you do, don’t miss Liz & Dick. It’s an instant classic of unintentional hilarity. Drinking games were made for movies like this. And the best part is that it gets worse as it goes on, so in the right company with the right beverages, Liz & Dick could be unbearably hilarious toward the tail end of the 90-minute running time. By the time Lohan is playing mid-’80s Taylor and it looks like a lost Saturday Night Live skit, your body may be cramped by convulsions.”
Variety: “OK, so there’s plenty of fun to be manufactured watching the movie — and even drinking games, like taking a swig every time a doctor or associate delivers bad news. Still, Bowler is quite good as Burton, and Lohan certainly is adequate, barring a few awkward moments, thanks largely to the fabulous frocks and makeup (courtesy of Salvador Perez and Eryn Krueger Mekash, respectively) she gets to model.”
The New York Post: “Lohan, in character as Taylor, is often so believable you might think you’re seeing the real thing, but then every once in a while she’ll backslide and deliver lines that sound DOA. Not her fault, since Liz’s words in real life were often affected and hammy.
Not that she had anything on her egomaniacal ham of a husband when it came to words. Bowler has Burton’s words and voice down pat, but are they kidding with that rug? It looks like he’s wearing a yak on his head.”
Newsday: “Taylor on screen, and doubtless off, exuded an earthy sensuality. Lohan doesn’t. Taylor was a fine actress, occasionally a great one. Lohan’s skills are rudimentary — made rustier by a long absence from the screen. She delivers lines dutifully, competently, and at times woodenly, but she also looks like someone who has to think about what she has to say before she says it. That’s usually called “sleepwalking through a role” instead of actually ‘occupying’ one. Lohan is somewhere in-between most of the time, though closer to sleepwalking.”
The Denver Post: “Lohan is stunning (in violet contact lenses) as Liz, if unbelievable when talking about her weight problem. Bowler, a New Zealander, is dashing as the Welshman Burton. They hint at the right chemistry.”
Liz & Dick airs Nov. 25 on Lifetime.
Will you watch ‘Liz & Dick’ next week? Chime in below.
