Lindsay Lohan took fans inside her exercise routine on Monday with a black and white snapshot of her sitting cross-legged on a Reformer Pilates machine mid-workout. The mother of one showcased her svelte figure as she held her arms above her head, with the ropes attached to her hands.
Lindsay sported an all-black outfit for her workout, including a long-sleeved shirt and leggings, and wore her strawberry blonde hair back in a neat bun. She captioned the photo: “Strong body. Clear mind. Open heart. Hello new year,” before adding a white heart emoji.
Fans rushed to the comment section to wish her well, with one writing: “Looking forward to everything you have in store for 2026!” while another added: “Looking good!” and a third chimed in: “Get it with that workout!”
Lindsay rang in the new year with a recap of her busy 2025 on Instagram, following the release of her box-office hit Freakier Friday in August. “Thank you 2025 for the love, the memories, and the moments that mattered most. Stepping into 2026 with a full heart, grounded, hopeful, and deeply grateful for this beautiful life, my husband, my son, and my family,” she wrote.
Learn more about Lindsay’s incredible transformation below…
Recommended videoYou may also likeWATCH: Lindsay Lohan’s Rise To Fame
The Freaky Friday star has undergone a major transformation in recent years, following her move to Dubai and the birth of her son, Luai. Lindsay shared insight into how she achieved her transformation with a mix of workouts and a renewed focus on wellness.
“I love Pilates, and I mix it with a little CrossFit. Depending on what I want to focus on, sometimes my trainer is tougher on me – which I like, but I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I have to leave early today.’ She’s like, ‘No, you don’t,’” she told Bustle.
Lindsay likes to work out on her Reformer Pilates machine
“But I love Pilates because it’s gentle but effective, and I prefer that. And strength training is important, because, especially with age, you need to build strength more than anything. Aside from moving all the time with my son, which I consider a workout every day, Pilates is nice me-time to have.”
She welcomed her son in 2023 with her husband, Bader Shammas, and maintains her fitness so as to keep up with the toddler. “I feel like exercise wasn’t such a big thing in our generation – health and wellness weren’t as big as they are now,” she told the publication.
The actress maintains her fitness to keep up with her son
“But with time and as you age, you realize the importance of it and how great you feel, and I value that. I crave those endorphins, and I want to be able to keep up with my children. I don’t make excuses about it – it’s just become a ritual.”
As for her skin health, Lindsay works hard to maintain her glow. “I’m very specific, because I’m crazy about my skin and health,” she told Elle.
She drinks lemon juice and green tea for glowing skin
“I drink this juice every morning. It’s like carrot, ginger, lemon, olive oil, apple. I also drink a lot of green tea, a lot of water. I’m a big pickled beets person, so I put them in almost everything.”
“My skin care is very specific,” she continued. “I’m trying out some serums now that I’m doing – I’m testing them. Also, I’m a big believer in ice-cold water on your face when you wake up. I drink lemon juice a lot; I also put tons of chia seeds in my water. Eye patches, I do every morning. I’m into lasers.”
Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan re-teaming as the body-swapping mother and daughter duo in “Freakier Friday” and albums from 5 Seconds of Summer and the rapper NF are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys team up for the new limited-series thriller “The Beast in Me,” gamers get Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Apple TV’s star-studded “Palm Royale” is back.
New movies to stream from Nov. 10-16
— Richard Linklater’s love letter to the French New Wave and the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless,” “Nouvelle Vague,” will be streaming on Netflix on Friday, Nov. 14. In his review, Associated Press Film Writer Jake Coyle writes that, “To a remarkable degree, Linklater’s film, in French and boxed into the Academy ratio, black-and-white style of ‘Breathless,’ has fully imbibed that spirit, resurrecting one of the most hallowed eras of movies to capture an iconoclast in the making. The result is something endlessly stylish and almost absurdly uncanny.”
— Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan re-team as the body-swapping mother and daughter duo in “Freakier Friday,” a sequel to their 2003 movie, streaming on Disney+ on Wednesday. In her review, Jocelyn Noveck writes, “The chief weakness of ‘Freakier Friday’ — an amiable, often joyful and certainly chaotic reunion — is that while it hews overly closely to the structure, storyline and even dialogue of the original, it tries too hard to up the ante. The comedy is thus a bit more manic, and the plot machinations more overwrought (or sometimes distractingly silly).”
— Ari Aster’s latest nightmare “Eddington” is set in a small, fictional New Mexico town during the coronavirus pandemic, which becomes a kind of microcosm for our polarized society at large with Joaquin Phoenix as the sheriff and Pedro Pascal as its mayor. In my review, I wrote that, “it is an anti-escapist symphony of masking debates, conspiracy theories, YouTube prophets, TikTok trends and third-rail topics in which no side is spared.”
— An incurable cancer diagnoses might not be the most obvious starting place for a funny and affirming film, but that is the magic of Ryan White’s documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light,” about two poets, Andrea Gibson, who died in July, and Megan Falley, facing a difficult reality together. It will be on Apple TV on Friday, Nov. 14.
— There’s nothing worse than a band without a sense of humor. Thankfully 5 Seconds of Summer are in on the joke. Their sixth studio album, “Everyone’s a Star!,” sounds like the Australian pop-rock band are having fun again, from The Prodigy-esq. “Not OK” to the self-referential and effacing “Boy Band.” Candor is their provocation now, and it sounds good — particularly after the band has spent the last few years exploring solo projects.
— The R&B and neo soul powerhouse Summer Walker has returned with her third studio album and first in four years. “Finally Over It,” out Friday, Nov. 14, is the final chapter of her “Over It” trilogy; a release centered on transformation and autonomy. That’s evident from the dreamy throwback single, “Heart of A Woman,” in which the song’s protagonist is disappointed with her partner — but with striking self-awareness. “In love with you but can’t stand your ways,” she sings. “And I try to be strong/But how much can I take?”
— Consider him one of the biggest artists on the planet that you may not be familiar with. NF, the musical moniker of Nate Feuerstein, emerged from the Christian rap world a modern answer to Eminem only to top the mainstream, all-genre Billboard 200 chart twice, with 2017’s “Perception” and 2019’s “The Search.” On Friday, Nov. 14, he’ll release “Fear,” a new six-track EP featuring mgk (formerly Machine Gun Kelly) and the English singer James Arthur.
— Apple TV’s star-studded “Palm Royale” is back just in time for a new social season. Starring Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Leslie Bibb, Kaia Gerber, Ricky Martin AND Carol Burnett, the show is campy, colorful and fun, plus it has great costumes. Wiig plays Maxine, a woman desperate to be accepted into high society in Palm Beach, Florida, in the late 1960s. The first episode streams Wednesday and one will follow weekly into January.
— “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” cast member Heather Gay has written a book called “Bad Mormon” about how she went from a devout Mormon to leaving the church. Next, she’s fronting a new docuseries that delves into that too called “Surviving Mormonism with Heather Gay.” The reality TV star also speaks to others who have left the religion. All three episodes drop Wednesday on Peacock.
— Thanks to “Homeland” and “The Americans,” Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys helped put the prestige in the term prestige TV. They grace the screen together in a new limited-series for Netflix called “The Beast in Me.” Danes plays a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who finds a new subject in her next door neighbor, a real estate tycoon who also may or may not have killed his first wife. Howard Gordon, who worked with Danes on “Homeland,” is also the showrunner and an executive producer of “The Beast in Me.” It premieres Thursday.
— David Duchovny and Jack Whitehall star in a new thriller on Prime Video called “Malice.” Duchovny plays Jamie, a wealthy man vacationing with his family in Greece. He hires a tutor (played by Whitehall) named Adam to work with the kids who seems likable, personable and they invite him into their world. Soon it becomes apparent that Adam’s charm is actually creepy. Something is up. As these stories go, getting rid of an interloper is never easy. All six episodes drop Friday, Nov. 14.
— “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints” returns to Fox Nation on Sunday, Nov. 16 for a second season. The premiere details the story of Saint Patrick. The show is a passion project for Scorsese who executive produces, hosts, and narrates the episodes.
— Billy Bob Thornton has struck oil in the second season of “Landman” on Paramount+. Created by Taylor Sheridan, the show is set in modern day Texas in the world of Big Oil. Sam Elliott and Andy Garcia have joined the cast and Demi Moore also returns. The show returns Sunday, Nov. 16.
