[00:00:09] Speaker A: On this week's prequel episode, we follow up on our Horton Hears a who listener polls and preview Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.
Hello and welcome back to this Film Is Late, the podcast where we talk about movies that are based on books. It's a prequel episode. We got quite a bit to get to, including some feedback for Horton Hears a who. But first, our patron shout outs.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: I put up with you because your father and mother were our finest patrons.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: That's why we have three new free patrons this week. Which basically just means they get to sign on and see the posts and see what they're missing out on. There's a few things that get posted for free, but not that much.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: The polls. The polls are free.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: Yes. And I. Yeah, our free patrons that signed on. Queerly missing the point. It's a great name. I don't know if it's a podcast or something, but it's a great name.
Socially Awkward Butterfly and Vinny the Fungus, who is rejoining us.
There you go. Thank you all for signing on for free and following us on Patreon. And then we have one new $5 Hugo Award winning patron this week getting access to that bonus content. And they are. Jasmine. Thank you, Jasmine, for signing up for our $5 patron award level.
As always, we have our Academy Award winning patrons at the $15 level and they are Nicole Goble, Eric Harpo Rat, Nathan Vic Apocalypse, Mathilde Cottonwood, Steve Ent Draft, Teresa Schwartz, Ian from Wine Country, Kelly Napier, Party Edition. Scratch. Just scratch. Shelby says, what are the chances Neil Breen's next movie uses AI that darn Skag V Frank and Alina Starkov, thank you all very much for your continued support.
Kelly Napier, Party Edition. Just like regular Kelly Napier, except it says party edition.
And I think there's a hundred and ten percent chance Neil Breen uses AI in his neck. There's no way.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: There's no way his movie isn't almost entirely. That next movie is not just an AI abomination.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: 100%. Also, Shelby, I saw you changed your name again recently, but I hadn't read this one yet on the pod, so I figured you might want this one and then your new name we can get on the next one. But anyways, thank you all for your continued support. We really appreciate it. Katie, let's see what the people had to say about Horton. Here's a who.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Yeah, well, you know, that's just like your opinion man on Patreon, we had four votes for the book, two for the movie, and one listener who couldn't Decide.
Kelly Napier, Party Edition Side note, if we ever do merch, we should do a T shirt that just says Party Edition.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: Yeah, or I was going to say we do. We do a regular good bad or bad bad shirt or sorry, this film is lit merch shirt and then we release another one that's the exact same but just has Party Edition underneath the logo. I think that would be funny too, but I like both ideas.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: All right, let us know which idea you like more.
Kelly Napier, Party Edition said, I voted for the book, but I'm actually cheating because I'm voting for the 1970 TV special. The Dr. Seuss TV special told a very dear place in my heart as they were videos I checked out over and over again from the bookmobile that came to our town when I was growing up. Did you ever have a bookmobile?
[00:03:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I love the bookmobile.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: I had a bookmobile in like kindergarten and then never again.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: All through elementary school we had one come. All through elementary school it would come like once, once a semester maybe, or twice a semester. I don't remember.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Kelly went on to say, I've acquired most of them on DVD over the years and they've been in constant rotation for my kids as they've grown up. My 3 year old almost every day asks to watch one or more of these specials.
I think I've mentioned this before with previous Seuss properties you've covered, but the beauty of the TV specials is that because of the shorter runtime, they don't have to expand on the already well constructed plots of the books. They can just do a true visualization of the story. And for that they hold up better than the full length movies that came later.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: And that is the main reason we don't do them, which is what we've discussed, is that because they are so short that they are basically just the book. Like it's hard. Like it's. We just don't think, like it doesn't.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: Be a very interesting episode. I don't think.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: Yeah, it just feels like it could result in a lot of be like, yep, that's in the book and looks exactly like it does in the book. Yep, that's in the book and looks exactly like it doesn't, you know.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: Yeah. The task of the destruction of the flower and its spec being assigned to the Wickersham brothers is a callback to the TV special. And in such the Sour Kangaroo is the ringleader of the group bullying Horton who gives them the task.
The brothers then hand it off to the crow who flies to the edges of the jungle and drops it into the field of clovers.
