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Lola (Lohan) has just suffered the great indignity of any self-respecting, urban-bred teenage drama queen - her mother moves the family from the center of everything in New York City to the center of the cultural wasteland known as New Jersey. But Lola's spirit is undefeatable, and despite making more enemies than friends, she finds a kindred soul in the repressed Ella (Alison Pill). Then when their favorite band, Sidarthur, led by the "poet of the millennium" (Adam Garcia), comes to town for their farewell show, Lola plots to turn this once-in-a-lifetime concert into a once-in-a- high-school-lifetime chance to become the star she always wanted to be.

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen leads a double life. It is an often uneven mishmash between over-the-top fantasy sequences, Lohan's arch dramatics and a confused script that wants to be both hip and edgy and accessible and commercial. Conceptually, the title is a misnomer: Lohan is not so much a drama queen as simply an overactive, hyperactive teenager who stretches the truth to get what she wants. She is no Clueless-esque, Alicia Silverstone monster; from the get-go we like Lola because of her inability (or simple unwillingness) to play by the rules and accept the dull, gray reality of high school. So the flights of fantasy don't support Lola's drama queen antics so much as seem like a quite sensible reaction to the relentless pressure to conform to bourgeois American ideals and rootlessness.

Director Sara Sugarman, whose background has been in theater as well as film, has great fun with the various fantasy sequences, but is less observant about the daily rituals that make for a believable high school milieu. The lavish surreality often falls flatter than it should, and we never quite believe that Lola is so much a real teenager as an idealized caricature conceived by 40- year-old filmmakers. But Lohan's boundless energy keeps Lola an interesting presence, and allows us to accept (if begrudgingly) even the most improbable plot contrivances. As confused as the story gets, it is impossible to take your eyes off her.

Then, when the film switches gears halfway through, Lola and Ella begin their madcap journey to the big city to find Sidarthur, yet we still don't know where the film is going. That gives it an unpredictability and freshness rare in a teen film, but the resolution bites off more than it can chew. Is this a romance, a coming-of-age story, or a teenage fable? Perhaps all three. But the slight setup can't build a foundation strong enough to support so many themes, so Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen ends up being an ambitious curio, and not surprisingly was a box office bust despite the presence of red-hot Lohan. It will likely find a small but devoted cult on video, and if you are in the mood for something a little bit different, you may find it holds a few slight but worthy rewards.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Unfortunately, Buena Vista has crammed too much onto one disc. In addition to various extras and two Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, we get separate 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and full screen transfers. The quality of the master for each is fine, but the disc is so overstuffed that there are plenty of artifacting and pixelization problems. Colors are nice and bold, but fuzziness and some noise is a distraction, and there are a couple of shots that are dreadful - noticeable polarization and plenty of smearing. Otherwise, we do get very rich blacks and smooth contrast, and good detail despite the low bit rate. It is a shame that studios still think kids ultimately care if a movie is in full frame instead of widescreen, so this is another example of a transfer that could have been greatly improved if they would have just ditched the damn pan & scan.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, this is a very aggressive, lively soundtrack. This is some seriously fun sound design, with plenty of surround activity and generally strong imaging across all channels. Dialogue, music and effects are very well balanced in the mix, and frequency response is excellent - the spoken word is always crystal clear. The .1 LFE is also very strong, which gives the track a punchy, lively feel that perfectly suits the material. A very nice comedy soundtrack.

Also included is a French dub also in Dolby Surround 5.1, plus French subtitles and English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The extras Buena Vista has put together for Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen are nothing new, but oddly enough, there is more here than we got on the Freaky Friday DVD, which was actually a hit and offered plenty of better possibilities for something cool. Strange.

Anyway, the best extra of the bunch is the screen-specific audio commentary with Sugarman, writer Gail parent, and producers Robert Shapiro and Jerry Leider (on the widescreen version only). While kids probably won't care, this is actually such a high-energy, non-stop commentary it might actually prove to be a good introduction to the feature for teenagers. The foursome try to gear it for the intended audience, but aren't coy or condescending about it. I was really surprised - this is loaded with info and tons of fun, and does what the best commentaries should: it made me appreciate the film more. Sweet.

Next up is a 6-minute fluff piece, Confessions from the Set, which is just an extended commercial for the movie. The single deleted scene, "Eliza's Fantasy," is cute but inconsequential. It is also presented in just so-so quality non-anamorphic widescreen. More fun is Lohan's "That Girl" music video; it wouldn't surprised me if Lohan makes a pop album sometime soon.

Rounding it out is a gaggle of pre-flick theatrical trailers, but no actual clip for Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No real extras here - just a typically bland pop-up interface with the usual weblinks. Nothing special.

Parting Thoughts