— The Call of Duty team behind the Black Ops subseries delivered a chapter last year — but they’re already back with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The new installment of the bestselling first-person shooter franchise moves to 2035 and a world “on the brink of chaos.” (What else is new?) Publisher Activision is promising a “reality-shattering” experience that dives into “into the deepest corners of the human psyche.” Beyond that storyline there are also 16 multiplayer maps and the ever-popular zombie mode, in which you and your friends get to blast away at relentless hordes of the undead. Lock and load Friday, Nov. 14, on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S or PC.
— Lumines Arise is the latest head trip from Enhance Games, the studio behind puzzlers like Tetris Effect, Rez Infinite and Humanity. The basic challenge is simple enough: Multicolored 2×2 blocks drift down the screen, and you need to arrange them to form single-color squares. Completed squares vanish unless you apply the “burst” mechanic, which lets you build ever-larger squares and rack up bigger scores. It’s all accompanied by hallucinatory graphics and thumping electronic music, and you can plug in a virtual reality headset if you really want to feel like you’re at a rave. Pick up the groove Tuesday on PlayStation 5 or PC.
Disney’s Freakier Friday is turning out to be one of the most talked-about films of the summer. The long-awaited sequel to the 2003 classic is doing much better than expected at the box office. In just a few weeks, the Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis starrer has managed to win over both fans and critics, showing that audiences are still eager for feel-good, family-friendly stories.
Freakier Friday Became A Success Story, Right When It Opened To Heartening Numbers In Its Opening Weekend
In its opening weekend, Freakier Friday made around USD 28.5 million in North America. That number grew quickly. By August 20, it had reached around USD 56 million domestically and another USD 32 million from overseas markets, bringing its worldwide total to about USD 88 million. For a film made on a modest budget of USD 42 to 45 million, this is a strong success. It heads for a finish in the vicinity of USD 100 million in USA-Canada and the global gross should be to the north of USD 150 million.
Why The Success Of Freakier Friday Is Impressive?
What makes the film’s performance even more impressive is the positive response from viewers. It received an “A” grade from CinemaScore, which is even higher than the “A-” given to the original film. This strong word-of-mouth is helping the movie sustain in theaters. In today’s time and age, the pre-release reviews hold the power to break non-blockbusters like Freakier Friday. Luckily, the movie got good reviews that converted to the exceptional audience support that it is now getting.
Weapons Makes Its Presence Amply Felt Against The The Nostalgia Sequel
While Freakier Friday is drawing families and fans of the original, another film is dominating the horror space. Zach Cregger’s Weapons has already passed USD 100 million in just two weeks at the domestic box office. It heads for a USD 160 million plus finish in just US-Canada. Still, Freakier Friday offers something different, a light-hearted escape that audiences seem to really appreciate. With strong numbers and lots of fan love, Freakier Friday is more than just a sequel. It’s a true comeback story.
Freakier Friday In Theaters
Freakier Friday plays in theaters now. Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates.
With Disney clearly letting its hair down with just how “freaky” Freakier Friday can be, the laxity of what constitutes “family-friendly” “fun” has further increased in the years since the 2003 version of Freaky Friday was released. A movie that already pushed some boundaries on “appropriateness” levels…at least by erstwhile “Disney standards.” Granted, Disney is also known for having “hidden” sex messages/jokes in its movies—and no, not just in the clouds of The Lion King. But the upping of the ante on Jake Austin (Chad Michael Murray) being a total fetishist for older women in general, but Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) in particular, has seen the company reach a new height of “open perversion.” Though, to be fair to Jake, it’s not his fault he started falling for Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan) right at the time when her mother, Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis), took up residence inside her body.
What’s more, it seemed that, within the universe of the movie, Jake being attracted to Anna is almost as scandalous as him being attracted to her mother, with comments on Anna being too young for Jake getting made a few times. And it’s true, when Lohan was playing fifteen-year-old Anna, she was sixteen. When Murray was playing presumably eighteen-year-old Jake, he was twenty-one. So yes, any way you slice it, Tess-as-Anna isn’t wrong, from a legal standpoint, when she tells Jake, “Truth be told, you’re way too old for me.” But, at that time—circa ‘02 (when Freaky Friday was actually filmed), it wasn’t unusual in the least to cast much older actors still feigning being younger as romantic interests for teen girls. To boot, Lohan herself would start dating then twenty-four-year-old Wilmer Valderrama when she was still seventeen. The relationship only lasted six months, but it still landed her a guest spot on That ‘70s Show as Danielle, Fez’s (Valderrama) short-lived girlfriend. So Murray, at twenty-one playing eighteen (his presumptive age, for that’s what he would have to be in order to so freely lust after Tess), is hardly as offensive as Valderrama at twenty-four dating Lohan. However, what is “offensive” to most, particularly in a culture that abhors when a woman “dares” to act like a man, is a forty-four-year-old (Curtis’ age at the time of filming) “encouraging” a twenty-one-year-old-playing-an-eighteen-year-old in his amorous ideas about her.
Then again, it seems many people—of all ages—still have amorous ideas about the now sixty-six-year-old Curtis, who recently did a TikTok “ad” for the movie in which her “low-cut top,” as it’s being described, caused more than a few double takes (at those “double Ds,” to wield the finishing line to “double take” that everyone else was thinking). Not to mention Curtis’ suggestive sentence structure: “You’re going to join with a big group of people who are finding something really sweet at the end of the summer to remind them what it is to be alive. I’m just privileged that I get to take you on the ride.” Said by someone not showcasing their rack, the sentiment might not feel so innuendo-laden. And so, it’s yet another strike in the column against Disney being “family friendly” with Freakier Friday. Though the main one is that Jake, now all grown up (or even more grown up than he seemed before), has apparently developed a fetish for much older women. Something that, needless to say, began with the mind fuck of being super into Anna while he thought she was Tess.
Indeed, Anna did herself a terrible disservice in Freaky Friday by not trying harder to act more like a dull, oppressive adult. More specifically, with the stick-up-her-ass vibe that Tess has. Instead, she makes Tess look “edgy,” “cool”—millennial. Worse still, she talks all about her musical tastes, which just so happen to align with Jake’s. This making him perhaps hardest of all during a scene when he’s apparently able to kick back and chill in the coffee shop where he works once Anna-as-Tess walks in. At one of the tables, the two discuss the bands they like (Ramones) and the ones they don’t (The White Stripes—and yes, not liking said band is a controversial opinion). And then, as they’re having their “moment,” a Bowling for Soup cover of Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” comes on over the speakers of the cafe. When this happens, Anna-as-Tess really imprints (sexually imprints, if you will) on Jake as the two start singing the lyrics, “When I’m not with you I lose my mind/Give me a sign/Hit me baby one more time.”
Catching herself in this intense flirtation, Anna-as-Tess realizes she has to get the fuck out of there before she really does end up doing something lewd with Jake while still in her mother’s body. But it’s too late; the effect it creates leaves Jake absolutely hooked on the woman he thinks is Tess, running after her to tell her, “I don’t know what’s going on here, okay? I don’t know what this whole thing is, all right? I just…I feel like I know you.” As a matter of fact, he does. It’s the same girl he was initially drawn to at the beginning of the movie, when she was still Anna in her own body.
Alas, when it comes to Anna effectively ruining her eventual romance with Jake by using all her best lines on him as Tess, perhaps she’s ultimately the one to blame for ruining Jake forever. As viewers see in Freakier Friday. For, despite Jake being an adult who seems pretty put together in that he managed to turn his musical passions into owning a record store, The Record Parlour (in real life, it’s a different Chad who owns the store: Chadwick Hemus), the instant he clocks Tess hiding out on the floor behind one of the shelves, all those lustful feelings come flooding back. And naturally, a Britney reference is again made during this scene, with Tess holding Spears’ In the Zone (because …Baby One More Time would have been too played?) album in front of her face as a means of “camouflage.”
The irony, of course, is that, once again, the woman that Jake thinks he’s talking to is not Tess at all. This time, it’s her soon-to-be granddaughter-in-law, Lily Reyes (Sophia Hammons), who has found herself trapped in this body. And, like Anna before her, she has an amply ageist reaction to seeing what she now looks like in the mirror. For, where Anna said Tess looked like “the Crypt Keeper,” Lily appraises her new “aesthetic” as follows: “My face looks like a Birkin bag that’s been left out in the sun to rot!” However, Jake doesn’t seem to think so. More attracted than ever to “the one that got away.” And it can be assumed that perhaps his ongoing, lingering attraction to Tess is at least part of what led to a breakup between him and Anna back in the day, with Anna subsequently getting pregnant at twenty-two and making an evidently big deal about raising her daughter, Harper (Julia Butters), on her own. But also with the help of Tess, who has now taken some of her therapy services to podcasting. This likely being further proof to Jake that she’s so “with it” for someone her age.