I agree with Katie that this movie was overstimulating, as was a lot of children's media in this era. It's overwhelming to be constantly berated by low brow humor and jokes so shoehorned into the story that they often have to pause a beat to make sure you got it. This was also the era of obvious bits inserted just for the adults that instead served to weaken the overall effect of the movie. I think this is why I dislike so many of the adaptations produced in this era.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, it definitely was the era of that for sure. I don't know because Kelly wasn't alone in saying this from some of the other comments. And then obviously you said the same thing. I don't know why this movie didn't grate on me that way because usually these movies do. Like, usually that is a thing that I'm like, oh God, it's like, you know, very like it's just too much. But this one, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not sure why I didn't feel that way this time.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: And I will say, and I think I mentioned this in the episode. This one did. I found it a little overwhelming, overstimulating, but it didn't grade on me as bad as like the Lorax.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Or even the. The newer Grinch.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Yeah. The animated Grinch from.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: A lot of it for me, I think has to do with the color saturation.
I feel like modern kids animation is so bright.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. It's going the opposite direction as film.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Apparently, in that regard. Our next comment was from Shelby who said, this is the first Dr. Seuss I read with the podcast that I didn't really care for. Like you said, the story is more nebulous compared to his later more popular books. And honestly, I had a hard time believing that people read the story pre publication and didn't notice the parallels to the anti choice movement. It felt almost tailor made to be read that way. But I did a little digging and it looks like the anti choice movement wasn't nearly as visible back then as it is today. If that's the case, okay. Writers can't predict the future. Yeah, yeah. And listen, don't get me even started on how anti choice, anti abortion movement was like a niche Catholic interest until the 70s when evangelicals realized they could profit off of it.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it wasn't really a thing.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: Yeah, it was not really really a thing.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean There's a million books and a million gallons of ink spilled about the rise of the evangelical right. And.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Yeah, and, and.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: And the corresponding rise of F. And.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: The anti choice movement was one of the big things that they.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: Yes, it's one of the big wedge issues. Yes, yes, the wedge issues are a big thing that the right, I mean everybody, every political movement does. But the right has been very effective at weaponizing, which is things like the abortion debate and the more recently trans stuff. And you know, like there was a period back in the mid early 2000s where it was. And 90s for that matter, but where it was. Evolution was a big like kind of thing. And obviously nobody gives a shit about that at all anymore in terms of like it being like a political talking point really like that anybody cares about. But that was like.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yet.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: Yeah, but there was a. There what? That was a big thing back in the early 2000s of school boards trying to outlaw evolution because the Christian. That was the big thing that the Christian right was on about at the time. And it kind of just fell by the wayside and nobody cares about it anymore and it's just gets replaced by another new demonized thing.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: But yeah, continuing with Shelby's comment, the book's inspiration is wild to me. Horton's problem is the jungle animals don't believe in the who's and once they do, all is solved. That felt like a stronger parallel to queer people and certain disabilities.
I'm giving this one to the book because its version of the animals thinking Horton is neurodivergent and teaming up to bully him was the better discrimination story here. Also, the book doesn't have to worry about expanding the plot so it's less off than the movie. Plus it's shorter.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: But I will say I do want to agree with the inspiration because that's another thing. It's like if the whole Japanese post war thing is the actual inspiration and point of the book, I agree because I had that same thought is like. But it doesn't. The message doesn't really translate because the idea is that in the book and the movie, it's that the other people don't even think these people exist. And I guess you could argue that it's a metaphor for dehumanization, but it's not even.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: I think that is what it's supposed to be.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: I guess that's what it's supposed to be. But that's problematic when the actual messaging, like the literal story narrative of the story, is that they don't believe they exist at all not that they believe they exist, but don't care.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: Which is more of what dehumanization is. You know what I mean? Or believe they. They believe they exist, but just don't believe they're, you know, worthy of the same. Whatever. But in the movie and the book, it's not that. It's that they just literally aren't like they, they. Once they're shown, oh, they exist, it's like, oh, okay, well then that's. They're fine. Then we like. And it just doesn't. It's a, It's a messy metaphor. It just doesn't to me. I just don't think.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Well, right. And we're going back to kind of the heart of our issue with the whole thing, which is that because that metaphor is so messy, it ends up being very nebulous and could be applied to many different things.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: But you know what? You know what? It's not a messy metaphor for the abortion debate because it actually is a pretty relevant metaphor for the abort. Like if, if you're an anti abortion person, an anti choice person. The argument by pro choice people is there's a lot of different arguments, but one of the arguments is it's not a person. It's not. It's a clump of cells, et cetera. There are a million different arguments on that. But like that is one argument. And so like in response to that, it is kind of a relevant. Like the story is kind of a relevant metaphor for that debate. Kind of, but not really for the, like, we know Japanese people exist and there's no debate about whether they are in like they're. I don't know, it's just it. Yeah. Yeah, it's a mess.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: Anyways, other thoughts that Shelby had, I did a bit of searching and I think Party Edition might just be what they called the book's re release edition, which.
