redblog

Watching Labor Pains, the new comedy starring Lindsey Lohan, I was struck by two things: One is that a lot of modern comedies tend to be of a type — there's the mix-up plot, the small-lie-gets-big plot and the fish-out-of-water plot. I don't expect every comedy to be new, but I do expect it to be well-done – and Labor Pains is, in fact, well-done in some surprising ways. The second is that, to be honest, if you're reading this or thinking of renting Labor Pains because you have a fascination with Miss Lohan's personal life, then, bluntly, shame on you. Miss Lohan's personal trials and tribulations are, to me, irrelevant; I don't know her, and she doesn't know me. The only questions I had about Miss Lohan's participation in Labor Pains had to do with her capacity to do work, and play her part, and while Labor Pains is a modest comedy, it is also a well-played one and Ms. Lohan still has, as the kids say, the skills to pay the bills.

Lohan is Thea Clayhill, a secretary at a small-but-successful military-themed publishing house, raising her 17-year-old sister Emma (Bridgit Mendler) but Thea doesn’t' get a lot of respect at work, and facing the daunting prospect of being fired by her tyrannical boss (Chris Parnell), she casts about to think of a reason she shouldn't be fired … and spots a fertility totem decorating her boss's desk, puts two and two together and exclaims "I'm pregnant." Thea is saved from being fired with a little lie, which will soon prove to be a full-time job in and of itself.

And as Thea's falsehood (and stomach) expands, so too does the cast of Labor Pains. In addition to Thea's charming-and-nervy replacement boss, Nick (Luke Kirby), the supporting cast includes a bunch of medium-to-heavy hitters: Parnell, Cheryl Hines from Curb your Enthusiasm, Willie Garson from Sex and the City, Janeane Garofalo as an Oprah-esque talk show host and more. Director Lara Shapiro knows to surround Lohan with gifted comedic actor, and the whole thing moves nicely, glibly and gracefully towards a finale that, while you can see it coming a mile away, is still an enjoyable ride. Director

And a lot of that has to do with Lohan, as her character's fake pregnancy becomes more and more real to her and she starts doing things like shunning cigarettes and alcohol — even in the company of friends who are in on the scam — and taking pre-natal vitamins. There's something matter-of-fact about Lohan's descent into mock maternity madness that lets the jokes relax onto the screen instead of squirming around waving, imploring us to look at them.

And Lohan's game, even though there's nothing here as inspired as her superb work — and yes, I just said "Lindsey Lohan" and "superb work" in the same sentence, because it's the case in a few of her films — in Freaky Friday and Mean Girls. At the same time, Lohan does get to convey both the up of her initial ruse and the down of her inevitable exposure here, with some subtler stuff along the way about how being fake-pregnant may be the best, and realest, thing that's happened to her in a while. Labor Pains isn't labored at all; it's got a certain grace and goodwill to it, and while it may not have been ready for the big screen, it's still a smarter-than-you'd-think, sweeter-than-it-looks comedy that deserves better than to be lost in the flashbulb-glare and tabloid shadows of Ms. Lohan's public life.

Related Posts

No Surprise Here

Fired Up

Locke’s redbox Picks of the Week