Besides that, he already appeared to develop an aversion to any woman younger than him in Freaky Friday when, while Tess is in Anna’s body, she acts so stodgy and demanding that it leads Jake to the conclusion, “I think you’re right. You’re too young for me.” With Tess, on the other hand, it seems like his mantra is, “The older she gets, the better.” But since she still has no interest in making him her boy toy in the sequel, Jake has to do arguably the freakiest thing of all in the movie: settle for an older woman who looks like Tess…the way Anna made her look in 2003. Talk about a highly specific kink. And a highly scandalous sexual hang-up to appear in a Disney movie.
Then again, maybe it’s proof that, despite the movie coming out during yet another Republican presidency, things have managed to get slightly more progressive. Or is “uncomfortably weird” the more accurate phrase? One supposes it depends on the level of fetishism the viewer himself has for Tess Coleman, ergo Jamie Lee Curtis.
Because there was no way Lindsay Lohan was ever going to crawl out of the depths of the toilet into which her career descended after the 2000s, a sequel to Freaky Friday was probably inevitable after her trio of Netflix movies failed to truly relaunch her as a “star” (stop trying to make “Lohanaissance” happen). And since Jamie Lee Curtis has always had a kind heart, she was fully on board with the project. One that came about right as a certain capitalization on “millennial nostalgia” was part of the motivation behind what could get “new” content greenlit (see also: the forthcoming The Devil Wears Prada 2 or even Shrek 5). What’s more, because Lohan performed “favorably enough” in her Netflix films (which, to be clear, are all absolute shite, with Irish Wish taking the cake), it seemed that Hollywood was ready to take a chance on her in a more legitimate way again: the studio movie.
And, considering that Lohan has such a history with Disney Studios, who better than that entity to give her the opportunity to be in a “right proper” movie as the lead for the first time in eighteen years. For, in all honesty, Lohan hasn’t been in a major studio movie as the star since 2007’s Georgia Rule, which was the first time when her party life really started to affect her professional life in that the producer of the movie, James G. Robinson, actually had to write Lohan a letter telling her what a fuck-up she was and that she needed to get it together for the sake of the production. Among the highlights of that letter were the accusations that Lohan “acted like a spoiled child” and had “frequently failed to arrive on time to set.” (Perhaps just another way in which she wanted to channel Marilyn Monroe.) These latenesses or full-stop absences were due to, per Lohan and her representatives, “not feeling well.” Something Robinson addressed in the letter by saying he was “well aware that your ongoing all night heavy partying is the real reason for your so-called ‘exhaustion.’”
So yes, 2007 was not only a bad year for Britney, career image-wise, but also for Lohan. Indeed, it’s no secret that part of Freakier Friday’s cachet is a desire to see someone who was so trashed and hounded by the media in the 00s come back from the trauma of it all. Since it’s apparent that Britney really didn’t. Though it can be said Lohan’s former frenemy (and part of the trio in the car that night in 2006 that launched a thousand headlines and memes), Paris Hilton, has been vindicated in the last decade as well. In large part, thanks to a rebrand that essentially sought to erase her 00s image of being a vacuous (and racist/homophobic) party girl.
In Lohan’s case, however, there hasn’t been a rebrand, so much as a constant return to the movies that made her famous in the first place (even Irish Wish had callbacks to Freaky Friday and Mean Girls)—extending to her nonstop and inexplicable wealth of endorsement deals. So of course, not only would she want to be in a sequel to Freaky Friday, but also continue to allude to the other two primary films that made her a success in her childhood and teen years: The Parent Trap and Mean Girls (because other movies in her Disney oeuvre, like Life-Size, Get a Clue and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, were much more niche). As for the former film, the parallels appear immediately in the form of the warring dynamic between Anna Coleman’s (Lohan) daughter, a quintessential “California girl” (complete with the surfing predilection), Harper (Julia Butters), and a new-in-town, rather stuck-up British classmate of hers named Lily Reyes (Sophia Hammons). Obviously, it reeks of the dynamic between Hallie Parker and Annie James (both played by Lohan) in The Parent Trap (yet another remake of a Disney movie in Lohan’s oeuvre). Something Lohan was sure to play up with some of her sartorial choices on the infinite publicity tour for Freakier Friday.
As for the high school that Harper and Lily attend, once again, it was filmed at none other than Palisades Charter High School, just before it burned down in January 2025. As a matter of fact, Curtis was certain to cite Freakier Friday as a love letter to Los Angeles in the aftermath of the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, with the movie also being shot at the now burned-down Altadena Town & Country Club for Tess’ (Curtis) a.k.a. Lily-as-Tess’ pickleball scene. To an extent, maybe Freakier Friday is “passable” as a love letter to said city, but, more than anything, it’s a love letter to Lohan’s short-lived career heyday. Almost as if to further emphasize that point, Elaine Hendrix a.k.a. the “evil (would-be) stepmother” of The Parent Trap, Meredith Blake, is given a totally non sequitur role as “Blake Kale” (the first name of course being a nod to Meredith’s last name), an editor in charge of handling the piece on Anna’s biggest client, the mononymous Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan). Because, that’s right, Anna is now a talent manager for musicians rather than being one herself, with the running story being that she “gave up” her chance at being a “rock star” because she had Harper. Indeed, the math of the movie places Anna at twenty-two years old when she had her child, with thirty-nine-year-old Lohan playing “thirty-six-and-a-half” and sixteen-year-old Butters playing fourteen. So sure, it’s like a Gilmore Girlsage difference. Though Anna and Harper hardly share the closeness of Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel). Nor is Tess exactly “Emily Gilmore [Kelly Bishop] material.”
For, once again, Freakier Friday, like its 2003 predecessor, is meant to highlight the fraught, contentious relationship between a teenage girl and her mother—and that mother’s imminent wedding to a dude she resents. Only this time, it’s Anna going through it with Harper, who, like Anna as a teenager, has little empathy for her mother’s profession or her plans to get married to some “interloper.” More specifically, her nemesis Lily’s father, Eric (Manny Jacinto). And, obviously, with this new form of Asian representation in the sequel, the way the “magic” of the body swap (presently a quadruple instead of a double one) works can’t be “offensive” the way it was in the first movie. That is to say, with a Chinese restaurant owner touting a garish accent giving Anna and Tess a fortune cookie with the same fortune inside of it (“She did something… Some strange Asian voodoo,” Tess-as Anna declares).
And so, as a sign of its “updated” views from the original, the magic comes from a daffy, “multi-hyphenate” psychic/fortune teller named Madame Jen (Vanessa Bayer, another SNL alum besides Chloe Fineman who appears in the movie). And no, what isn’t included in the trailer is the wannabe demon voice she gives at different points in the process of delivering their “prophecy”: “Change the hearts you know are wrong, to reach the place where you belong.” It’s a much more reduced “curse” than the one in the fortune cookie that Tess and Anna get: “A journey soon begins, its prize reflected in another’s eyes. When what you see is what you lack, then selfless love will change you back.”
Regardless of the revamped wording, it’s the same old method for returning to one’s body in Freakier Friday, though Tess and Anna apparently have convenient amnesia about the fact that “all” it takes is empathizing with the person you can’t stand in order to be restored to your body. But it’s Harper and Lily who are told the little rhyme by Madame Jen, information they keep from Tess and Anna once they realize that now that they’re the adults, they can make the decisions that will free them from a life saddled together. It is especially Lily who doesn’t want the nuptials between Anna and Eric to happen, for it would mean potentially having to stay in Los Angeles. And London is where, supposedly, her heart lies—along with a fashion school she wants to attend. Harper, too, would rather die than leave her beloved L.A. and all the surfing potential that comes with it. And so, like Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and Cady Heron (Lohan) in Mean Girls, the two hatch a plan to take down their respective parent’s relationship rather than Regina George (Rachel McAdams). Hence, the creation of a list titled The Plan that looks a lot like the style and structure of what Janis writes on her chalkboard (in addition to mimicking Hallie and Annie’s plot to get their parents back together, rather than tear them apart).