Yeah, I guess. I mean that, that doesn't make any sense. Well, I mean, I mean, sure, obviously, I guess it must be.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: It must be. But why?
[00:12:00] Speaker B: But why? That's the question. Why Party Edition is the question of the hour.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: Like, sure, they may have slapped that on the re release, but I don't understand why.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: The animals planning to burn the who's alive in oil is weirdly dark and excessive for this story. Yeah, it is a kind of a weirdly dark turn at the end.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: Now to be fair though, they don't think.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: Right. They don't think the who's exist.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: They exist. They think they're just like melt, like putting A plant. A dead plant in oil. So, I mean, it is dark for us because we know they exist, but.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: And I do wonder, taking into account what the original inspiration supposedly was, if that's meant to be some kind of reference to, like, the atomic bombs.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: It's such a mess. Yeah, I just.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Continuing with Shelby's thoughts here, Green Eggs and Ham was adapted into a Netflix show. There's two seasons. I haven't the faintest idea how they expanded the story that much, but I might check it out at some point because it was my Seuss book growing up. If I had to guess, knowing nothing about this show, I would assume it's probably less of a story and more of like a kids show like Sesame street, where there are different little bits and they practice learning how to make rhymes and sounds and things. Sure.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: I was gonna say it could even be almost more like a sitcom where the story isn't.
The story of the Green Eggs and Ham book is maybe, like one episode or whatever, but it's more so a sitcom because this is how I would do it. I think I would make it a sitcom about those characters because their character dynamic is sitcom y. Sitcom. Yeah, it's the one who won't try anything and the one, you know, who's like, super.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: That's an odd couple.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: Yeah, it's an odd couple pairing. So you make the odd couple sitcom and you put them in new situations where one of them, you know, where they react in the way they do in the book to these other, you know. Yeah, I would imagine that might be how you did it. But I could also see it, like you said, being more of like kind of like a Sesame street style thing.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: And Shelby's last comment here, I still hope you cover the first Despicable Me for a bonus episode someday. Storks is also worth a watch. Free Birds is not. But it would make a nice holiday rant.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: Okay, so once again, Storks is the movie.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: Storks is the movie Shelvie recommends, and Freebirds is Freebirds is not.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: I will get that wrong again in the future for, like, the eighth time. Cause I always get these bird movies mixed up in my head. But on a recent episode, I think the writer of or director, somebody involved with Horton Hears A, who was involved with Free Birds, and I was like, oh, it's that movie Shelby recommended or talked about. And.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: But it was not.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: But it was not. Because Freebirds is the bad one that Shelby hates. And Storks is the one.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: Yeah, Storks is the one. Our next Comment on Patreon was from Nathan, who said, I can't decide. They both seem fine with good messages, but neither seems worth my vote. That's fair. I will say that I thought the movie felt anything but subtle in its messaging. It felt honestly, a bit over the top, even though I agree with it. Like they knew anti choice wackos would come out and decide to take on every and decided to take on everything else they believe in. So they couldn't like the film.
Sour Kangaroo is legit scary evil at the end with her conservatives and resistance to change.
A few questions about the who's. They are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Whoville. So have all the generations of the mayor's family happened in 100 years? If so, what is the lifespan of a who?
If not, are there fallen who civilizations where the previous mayors lived? Did they have mayors as well? Because it makes it seem like the family has been mayor, not king or queen or any other leadership position.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: Yeah, that's an interesting question.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: See, I read the 100th anniversary thing as like the 100th anniversary of that town specifically.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: So like.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: And. But. But that's what he's asking, right?
