More evidence Lindsay Lohan film ‘The Canyons’ is a train wreck

'The Canyons' with Lindsay Lohan and James Deen
'The Canyons' with Lindsay Lohan and James Deen

What got off to a rocky start met with dubious, watchful eyes is now meeting the general consensus of low expectations.

Indie flick "The Canyons," starring Lindsay Lohan and porn star James Deen (yes, two Es), is quickly becoming the brunt of Internet jokes.

A first clip of the ill-fated flick -- a seemingly dark spoof on former MTV reality show "The Hills" -- proliferated on the web in recent days, garnering jeers.

In the nearly-three-minute monstrosity, a confused and disheveled Lohan (as Tara) awakens in a sun-filled, modern hillside Southern California mansion and begins looking for her cell phone. The entire sequence is a display of poor acting and less than zero suspense.

Even nice girl Zooey Deschanel couldn’t help from poking fun at it:

The film has been rejected from the Sundance Film Festival (happening Jan. 17 through Jan. 27) and now that we have seen a piece of what staffers there saw (Sundance is said to have screened it before rejecting it), we can see why they stopped it from entering their hallowed fest.

"The Canyons" producers are stunned, according to TMZ, and they blame LiLo. They say the 26-year-old troubled star was likely a “turn off” to the popular Park City, Utah, film fest. Duh, really? (And technically, wouldn't the doomed fate of the project be their fault for approving the hire of Lohan -- who is infamously unreliable in both her work ethic and her regard for the law -- ? Seriously.)

As for Lohan's co-star Deen, he said he could care less about the snub and mentioned, “It coincides with AVN [porn awards]. Priorities man!!!!!"

“The Canyons” – a purported neo noir sexual thriller -- is a shoestring production which raised nearly $160 thousand through a Kickstarter campaign.

Perhaps the most baffling part of the project -- the respected names attached to it. The writer is Bret Easton Ellis ("Less Than Zero," "American Psycho") and its director is Paul Schrader ("Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" writer, "Affliction" and "Auto-Focus" director). Heck, even twice-Oscar-nominated director Gus Van Sant appears in the film. What were they thinking?

Any film Lohan takes on nowadays -- "Liz and Dick" included -- falls under scrutiny. "The Canyons" is no different, first catching attention when Lohan was cast -- but garnering even more scoffs when popular porn "actor" Deen was brought on. The bad buzz around it reached a fever pitch when the New York Times wrote a scathing piece about the production, telling Lohan horror stories including one when she partied too hard with pop star Lady Gaga the night before one of her 6 a.m. call times for the film.