Unfortunately for Lily, Harper, while in her mother’s body, has the chance to understand just how genuine Eric’s love for her mother is, making it more difficult to treat him like shit so that the relationship can disintegrate. Part of that plan being to get Harper-as-Anna back in contact with Jake Austin (Chad Michael Murray), who now owns a record store. This giving director Nisha Ganatra and writer Jordan Weiss (best known for Dollface) the chance to further play up the nostalgia of the 00s by having Lily-as-Tess loom in the background with Britney’s In the Zone album cover over her head as “camouflage” (later, she’ll also use Madonna’s True Blue). All while she advises her on how to be “seductive”—these instructions not only proving Lily’s inexperience with boys (though she insists she has a French boyfriend), but additionally prompting Jake to question whether or not Harper-as-Anna is having a stroke. What’s more, Jake’s fetish for older women (but especially Tess) has only gotten more pronounced since the Coleman women fucked with his head back in ‘03. Apparently to the point where he’s still “got it bad” for women who dress like Tess did when Anna was in her body (and also have Tess’ same short haircut from that era).
In order to “dig Jake up,” so to speak, Lily-as-Tess tells Harper-as-Anna about a “database for old people” known as Facebook. Just one of many “generational gap” jokes made at the expense of Anna and Tess. But, more than anyone, Tess, who bears the brunt of all the ageism. This mainly perhaps 1) Curtis knows how to deal with this kind of comedy without making it feel totally mean-spirited because she’s “in on the joke” herself and 2) Lohan isn’t quite ready to put a spotlight on her current status, from the Gen Z viewpoint, as being “old.” Which is why the only cutting remark she really gets from her daughter is about how Anna’s skin feels like it’s crying out for water. Then, of course, there’s the same dredged-up bit about teenagers being able to eat whatever they want because of their metabolism. Or as, Tess-as-Anna triumphantly phrases it to Anna-as-Tess while eating fries in Freaky Friday, “This food may make you blow up like a balloon, but it will do nothing whatsoever to me.”
And, for some, Freakier Friday will do nothing whatsoever for them. Because not everyone is charmed by the nostalgia that Freakier Friday largely coasts on, with a review from Time (the one that was scathing enough to get Curtis’ attention) saying it all with the title, “Freakier Friday Is Humiliating to Everyone Involved.” Other, kinder reviews cite Curtis as the saving grace of the movie, for it’s clear she’s having the time of her life playing Tess playing a teenager…again. And this, in truth, is the bulk of what makes the movie feel so exuberant. Even as it cashes in on the well-worn storylines and “winks” from Lohan’s past filmography. For while it’s designed to be a vehicle for her, Curtis is the one who stands out the most (sort of like what happened with Angelina Jolie outshining Winona Ryder in Girl, Interrupted—which is probably going to get a sequel any day now).
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s August, and horror and humor came to play.
In a month that’s long been known to let edgier movies thrive, Zach Cregger’s highly anticipated horror film “Weapons” did not disappoint, topping the box office during its debut weekend with $42.5 million domestically from 3,202 theaters. It made $70 million internationally.
The film’s success also handed its distributor, Warner Bros. Pictures, the seventh No. 1 opening of the year, and became the studio’s sixth film in a row to debut with over $40 million domestically.
“Freakier Friday,” Disney’s chaotic sequel to the 2003 classic, “Freaky Friday,” took the second spot during its premiere weekend, earning $29 million in 3,975 North American theaters. Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis return, this time for a double body-swapping between the mother-daughter duo and Lohan’s teen daughter and soon-to-be stepdaughter.
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Cary Christopher in a scene from “Weapons.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Cary Christopher in a scene from “Weapons.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
Viral marketing tactics, coupled with strong social media word-of-mouth, boded well for both films’ success, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for the data firm Comscore.
“The top two films could not be more different, and that’s what makes this weekend so appealing for moviegoers,” Dergarabedian said. “Both are perfectly tailored for their audiences to react in real time over the weekend to these films and then post on social media.”
“Weapons” transports audiences to the small town of Maybrook, where 17 kids up and leave their homes at 2:17 a.m., leaving bewildered parents in their wake. The town is left to navigate the lingering effects of trauma through horror, paranoia and a touch of existential humor.
The film is Cregger’s follow-up to his solo directorial debut with the 2022 genre-bending horror, “Barbarian.” That critically-acclaimed film had a slower start and smaller budget, but still topped the charts during its premiere with $10 million domestically and made a splash in the genre.
“Weapons” generated a lot of buzz for its strong reviews (95% on Rotten Tomatoes).
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Cary Christopher in a scene from “Weapons.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Cary Christopher in a scene from “Weapons.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
“The internet’s exploding right now between Friday and today. You just see that people are having a great time with it,” said Jeffrey Goldstein, president of global distribution for Warner Bros. “It starts with an exceptional movie, an exceptional marketing campaign, and the date was exceptional too.”
“The Bad Guys 2,” which got a healthy start at the No. 2 spot during its premiere weekend, came in fourth place, earning $10.4 million domestically. “The Naked Gun” had a similar fate, reaching the fifth position with $8.4 million in North American theaters.
Warner Bros. started off slow this year, but made a comeback with the box-office hit, “A Minecraft Movie,” which opened with $157 million domestically. Since then, movies like “Sinners,” “Superman” and now, “Weapons,” have found success.
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Cary Christopher in a scene from “Weapons.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Cary Christopher in a scene from “Weapons.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
The studio set “a blueprint to how to create a perfect summer lineup,” Dergarabedian said.
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. “Weapons,” $42.5 million.
2. “Freakier Friday,” $29 million.
3. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” $15.5 million.
Lindsay Lohan spends the holidays with an unexpected guest in the trailer for Netflix‘s Christmas romantic comedy Our Little Secret.
The streaming service releases the film from director Stephen Herek (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) on Nov. 27. Our Little Secret stars Lohan and Ian Harding as two exes who unexpectedly reunite under the same roof over the holidays and realize that their current partners are siblings.
Rounding out the cast are Tim Meadows, Jon Rudnitsky, Henry Czerny, Judy Reyes, Chris Parnell, Kristin Chenoweth and Dan Bucatinsky.
The trailer shows Lohan’s character worried about dealing with her new boyfriend’s mother, played by Chenoweth. “You cannot tell anyone about us,” Lohan warns Harding about their past. “The last thing I need is to give that woman ammunition.”
Later, Harding confides, “I don’t want you to think that I just moved on.”
A memorable moment in the trailer shows Lohan realizing that some gummy candies that she recently ingested have an unexpected ingredient in them.
Herek helmed the movie from a script by Hailey DeDominicis. Lisa Gooding and Mike Elliott serve as producers.
This film marks Lohan’s latest project for Netflix following Irish Wish, which hit the streamer earlier this year, and the 2022 holiday movie Falling for Christmas.
Our Little Secret is part of a Netflix’s holiday slate of movies, with a different title getting released every Wednesday throughout the month of November. This includes the Christina Milian feature Meet Me Next Christmas debuting Nov. 6, the Lacey Chabert-led Hot Frosty launching Nov. 13, and Chad Michael Murray’s The Merry Gentlemen releasing Nov. 20.
Despite Lindsay Lohan’s rather limited filmography, it hasn’t stopped her from continually homing in on the main three movies that launched her into the spotlight—The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday and Mean Girls—as premises/allusions in her various brand deals over the years. And, if not referencing one of those movies, Lohan has always been able finagle a brand partnership by making fun of her party girl past. She did as much in 2015 with an Esurance commercial, in 2018 for a brief stint as lawyer.com’s spokesperson and again in 2022 with an ad for Planet Fitness that was sure to play up how healthy and vital she is now. So “vital,” in fact, that she still needs to do commercials because of how few and far between the film roles are (and no, one isn’t counting her “Netflix comeback” with Falling For Christmas and Irish Wish).
This much was further emphasized again in 2022 when she released yet another ad that paid Mean Girls homage galore, this time for a shoe brand: Allbirds. Then, in 2023, she went back to Mean Girls again via a Peter Thomas Roth ad that found her playing a “customer service representative” (a.k.a. herself wearing a headset) to answer the call of a woman asking, “What can Peter Thomas Roth eye patches help me with?” In reply, Lohan gushes, “Hydration, depuffing, anti-aging…the limit does not exist!” Nor does the limit exist for the amount of products that Lohan will shill while simultaneously hammering home the point that the height of her movie career was in the 2000s (even though The Parent Trap came out in 1998). The Mean Girls milking didn’t stop that year either, with Lohan really going for broke (a.k.a. money) via a Wal-Mart commercial that would be as close as she could get to a sequel (something she had been blabbing about for years on various talk shows, only to be saddled with an embarrassing cameo in the eventual movie version of the Broadway musical).