[00:16:30] Speaker B: No, I know. So I didn't really think about it within the context of like, yes.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Like the larger.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: Like the larger.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: Great, great, great, great, great, great, great who?
[00:16:39] Speaker B: Or whatever.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: Like who Grandfather.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: Because it goes back to like the Stone Age in that bit.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: Yeah. I guess the idea. I think my interpretation. It's a funny idea, but I think the interpretation is that there have been other who Civilizations, cities, towns, whatever, and that their ancestors have been the mayor of them or whatever.
[00:17:03] Speaker B: Right. Yeah.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: And.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: Or maybe who's have a very short.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Who's a very short lifespan. They are tiny.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: They are. Yeah. Maybe they're like gnats.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Or like fruit flies. And they.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: So after the. The ordeals of this story, they all just die.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, literally. That would be an interesting. Like, they get to the end of the Horton Hears a who and like, all right, I saved you all and they're all just dead. Like. Well, not them all, but like the main characters.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: Yeah, the main characters have their 24 hours.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Good lord.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:34] Speaker B: Finally, and most importantly, where are Cindy Lou who and the Grinch? Are there other who vills on other specs? Was the Grinch actually tiny in that book?
So that question, by my memory, is not answered in how the Grinch Stole Christmas because they just refer to it again as Whoville.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: But if you remember we talked about in the Jim Carrey movie that starts with a Whoville on a snowflake.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: So perhaps we could say it is a different Whoville.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Maybe.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: Okay, interesting, because my interpretation was it was the same. Cause it's called Whoville.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: Right. It is called Whoville.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: That it was the same Whoville and that it just ended up, I guess in the instance of the Jim Carrey movie. My interpretation would be that the little thing, mode of dust or whatever, like it's on a flower and this one just ended up on a.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: Ends up on a snowflake.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: Snowflake somehow.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: Perhaps. I mean, perhaps we don't know when.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: These things take place.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: Yeah. How the Grinch Stole Christmas could have taken place earlier in the Hunt. Earlier in the hunt or after a hundred years after the events of Horton. Here's a who. We don't know.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: Need is the Seussiverse to answer these questions and to really lay out. I mean, obviously they've tried to do it, but like they really lay out. Get into the nitty gritty of these lore questions about where on the timeline all of this takes place.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: However, I do think that it is reasonable to conclude that the Grinch is actually tiny if he lives in Whoville.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Yeah, he's the same size as everyone.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: The same height. Size as the who.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, of course he's tiny. He's the same size as the ghost. No, he's a little bigger than that, I guess.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: But I will also say, and I believe I'm remembering this correctly, that I think in Seussical the musical, the Grinch appears in Whoville.
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Yeah, that's where you. What?
[00:19:43] Speaker B: But the main plot of Seussical is the plot of Horton appears in him.
[00:19:46] Speaker A: Oh, so he shows up in the Whoville there. Yes, but I would have always assumed. Assumed. To be fair, I would have assumed that the Grinch, regardless of our timeline of when it happened, I kind of assumed the Grinch, like it turns into this is like an age. Not ageless, but like lives longer than him.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: And could have been.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: Right. Because he's. He is kind of like a. Like a cryptid.
[00:20:07] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I kind of interpret it as. Like he's his lifespan. Whatever the lifespan of whose are.
I kind of interpreted that his. He lives longer than them because he's like seen in a bunch of who. Like who Christmases and it's growing more bitter and bitter. Like I just imagine that he's been on that mountain for like hundreds of years and seen lots, you know, what.
[00:20:29] Speaker B: I think that's also a reasonable assumption. That feels right in my soul.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: I don't know. That's why that's kind of how I always interpreted it. He's kind of like a. Yeah, like a Cryptid. It just has a really long lifespan.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: And then Nathan's last comment here was, I will say that even though I understand the context, it's not all right for an adult working with children to make them promise not to tell other adults things. Horton does this with his students. I really don't think that this should be depicted in kids movies, especially when shown in a positive light.
[00:20:57] Speaker A: I don't remember that, but I agree. Yeah, that's definitely. That's a pretty standard parenting thing, is. Yeah, don't.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Don't tell kids to keep secrets for adults.