In her latest to bid to remind people of her relevance by recalling the past (something Lohan’s longtime frenemy, Paris Hilton, is defter at), Lohan concedes to riff on The Parent Trap for a Nexxus hair product commercial titled “The Style Swap”—surely, you get the similarity in title. Obviously, this is because Mean Girls is too exhausted by now and she’s waiting to release the sequel to Freaky Friday (Freakier Friday) before she starts fully milking that again, too. Hence, reverting to The Parent Trap, her very first feature. After all, not many people are going to get a Just My Luck or even Life-Size reference. So that leaves a concept that starts with Lohan sitting at her vanity as someone calls from offscreen, “Lindsay! Ready to go?” “Give me five,” she calls back. Gazing into the mirror, she then “muses,” “Hmm, who do I wanna be today? I’m feeling twinspired…but, as I always say, let the hair decide.”
She then has a “fantasy” of two hairstyles meant to embody the personality types of Hallie Parker and Annie James, the twins separated at birth in The Parent Trap who end up reuniting at the same summer camp. While Annie is a polished and sophisticated Londoner, Hallie is a loose, casual California girl. Thus, Nexxus takes advantage of the hairstyle “contrasts” by showcasing one version of Lohan in a slicked-back ponytail narrating, “Do I wanna go understated with a sleek pony?” She then saturates her hair with a “slick stick” (not suggestive at all) and declares, “The Nexxus slick stick is my go-to” before breaking the fourth wall and asking (in Annie’s British accent), “Where was this in the 90s?”
The Hallie persona then enters the picture by way of Lohan lying on her back (no stranger to said position) on the bed with a deck of cards fanned out in her hands—an automatic callback to the poker scene in The Parent Trap. She muses, “Do I wanna go bold with hair as big as my personality?” “Hallie” then douses her tresses with a spray and explains, “This Nexxus XXL hairspray gives me major volume.” It’s at this point that she stares into a Beauty and the Beast-like hand mirror and tells herself, “You never looked better.” This being what amounts to an almost exact re-creation of what she does in the Peter Thomas Roth commercial with a hand mirror, also telling herself, “Honey, you never looked better.” Unless this is just her new occasional catchphrase (à la Paris Hilton with “sliving”), it seems ill-advised to use it in commercials for two separate brands. But then, Lohan is known for being somewhat sloppy.
Winking at the camera after repeating what she already did for Peter Thomas Roth, she’s then joined in the next scene by her “twinspirations,” with ponytailed Annie insisting, “Well, I think the choice here is obvious.” Hallie chimes in, “Yep, very obvious. Have you ever seen hair this bouncy?” The “real” Lindsay then announces, “I have a beyond brilliant idea [this being a Hallie quote from the movie]. Sorry girls, you’re dismissed.” Snapping her fingers, she disappears the two and proceeds to meld the best of both styles while cringily continuing her narration with, “Brat summer is over. Flawless fall is now.”
And, apparently, “flawless fall” means looking like Meredith Blake (Elaine Hendrix)—oversized black hat (granted, Meredith’s wasn’t that oversized) and white dress included—instead of either one of her twin selves. When Lohan finally shows herself to the person who was waiting for her, someone intended to be her daughter, one presumes, the girl says of her overdressed appearance, “I thought we were just going to the grocery store.” Lohan shrugs, “We are.”
Now out on the sidewalk in front of her brownstone (how Carrie Bradshaw), Lohan looks at the camera again and instructs, “Darling, always live like the cameras are watching” (because, frankly, they are—and who remembers that better than the formerly-stalked-by-the-paparazzi Lohan?). This being a statement more in line with her Lola Steppe character from Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. Perhaps the next movie that Lohan will resort to referencing in a commercial, since Mean Girls and The Parent Trap are growing increasingly stale and there are few things that the I Know Who Killed Me storyline could work for in terms of advertising (even though that story, too, involves twins separated at birth).
Building on the growing arsenal of singles and videos that Paris Hilton has thus far released from her second album, Infinite Icon, “ADHD” marks the fourth single from the record. And, noticeably, it’s the first single to not rely on a feature from someone more legitimate in the music industry to buttress it (with “I’m Free,” it was Rina Sawayama; with “Chasin,” it was Meghan Trainor; with “BBA,” it was Megan Thee Stallion). As such, it makes sense that Hilton would pull out even more stops than usual for the video, directed by photographer/graphic designer Brian Ziff (who was responsible for Hilton’s album cover visuals, and has previously worked with the likes of Cardi B and Rico Nasty on other photoshoots).
To mimic the “vibe” of what it feels like to have ADHD, the video immediately starts with a frenetic barrage of various images behind Hilton as she starts to get overwhelmed by all the thoughts she’s having—all the synapses that are firing back and forth. She then appears against a black backdrop (as though to indicate that the noise has briefly quieted) wearing light-up fairy wings (or butterfly, depending on your personal preference). Indeed, Hilton is known to wear such a winged prop for various events and photo opportunities, but, in truth, her fellow 00s icon, Britney Spears, has always been the one with the fairy fetish. And, speaking of Spears, “ADHD” definitely bears the sound of a cheesy Spears ballad from one of her earlier albums (think: “Don’t Let Me Be The Last to Know”)—though it clearly wants to believe it qualifies as being of an “Everytime” caliber (Spears’ strongest ballad, unquestionably).
On the subject of “Everytime,” the video for “ADHD” also does its best to convey a certain “mental illness steez.” This being played up by a slew of dancers outfitted in white lace body stockings and matching face coverings that lend a “creepy” (for Paris Hilton standards) aura as they writhe and wriggle erratically in a manner intended to connote the manic nature of ADHD (though it kind of looks like the similarly erratic choreography from Jennifer Lopez’s “Hearts and Flowers” segment in This Is Me… Now: A Love Story). This happening as she “belts out,” “Sometimes I can’t deny it/So I just keep on trying/Sometimes I wanna crumble/Sometimes I’m gonna stumble/My mind is always running/Sometimes I feel like crying.”
In the end, of course, she realizes that her “superpower” all along has been ADHD. Not a curse, but a blessing that makes her see and process the world in a much more “special” way than everyone else (well, that and being an Aquarius). Hilton remarks upon this “special,” extrasensory worldview right at the outset of her memoir, Paris, when she says, “Dr. Edward Hallowell, author of Driven to Distraction, says the ADHD brain is like a Ferrari with bicycle brakes: powerful but difficult to control. My ADHD makes me lose my phone, but it also makes me who I am, so if I’m going to love my life, I have to love my ADHD.” Of course, it’s also easy to love one’s life—ADHD or not—when they have oodles of cash, but anyway…
While some might be wondering what a Lolitacore aesthetic (rampant throughout the video) has to do with ADHD, they obviously don’t understand that “looking hot” is not out of the question for such a serious subject matter. As Hilton also notes in her memoir, “My brain chemistry craves sensory input. Sounds, images, puzzles, art, motion, experiences—everything that triggers adrenaline or endorphins—that’s all as necessary as oxygen for the ADHD brain.” That certainly explains the barrage of sensory overloaded, sexually charged images in “ADHD,” complete with Hilton also seeming to take some inspo from Spears’ 1999 Rolling Stone photoshoot with David LaChapelle, especially via her “boudoir” scenes being punctuated by pink hues and satin sheets (on another side note: LaChapelle directed the abovementioned “Everytime” video).
Other “scenarios” in the video find Hilton standing in the middle of a hall of mirrors or against a black backdrop seemingly projecting “vintage” scenes from the 00s (there even appears to be a moment where Lindsay Lohan is projected on one of the screens behind her—unless, of course, it’s just a lookalike. And yet, it wouldn’t be out of the question considering Hilton recently said she wouldn’t rule out doing a remix song with Lohan à la Charli and Lorde).
She serves more Britney imagery by perching on a swing in a style that harkens back to Spears in the “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart” video…and Lana Del Rey during the “Video Games” portion of any live show she plays. Granted, Paris’ “special swing” has a giant half-moon decoration on it and, in contrast to Britney and Lana, Paris is, naturally, sporting more Lolitacore lingerie while on it.