[00:21:07] Speaker A: Does he do that, like the beginning or something?
[00:21:08] Speaker B: Yeah, it's when.
When he. When they find out he has the flower still and he tells them not to tell anybody about it.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Which, like, within the context of the movie, I totally get.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: Yeah, like, you understand it.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: Yeah, you understand it. But also, like, yeah, you're right.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Your point stands.
[00:21:25] Speaker B: Point stands. Yeah. Over on Facebook, we had zero votes for the book and one for the movie. And Sarah said, this movie is a favorite in our family and we quote it quite often. Fun for young and old.
[00:21:38] Speaker A: Wow. Fun for young and old.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: And then on Instagram, we had seven votes for the book, two for the movie, and one listener who couldn't decide. And Ashley, who voted for the book, said, no reason other than nostalgia.
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Fair enough.
[00:21:58] Speaker B: And finally on Goodreads, Mikko said, this is an easy win for the book. I like the simple version of the story so much more than the stretched out movie version. While watching it, I just wanted Horton to shut up, even for a moment. That is fair. I know you got Jim Carrey, but not every single second needs a joke. Also, some of the bits, like the anime segment fell totally flat.
[00:22:22] Speaker A: Fair enough. I thought the anime segment was kind of fun.
And I.
Man, I don't know. I have seen movies where Jim Carrey. I'm like, please stop being Jim Carrey. But this was not one of them. I didn't feel that. This is interesting.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: So our winner this week was the book with 12 votes to the movies, five.
Plus, I have three listeners who couldn't decide here, but I think it might have been two. I think I wrote that down wrong.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: All right, thank you all for your feedback. We love getting it, love talking about it, really appreciate it. Katie, it's time to preview Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: The book Goodbye New York, Goodbye Broadway. Goodbye any chance of becoming a famous actress. Please don't be such a drama queen.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: Lola may be the new girl in a small town, but she's not giving up on her one big dream to become a star.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: In my heart, this is where I belong.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: No matter who stands in her way. Carla's the all time champion.
[00:23:29] Speaker B: I think you've peaked.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: Hop on me again or what sacrifices she'll have to make.
[00:23:37] Speaker B: I couldn't possibly have a boyfriend. I mean, I have to focus on my acting career.
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is a 1999 young adult novel by American author Diane Sheldon. I'm assuming her name is pronounced Diane, although it's spelled uniquely. Yeah, that's spelled D Y A N.
[00:23:58] Speaker A: I would assume it's Diane.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: Yeah, but she's written a bunch of books. She's done like a ton of picture books. She also has a handful of adult novels, obviously some YA novels.
Her website looks like it hasn't been updated since 2005, which I found very charming.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: That's fun.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: I love a vintage website, especially author websites, because author websites were fun back in the day.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: They really were. They really were. I remember going to she who Shall Not Be names website back.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Potter More or whatever.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: I used to love Stephanie Meyer's website. I loved her website.
My goodness.
The novel was a number one New York Times bestseller, although I think this may have been after the movie's release as my suspicion.
But critical reception for it upon publication was positive. Book list said it was hilarious and truly funny. Publishers Weekly also positively reviewed the book, praising the main character Lola's wit and charm. And Kirkus Reviews also liked it, citing the supporting cast as one of their favorite things about the book.
It was also an American Library association recommended pick in 2006. Obviously also following the release of the movie.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: And the novel actually has two sequels.
My not so in parentheticals. My not parenthetical. Not so close parenthetical. Perfect Life in 2002 and Confessions of a Teenage Hollywood Star in 2005.
And that one seems to have also been published as Confessions of a Hollywood Star.
And based on the plot synopsis, I'm wondering if this was because it's set when Lila is in college, so maybe she's not a teen anymore. But I haven't read it, so I don't know.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: Yeah. And then maybe they added the teenage to make the connection more clear.
[00:26:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm not really sure. Yeah. What came first?
[00:26:04] Speaker A: Which title?
[00:26:05] Speaker B: Yeah, which title came first?
[00:26:06] Speaker A: I would bet that the Confessions of a Hollywood Star came first.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: And then they added the.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: Added the teenage to make the connection to the other one more clear. Would maybe. Would be my guess, but I don't know.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: And in all fairness, Confessions of a Hollywood Star just sounds like it could be any.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:24] Speaker B: Like a chick lit.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: Right.
[00:26:26] Speaker B: Of that era.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Which is what makes me think that maybe they were trying to more directly tie the.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: The brand together.
Although Confessions of a Hollywood Star is a better title because Confessions of a Teenage Hollywood Star is wordy in a way that.
[00:26:41] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a little clunky.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Yeah. But. All right, those are your book facts for Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. Let's learn now a little bit about the movie. One girl is finally going to take a chance. Auditions are Friday. At making her dreams come true.
[00:26:59] Speaker B: Hey, understand that we must fly away from the nest. I just know something is gonna go wrong.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: The road to stardom won't be glamorous. I show, and it won't be easy.
[00:27:10] Speaker B: Have you finally had enough? Is that a threat?
[00:27:14] Speaker A: Absolutely.
Ow, Ow, ow. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is a 2004 film directed by Sarah Sugarman, director of Vinyl. Very Annie Mary, which is a British. She's a Welsh director. And Very Annie Mary is a musical comedy film, apparently. And Mad Cows. It was written by Garyl Parent, who was a writer on the Cosby show, the Carol Burnett Show, a show called Tracy Takes on the Mary Tyler Moore show, the Golden Girls, and she wrote the film, the Disney original TV film Cadet Kelly.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: That makes so much sense.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: More on that later. So the film stars Lindsay Lohan, Adam Garcia, Glenn Headley, Alison Pill, Ellie Marenthal, Carol Kane, Megan Fox, Sheila McCarthy, Tom McCamus, Allison Seeley Smith, Ashley Leggett, and Barbara Mamabolo.
Probably mispronounced several of those names. It has a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 33% on Metacritic, and a 4.7 out of 10 on IMDb. But we'll see that may not. Those reviews may not reflect reality. We'll see. The film made 33.3 million against a budget of 15 million.
So speaking of Cadet Kelly, the role of Lola in this film, the main character, was originally offered to Hilary Duff, but she backed out of the film and then Lohan was later cast. Lohan, when talking about the part, would say, quote, the part that stuck out to me most. And this is when Lohan was like a nobody. I think she had been in the Parent Trap. And that's about it at this point. Essentially, she said the part that stuck out to the cause, Mean Girls was right after this.
[00:28:58] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: She was cast in the Mean Girls. Yeah.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: Mean Girls is what really like catapulted her. Yeah.
[00:29:02] Speaker A: And that was like right after this. The part that stuck out to me most about the story was how different Lola is. Lohan said, she's really interesting. As outgoing as she is, she keeps a lot in. And I think it's really good to see how her character develops throughout the story. End quote. So about what you'd expect from a 15, 16 year old talking about their movie role, which is not much.
Producer Robert Shapiro said, quote, lindsay Lohan is absolutely a 500 watt bulb. She's delightful to watch. She's a typical teenager and she's very wise. And all of that comes across in the part of Lola. Some other people that were considered for the role though, apart from Lindsay Lohan, according to IMDb trivia, include Wendy Crusin, Montserrat Oliver. I don't know who that is.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: Me either.
[00:29:49] Speaker A: Elizabeth Mitchell, Aisha. Aisha Tyler, Alicia Witt. Judy Greer, which would have been fascinating. Rachel McAdams Zhang, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Biel, Anna Faris, Hailey Duff and Alexa Penavega, all considered for the role. And I had heard about half of those people.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:10] Speaker A: Judy Greer is fascinating because I don't know how old she. I don't think she's that. I think she would have been too old for the role. Maybe not. Because I could have swore Judy Greer, not that she's like old, but I thought she. In 2004 she was in. She was in like her mid-20s in, I thought, because I'm pretty sure that's around the time she was in Arrested Development. And she's like in her 20s.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: Judy Greer is 49 right now.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: Yeah. How old is Lindsay Lohan?
[00:30:40] Speaker B: She's like our age.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:42] Speaker B: That's like maybe a year or two older than us.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: That's why I was like, what, 1975. This film came out in 2005. She would have been 30.
[00:30:55] Speaker B: That's crazy. That is surely inaccurate.