As for the continuation of subliminally projected images behind her that seem to borrow from TMZ’s vault of 00s footage, there’s another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it image in particular that shows Paris on the illustrious November night in 2006 (you can tell by the outfit) when her photo was snapped thousands of times as she drove away from the Beverly Hills Hotel with Spears and Lohan in tow. And so, perhaps projecting these images of the past behind her in a fast-paced, extremely subconscious way is meant to prove another point about ADHD from her book: “Because my attention span is limited, I don’t see time as linear; the ADHD brain processes past, present and future as a Spirograph of interconnected events…” Either that or she knows that playing up her 00s era at any chance she gets will always be her bread and butter (“Is butter a carb?”).
It also seems as though Hilton has been of the belief that ADHD is a superpower for a while now, having immortalized that thought in her memoir with the declaration, “Some of us have discovered that ADHD is our superpower.” So clearly, the lyrics have been brewing for quite some time. Though she seems to have lifted the uber narcissistic line, “My superpower was right inside, see/So thank you to me/Thank you to me/Thank you to me,” from Snoop Dogg accepting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018. Or Meghan Trainor on this year’s “I Wanna Thank Me,” which samples Niecy Nash’s Emmy award acceptance speech (itself ostensibly inspired by Snoop). But, occasionally narcissistic or not, Hilton wants everyone to know that ADHD is what got her to where she is today, not winning the birth lottery.
Christina Aguilera and Cher had the Golden Globe-nominated Burlesque.Channing Tatum made a trilogy out of Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike. Now, early-aughts heartthrob Chad Michael Murray is boldly going where no actor has before—headlining a holiday-themed movie about a shirtless all-male dance revue.
Netflix has unveiled the first look at The Merry Gentlemen, which stars Murray—best known for The CW’s One Tree Hill and the film A Cinderella Story—as a “kind, confident, and slightly sarcastic” contractor who strips down in the name of seasonal tidings, as the actor told Tudum. The film’s other main character, Ashley (played by Britt Robertson of Girlboss and The Longest Ride) stages the all-male dance show to save the Rhythm Room, her parents’ small-town performing arts venue.
Murray, who appeared alongside Brooke Shields in last year’s Netflix comedy Mother of the Bride and recently reprised his role as Lindsay Lohan’s love interest in Freaky Friday 2, has starred in his fair share of Christmas movies, including Hallmark’s Write Before Christmas and Lifetime’s Toying With the Holidays. But a more risqué concept was new territory for Murray. “It’s a fine line to thread a Christmas movie and strippers to make it work, right?” he told People. “It’s not the first thing that comes to your mind when you think Christmas. So for us, it was really making sure that the tone’s right,” adding that the film will get viewers “a little hot and bothered under the collar.”
The movie is directed by made-for-TV (or streaming) rom-com regular Peter Sullivan and written by Full House alum Marla Sokoloff, who also plays a supporting role in the film. Starring alongside her, Robertson, and Murray are more familiar faces for Millennials, like Beth Broderick of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Maxwell Caulfield of the so-bad-it’s-good Grease 2.
The Merry Gentlemen will stream as part of Netflix’s previously-announced holiday slate, which includes Our Little Secret starring Lohan and Hot Frosty, fronted by fellow Mean Girls star Lacey Chabert. The Chippendales-esque movie (be warned, certain cast members of Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives) debuts on Nov. 20.
This cocktail has made the rounds on social media and events….and has become a raging success.
This cocktail has been a honey of a success…and a refreshing change at sporting events. The Grey Goose Honey Deuce is the official cocktail of the US Open. The drink returned this year to a roaring success. The name comes from a word play on the tennis term deuce (a tie score of 40-40) and thehoneydew melon garnish. Refreshing, intoxicating and popular – the drink has been gushing out of court side bars at $23 a pop.
The US Open is a premier tennis tournament sponsored by big hitters like American Express, Mercedes Benz, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Rolex and Emirates Airlines. The well heeled, the super rich and the famous flock to the stands. Anna Wintour was there along with celebrities at Arthur Ashe stadium. Spotted at the event was Phoebe Dynevor, Hugh Jackman, Zoey Deutch, Lindsay Lohan, Alec Baldwin, Kerry Washington, and Alicia Keyes. The crowd knows how to drink and drink well…and this cocktail has done well. This year they ordered over 550,000 Honey Deuces, over 100,000 more than last year. Roughly $12.65 million plus tips were spent over the two weeks of the tournament.
But you don’t have to fly to New York and hobnob with the crowd to have your own. You can make it at home and imbibe. Here is how to make your own Grey Goose Honey Deuce.
Ingredients
1 1.4 oz Grey Goose Vodka
Fresh Lemonade
Premium Raspberry Liqueur
Honeydew Melon Balls
Create
Fill a chilled highball glass with cubed ice and add Grey Goose Vodka
Top with fresh lemonade and raspberry liqueur
Garnish with a skewer of 1 or multiple frozen honeydew melon balls
Beer has been the staple of sporting events, but stadiums around the country have been changing their drinks menu while adding sponsorship dollars to the coffers. In 1989 Evian water wanted to reach hot and thirsty affluent customers, so they became an official sponsor of the US Open. The tennis set has had beverage-centric partnerships ever since. And this has translated to other events from the Kentucky Derby to football adding it to their menu.
We’re in the best of times (brat summer), but we’re also in the worst of times (constantly fielding articles by Some Guy about how brat summer is dead). But how could brat summer be over if I feel it in my heart? If they’re still playing “Guess ft. Billie Eilish” at Tenants of the Trees in LA (where Charli XCX herself had her birthday party for some reason)? And if the impact of brat summer is still causing ripples through the culture it cannot be over.
No, I’m not talking about Kamala’s brat green rebrand. I’m talking about something more substantial — the very same thing that had last summer in the same chokehold: the infectious and irresistible power of girlhood.
Last summer caused a vibe shift. Culture started catering to women. Let’s be real: Women have been the drivers of pop culture for a long time. I, for one, will never forget that artists like The Beatles and Elvis, who are still taken seriously as iconic musical artists today, caused fanatical frenzies, not unlike artists like Justin Bieber and One Direction. Yet, despite our clear good taste, women have historically been written off as fickle while culture catered to men.
Just think of how the 2000s were defined by blockbuster summer movies. Usually, an action movie would dominate, followed by a “chick flick” that was relegated to date nights or the whims of teenage girls. Yet, when Barbenheimer resurrected this dynamic, one had a clear chokehold on the internet and the world. And since I haven’t seen Oppenheimener-flavored Olipops, no prizes for guessing which one it was.
This summer isn’t defined by movies (Twisters and It Ends With Us aren’t the Barbenheimer redux we wanted) it’s characterized by music. And while the guys gave it the old college try — Kendrick did release the ultimate hater anthem with Not Like Us in the Spring — the girls take it yet again.
And despite seasonal albums from established pop stars like Dua Lipa and Ariana Grande, queer (or queer-coded) female artists have blown up this summer. All of them have also been grafting behind the scenes for years before finally getting their flowers. But now the world is listening. We’re learning. And we’re obsessed.
Of course, there’s the princess of the summer, Sabrina Carpenter, who is the latest Disney veteran to make it big. We’ll get to her Disney drama later, but this summer, it’s all about our Short n Sweet queen’s infectious earworms. We called it earlier this year: she is the moment. Her rise to fame has been inevitable.
Then there’s the surprise star of the year, Chappell Roan. So glad bisexual women decided not to gatekeep this absolute star. The fact that I’ve been listening to Chappell since 2020 and I’m still not tired of “Pink Pony Club” says a lot.
But Charli XCX’s mainstream moment is arguably the most surprising. Charli is a giant to music lovers and, of course, the queer community. A real dyed-in-the-wool party girl, she grew up in the clubs and doesn’t just talk the talk, she throws the parties. Despite her collaborations with literally everyone, her Grammys, and her hits, Charli XCX is only now becoming a household name. Why? Because we’re finally ready for her.
Girlhood is brat. Brat is girlhood. Girl, it’s so confusing, but it’s about being a girl
Girlhood is the name of the game and Charli writes for the girls and the gays. Her album speaks to the desire to hold on to the feeling of youth juxtaposed with the realities of growing up. Who can’t relate? She talks about themes integral to girlhood: going on vacation and thinking it will change your life, going to a party and thinking it will change your life, and having dinner with a girl and thinking she hates you.
The latter was the impetus for the internet-breaking track “The girl, so confusing version with lorde.” After Charli released the original version of “girl, so confusing,” the internet rightly assumed it was about her years-long pseudo-beef with Lorde. Lyrics like: “I’m all about throwing parties / You’re all about writing poems,” and “People say we’re alike, they say we’ve got the same hair,” added fuel to the fire of their reported feud. So imagine our surprise when Charli released a version with Lorde herself. Like Miss Ella, honestly, we were speechless.