[00:30:59] Speaker A: I mean, I know, look, Hollywood will cast older people.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:03] Speaker A: I mean, maybe she auditioned because she looked young enough at the time, but I was like, Judy Greener's not. All right, whatever. It's like I said, she was in. I think this is like the same time she was in Arrested Development and she plays like a 25 year old adult in that.
[00:31:17] Speaker B: I mean, to be fair, Rachel McAdams I think was also. Also like quite a bit older than her character in Mean Girls.
[00:31:26] Speaker A: Yeah, that's fair. Like I said, it's not that Hollywood doesn't do that.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: Off the top of my head, if she was like that much older, but she was like significantly older than her.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: Co star and that's fair. Like I said, Hollywood does that. It's just. Yeah, to me, like I'm like she was like 30 when this movie was being filmed. I don't know if she could pull off 16, but whatever. Or 17 or however old they're supposed to be. Apparently. This was Lindsay this is also an IMDb trivia fact. This was Lindsay Lohan's only theatrical Disney movie that was not inspired by a previously released Disney movie because the Parent Trap was obviously based on the Parent Trap. Freaky Friday was a remake and then Herbie Fully Loaded was a reboot sequel.
[00:32:05] Speaker B: I forgot they did that to Lindsay Lohan.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: Yep.
And then getting into some reviews for Variety, Dennis Harvey commented on the in his review saying, quote, based on Diane Sheldon's popular youth fiction, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen emerges a stained showcase for up and comer Lindsay Lohan as a sophisticated Big Apple teen unhappily relocated to New Jersey. Minimally funny comedy feels like a Disney Channel pick that got boosted to theatrical after Lohan scored a hit opposite Jamie Lee Curtis in the Freaky Friday remake. So Freaky Friday was out at this point too.
Nonetheless, it should have a lock on the 7 to 12 year old female demo for a couple of weekends before finding longer tube tape shelf life.
[00:32:50] Speaker B: Yeah, Freaky Friday I believe came out in 03 because that was the whole reason that I watched this movie. Yeah, I was like, oh Lindsay Lohan, give me more.
[00:32:59] Speaker A: So then to be fair then yeah, Freaky Friday was probably another and I.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: Do think, and I think that you'll agree after seeing the movie, I think that that assessment is probably spot on because Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen feels way more like like a Disney Channel original movie than a theatrical film. Yeah, I do think you will agree.
[00:33:24] Speaker A: Another review from ultimate disney.com reviewing the DVD said, quote it doesn't garner a recommendation as a film and its DVD special fees features are as breezy and shallow as the movie itself. Lindsay Lohan fans and teenage girls are bound to be the most interested and they might well enjoy it on the surface as light entertainment. But for others, one viewing may be more than enough.
For the LA Times, Kevin Thomas gave it a fresh score saying, quote at a time when crassness and so there's this was a. This was a contemporary positive review. This is why I included this, because the vast majority of them are rotten. But this is a contemporary positive review for the LA Times, Kevin Thomas said, quote, at a time when crassness and dumbing down and dumbing down pervade popular entertainment, especially movies aimed at youthful audiences, confessions of a teenage drama queen dares to be smart. End quote. So it was like literally the only major positive review like I could find from the time period. So there has been a bit of a reappraisal in recent years, or at least enough for it to warrant an entry on the Wikipedia page.
Writing for Paste Magazine, Claire Martin reexamined the movie on its 20th anniversary, saying, quote, it may have. It may have the best portrayal of an adolescent girl's inner life.
Not the serious, lonely moments, but the vibrant fantasies that fuel crushes and obsessions of the moment. As the character of Lola may be chided as a drama queen during the film, but her intense emotions reflect the reality of teenage interiority, end quote. Her unabashed enthusiasm and at times ridiculousness are so contrary to our lives that it's no wonder that the movie was slated by slated by movie critics as a profession historically dominated by men in parentheticals. So I guess it says slated by movie critics. I assume they mean slated isn't criticized.
[00:35:15] Speaker B: Isn't like criticized.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: I've never. Yeah, never heard it used that way, but was panned by movie critics, a profession historically dominated by men. So this person is calling out the fact that a lot of the critics who reviewed this movie were men and this movie was very clearly not made for.
[00:35:28] Speaker B: And honestly, I 100% agree with this assessment as well. Yeah, I don't know if it's like the best portrayal that there ever has been of teenage girls in her life, but I do think that the movie does a really good job of that.
[00:35:45] Speaker A: Yeah. They went on to call it a quote, heightened predecessor to Lady Bird, the 2017 film, and also drew comparisons to the lead character of the novel, Anne of Green Gables. They also praised Lohan's performance for making, quote, a character that could be grading in the wrong hands. Extremely fun to watch. End quote. And then another reappraisal by Rebecca Shriersham, writing for Collider, said, quote, it's one of the most underrated teen movies of the 2000s. It was overshadowed by Mean Girls from the same year, but I'm going on.
They praised Lohan's and Megan Fox's performances, with Lohan delivering, quote, the captivating larger than life Persona that skyrocketed her to fame and they also praised the themes that the story addresses, saying, quote, the comedy musical is made by women for women. It's also an over the top satire examining how pop culture and the media portray teenage girls. The film claps back by embracing the drama with strong female leads and rejoices in their theatrics. End quote. So, yeah, again, there's been a little bit of a reappraisal of the film. So I'm, I'm always, I always love when that happens. When a movie comes out and nobody like gets it or likes it, but then people are like, wait a second, maybe this was actually really good.
[00:37:00] Speaker B: Was this actually brilliant?
[00:37:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I am always, always interested to see. I always love watching movies.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: I'm actually really fascinated for you to watch this and see what your assessment of it is.
[00:37:10] Speaker A: I'm excited to watch it too. So before we wrap up and tell you where you can watch it, we wanted to remind you you can head over to Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Goodreads, Blue sky, any of those places. Interact. We'd love to hear what you have to say, say about any of the things we watch, but definitely in a couple weeks when we're talking about Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. You can also help us out by heading over to Apple, Podcasts, Spotify, any of those places. Write us a nice little review, drop us a five star rating, that helps. And you can Support
[email protected] ThisFilmIsLit Katie, where can people watch Confessions of a Teenage Trauma Queen?
[00:37:42] Speaker B: Well, as always, you can check with your local library or a local video rental store if you still have one. Otherwise you can stream this with a subscription to Disney or you can rent it for around $4 from Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube or Fandango at home.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: All right, yeah, no, I, like, like we were just talking about. I am actually very excited to watch it because like I said, I love a reappraisal movie. That's one of my favorite things. I'm trying to think of some other good examples. Obviously Starship Troopers is a big one, but there's discourse again about going around on the Internet, which is always fun. Once a year somebody comes out to be like, guys, it's actually not a good satire because the movie never turns to the camera and goes, these guys are bad. So it's, oh God, are we doing this again? Anyways, but yeah, there have been some other ones that I can't remember, but I know we've done at least a couple of those where it's like panned when it came out but then later everybody was like, wait a second. And so. Yeah. And especially something like this that I do.
One of the things I pride myself on is having grown a lot in the way I watch movies and being able to watch something like this that 15 years ago I would have never. Not only never watched, but if I did watch, would be like, this is fucking stupid, because I just would not be able to watch it from a. Pull myself out of my own personal inner interior life in the lens of. Viewing it through the lens of assist straight white guy from whatever, you know. And so I.
I always like watching movies like this as kind of an exercise to like, challenge myself to like, I don't know, challenge my. My. My critical viewing skills, I guess. Yeah, maybe.
[00:39:29] Speaker B: Anyways, another thing that I want to talk about on this episode, just to prime you for this, because you said that originally Hilary Duff.
[00:39:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:37] Speaker B: Was cast as the lead character.
And I, like any other millennial girl worth her salt, also love Hilary Duff, but I think she would have been wildly miscast in that role. And I really want to know if you agree with me.
[00:39:51] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I've watched quite a bit of Lizzie McGuire in my back in the Day, so I'm sure I'm familiar enough with Hilary Duff's oeuvre to at least provide a little input. So that going to do it for this prequel episode, as always. I already said all that stuff. Come back in two weeks time. No, one week's time, we're talking about Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. Until that time, guys, gals, not binary pals. Everybody else keep reading books, keep watching.
[00:40:19] Speaker B: Movies, and keep being awesome.