Lorde knew what she was doing when she said: “When we put this to bed, the internet will go crazy.” Sure enough, the internet erupted. And it did the same once again when footage was released of the two scream-singing their instant classic of a collab at Charli’s birthday party. What a way to put the feud rumors to bed.
Will Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo work it out on the remix?
After Lorde and Charli worked out their decade of competition over a Jack Antonoff beat, the internet speculated: who would be next to quell their beef with the power of song? If it seems like the plot of a Disney movie, get in for the ride — the Disney of it all has just begun.
A few weeks ago, sources reported that former Disney stars turned stadium-selling pop stars Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter might be collaborating on a song. With the upcoming release of Carpenter’s highly anticipated album sneaking up on us, fans speculate that this could be a surprise track waiting on the record.
If you don’t understand how earth-shattering this is, let me take you back to 2021, when Olivia Rodrigo first took the world by storm with her song “drivers license.” The song, and subsequent album, chronicled her heartbreak about how her costar and ex-boyfriend Joshua Bassett left her for “that blonde girl.” The blonde in question? Sabrina Carpenter.
That’s right. Our very own me espresso was the villain in the “drivers license” saga. And you mean to tell me the two of them have put their boy drama aside to collaborate? Please, please, please tell me if this is true. If it is, I’ll be sat watching it unfold. As if I needed another reason to eagerly await the release of Short N Sweet.
In the meantime, I’m making a list and checking it twice about all the other celebs I want to see quell their beef. And yes, the list gets more and more unhinged as you go down, tis the summer of collabs. And our favorite artists are proving that magic can be made if they do it together. Billie and Charli did it. Kendrick and the entire rap community did it. Who is next?
This is my ultimate dream. The Paris Olympics may have made you fantasize about what life would be like if you hadn’t quit JV basketball, but it made me dream about seeing my beloved One Direction again. After all, I can’t watch an opening ceremony without thinking about their performance at the 2012 London Games. Stranger things have happened than a boyband reuniting. The second they announce a tour, I’m quitting my job and dedicating my life to following them around on tour. Hold me to that.
Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan
The Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo feud is the closest our generation will ever get to experiencing the magnitude of drama caused by Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff. As the two defining Disney sensations turned movie stars of their time, Duff and Lohan were pitted against each other by the media. Everybody knew it: the two were rivals in their careers and in their relationships. We’ll never experience that kind of TMZ-stoked animosity again. But we’re older now. Duff and Lohan are both in new phases of their careers. If they worked it, the (millennial side of the) internet really would go crazy.
Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber
These two divas have been competing to be the prince of pop for years. And their silent feud runs deep. In a radio interview at the beginning of Shawn’s career, Justin responded to a question about the other Canadian crooner with the dismissive and deadly, “who’s Shawn Mendes?” Then, after Mendes appeared with Hailey Baldwin at the Met Gala in 2018, Bieber quickly reignited his relationship with our favorite nepo baby and married her. Talk about winning the battle. The two already have a song together, “ Monster,” but no one is buying that they’ve really worked it out. I want to see Shawn at Justin and Hailey’s baby shower or bust.
Justin Bieber and Harry Styles
Speaking of pop feuds, Bieber and Styles have been toeing a tension-laden line since 2012. Rumors swirled that One Direction was supposed to open for Bieber on his Believe tour but the plans were canceled — and dreams died. Reasons abound as to why but I suppose we’ll never know. As someone who attended that Believe tour, I have been waiting for them to work it out on the remix ever since.
Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers
Other feuds from my childhood I want fixed: the Disney Channel stars involved in the seminal sustainability single, “Send It On.” That was our Fleetwood Mac Rumors. With loyalties crossed, relationships breaking friendships, and a whole lot of teen angst going on, the Disney Channel producers had one song and one song only to change lives. While we were watching “Send It On” play during Disney breaks, we had no clue about the drama simmering beneath the surface. But imagine if they put that to bed? The internet would go crazy.
Joe Jonas and Taylor Swift
Of all of Taylor’s exes, she’s clearly already worked it out with Taylor Lautner — who was backflipping across her Eras tour stages for a brief stint last summer. But the reconciliation I really want is between Taylor and Joe. Sure, she’s written some scathing songs about him. And she told the world on Ellen that he broke up with her in 17 seconds. And she’s befriended Sophie Turner. But for a brief moment, Taylor made up with Kanye West, so stranger things have happened. Can you imagine a mashup between “SOS” by The Jonas Brothers and “The Story of US” by Taylor Swift? My Spotify Wrapped would become unshareable.
Katy Perry and Taylor Swift
Though allegedly this feud started due to the backup dancers, Perry has become one of Swift’s famed list of enemies. And as the queen of “Karma,” Swifties know that all of Taylor’s adversaries never fare well — just look at Ye or Scooter Braun. Katy Perry’s comeback might be another one of these casualties. Ouch. If the two managed to reconcile their “Bad Blood,” imagine the album Katy Perry would create.
Nelly Furtado and Fergie
Remember the song “ Give It To Me” by Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, and Justin Timberlake? Thanks to TikTok, the song experienced a recent resurgence. But did you know the entire song is a diss track? Justin Timberlake’s verse is about Prince (more insane than “what tour? The world tour”), Timbaland’s verse is about Scott Storch, and Nelly Furtado’s verse is about Fergie. But what if we stopped pitting two pop icons against each other and instead begged them both to have a comeback … together?
The Don’t Worry Darling Cast
The Don’t Worry Darling press tour pitted all our favorite stars against each other in the public arena: Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine, and Gemma Chan. And while that trainwreck of a movie doesn’t need a sequel, I would animatedly watch one just to keep keen eyes on the press tour.
The It Ends With Us Cast
If we thought there would never be another press tour as dramatic as Don’t Worry Darling, Justin Baldoni of the It Ends With Us cast just hired Johnny Depp’s lawyer — so it’s inarguably surpassed its dramatic predecessor. With Blake Lively and Baldoni both waging a press war, some are hoping It Ends With Us will just … end. But I need a little entertainment to tide me over into fall. And if the movie itself won’t provide it, the hope of a last-gasp reconciliation might.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake
I know this will never happen. In fact, if it did, I’d lose some respect for Kendrick, honestly. But sometimes I like to imagine that all of this was just marketing for a joint album a la “Watch the Throne.”
Jamie Lee Curtis is getting sentimental as the end of filming for Freakier Friday nears.
The Oscar winner took to her Instagram on Friday to share that she only has a few days left on set with her “ultimate movie daughter,” Lindsay Lohan, before production wraps for the Disney sequel, due out in 2025.
“The last FRIDAY of this FREAKIEST FRIDAY or shall I call it CRYDAY,” Curtis wrote. “We still have a couple days left next week, but it’s winding down and this morning as I arrived at work and looked at the hundreds of people gathering together to make it for the fans, shooting the movie in California, I’m feeling especially grateful to my ULTIMATE movie daughter, @lindsaylohan without whom we could not have made this movie. Ever.”
She added that Lohan “gifted me a @suziekondi shirt after I complimented her on hers and I wore it today in honor of her. Off to wig and work. Thanks for all the @disneyd23 LOVE! It was LEGENDARY!”
Freakier Friday sees Curtis and Lohan reprise their characters Tess and Anna, respectively, more than two decades after they switched bodies in the beloved 2003 film. In the sequel, Anna now has a daughter and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. But as they navigate the challenges of two families merging, the mother-daughter duo learn that lightning might strike twice.
The two actors also revealed the sequel’s title at D23 in Anaheim, California, earlier this month. At the Disney fan event, Curtis told People that the upcoming film is “a love letter to mothers and daughters.”
“It’s so beautiful to see the three generations in this,” Lohan added. “It’s so beautiful to see how Anna looks to Tess for advice. But then Tess still wants to kind of come in and give out the advice. And Anna has become a little bit like Tess in a way very much in this … which is what happens in life. You always become a little bit like your mom!”
Chad Michael Murray and Mark Harmon are also returning for Freakier Friday, with Manny Jacinto joining the cast.
At the beginning of July this year, Bebe Rexha tweeted, “I could bring down a BIG chunk of this industry. I AM frustrated. I Have been UNDERMINED. I’ve been so quiet for the longest time. I haven’t seen the signs even though people constantly are bringing them up and they have been SO OBVIOUS. And when I have spoken up I’ve been silence[d] and PUNISHED by this industry. Things must change or I’m telling ALL of my truths. The good the bad and the ugly.” The release of “I’m The Drama” feels in line with that pronouncement, as Rexha makes a heavy-handed allusion to the ways in which she’s been mistreated throughout her tenure in the music business by singing, “There’s a silence only I/I was born to break.”
Alas, Rexha has yet to go into full detail about what, exactly, has happened to her. When asked by a fan on Twitter (again, it’s not “X”), “What stops you from speaking? Do it! We are with you,” Rexha ominously replied, “THEY PUNISH YOU.” On the heels of releasing two other singles, “Chase It” and “My Oh My” (with Kylie Minogue and Tove Lo) this year, it seems as though Rexha is primed to release a fourth album, therefore doesn’t totally want to rock the boat when it comes to blowing the lid off the abuse she’s suffered. Particularly since Better Mistakes and Bebedidn’t perform as well on the charts as they should have (though her 2018 debut, Expectations, was certified platinum and managed to climb to number thirteen on the Billboard 200 album chart upon its release).
But that doesn’t mean that more “subtle” digs can’t be made at the industry, with the Jak Payne-directed video for “I’m The Drama” channeling Britney Spears in the 00s (think: the video for 2007’s “Piece of Me”). Particularly as it opens on Rexha surrounded by a sea of paparazzi, herself serving as the eye of the storm while wearing oversized black sunglasses (a very Brat emblem these days), a fur-trim coat and hair that’s dyed with black stripes to contrast against the overall blonde tresses.
In another intercut scene, Rexha appears to be at a venue that looks like a wedding reception (or any generic after-party, really) as she stands in the center of it all wearing a black floor-length gown (which is also her steez in the “My Oh My” video). She then dives into the chorus with an intonation that sounds decidedly mantra-y as she chants, “I’m the drama, I’m the face/I make heads turn in this place/And they lining up, and they lining up/And they lining up for a taste/I’m the drum set, I’m the bass/A goddamn filthy disgrace/And they lining up, and they lining up/And they lining up for a taste.” While this might be what constitutes that majority of the song’s lyrics, the infectious backbeat produced by Jimmy James and Punctual is what sustains it as an undeniable earworm rather than coming across as overly repetitive.
When she deviates from the chorus to announce, “When I walk in, feel your eyes/Oh, and they call my name,” the scene then switches to her sitting at the head of a table in what looks like a quintessential record label office (further emphasized by the framed records hung up on the wall) filled with executives in suits who don’t have an artistic bone in their body. Thus, it comes across as particularly pointed that she repeats the line, “There’s a silence only I/I was born to break” in this room, as though to none too abstrusely indicate who/what she’s talking about: the music industry “powers that be.” For, like Britney Spears, it seems there is so much more going on behind the scenes with Rexha’s oppression than fans and casual enthusiasts alike could ever fathom, with Rexha herself fueling the flames of that “conspiracy theory” fire by saying, as mentioned, “Things must change or I’m telling ALL of my truths. The good the bad and the ugly.” It sounds a lot like Kesha warning Dr. Luke in 2017’s “Praying,” “And we both know all the truth I could tell.” (Uncoincidentally, Rexha promoted her fangirl love for Kesha by posting a story on her Instagram where she’s singing the lyrics to her first independently-released single, “Joy Ride,” and captioning it, “KESHA YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO SLAY SO HARD WITH THIS ONE.”)
Rexha might just be reaching her breaking point in that truth-telling regard, as “I’m The Drama” pronounces both lyrically and visually. Unlike, say, Taylor Swift, who “self-effacingly” admits, “It’s me, hi/I’m the problem, it’s me” on 2022’s “Anti-Hero,” Rexha isn’t saying she’s the problem when she declares, “I’m the drama, I’m the drama/They lining up for a taste,” so much as riffing on what Britney said when she goaded, “You want a piece of me?/I’m Mrs. ‘Extra! Extra! This just in’/You want a piece of me?/I’m Mrs. ‘She’s too big, now she’s too thin’/You want a piece of me?/Piece of me.” Of course, Britney’s paparazzi-plagued 00s aura isn’t the only element of the aughts Rexha is serving throughout the “I’m The Drama” video—there’s also some major Lindsay Lohan in “Rumors” vibes (including the occasionally-reminiscent-of-the-“Rumors”-video color palette and the assaulting paparazzi visuals Rexha brings back from the 00s).
To further explain the message behind her song, Rexha stated, “I just wanted to create something people could relate to. The drama in it captures those moments where you feel like all the eyes are on you, whether good or bad. It’s embracing that and making something so empowering about it.” Just as Britney tried to do time and time again before they turned her into America’s fucked-up voodoo doll. Hopefully, the same won’t happen to Rexha, though, the way this year has been going for her (see: the hate crime in Munich incident), it would be understandable if she had a full-on Britney-with-the-shaved-head-and-umbrella moment.
In the meantime though, Rexha’s fans would probably like to believe she’ll do as she does at the end of “I’m The Drama” and simply spray a bottle of champagne among the crowd to celebrate her many instances of overcoming adversity in a business that still seeks to chew women up and spit them out like more grist for the mill.
Freaky Friday—the 2003 version that’s become one of Disney’s standout early-aughts live-action teen movies—is finally getting a sequel.
Andor Episodes 1-3 Review
After years of saying they’d do it, Jamie Lee Curtis (Borderlands) and Lindsay Lohan (Irish Wish) have finally manifested Freaky Friday 2, which they teased today in an Instagram post. The Hollywood Reporter also confirmed the news that Hulu’s Welcome to Chippendales filmmaker Nisha Ganatra is aboard to direct the reunion, and that producer Andrew Gunn will return to oversee the film with ex-Disney exec Kristen Burr.
Freaky Friday has been a recurrent franchise at Disney since the 1976 film starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris as the teen daughter and mom who switch bodies. Both that film and the 2003 remake are based on Mary Rodgers’ novel by the same name, which has had numerous other adaptations, including a musical, all centering on the classic comedic dynamic that comes when characters plunge right into the generation gap—not to mention the fun of seeing a young actor get to play a mom in the wrong body, and vice versa. As THR notes, “Lohan is no longer a teen and the new script, by Jordan Weiss, is said to bring a multigenerational approach to the story.”
Disney has yet to reveal if Freaky Friday 2, which starts shooting this summer, will be getting a theatrical release or going straight to Disney+.
Saint Patrick’s Day is perhaps famously lacking in movies centered on it as a “holiday” for good reason (see: Leprechaun as part of that good reason). After all, if one is going to write a screenplay about loads of drunks in New York (where St. Patrick’s Day is most celebrated), then they’d have too much competition/already been beaten by way of Mad Men. Irish Wish, Lindsay Lohan’s latest ill-advised “comeback” “film,” makes no claim of being a “St. Pat’s movie,” but it was very blatantly timed for a release that would coincide with Saint Patrick’s Day weekend. Obviously, as the title suggests, that’s because the “narrative” is set in Ireland. And yes, “narrative” is perhaps too generous a word for what goes on here. For the bulk of the story appears to be a combination of regurgitated plotlines (from no less than previous Lohan fan favorites, Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, with a dash of Sweet Home Alabama thrown in for more 00s-era measure) and shat-out pieces of cornball dialogue.
While that dialogue was supposedly provided by Kirsten Hansen (known for churning out similar Hallmark-esque schlock like Nantucket Noel,Love Under the Rainbow and Love on the Slopes), the mawkishly shot scenery comes courtesy of director Janeen Damian, who also brought us Lohan’s first outing with Netflix, Falling for Christmas a.k.a. (Not) Falling for Shitmas. While, ironically, it can be argued that Irish Wish is more watchable than the latter (though that’s kind of like saying Joe Biden is more electable than Donald Trump), Benjamin Lee of The Guardian accurately points out that “her last Netflix rom-com was perhaps more forgivable because of the season, when a great number of otherwise unacceptably shoddy films are given a mild pass because of the festive spirit.”
But because, as mentioned, no one really considers St. Patrick’s Day a holiday (least of all Irish people themselves)—unless you count frat boys and other rapey varietals of men—Irish Wish has little hope of appealing to much in the way of “festive spirit.” Though it might appeal to creating a drinking game built around taking a shot every time something non sequitur or completely shudder-inducing happens. Take, for example, the opening of the movie, during which viewers’ introduction to Maddie is not only her gawking at the “UK’s bestselling author,” Paul Kennedy (Alexander Vlahos), à la Cady Heron “grooling” over Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett) in Mean Girls, but also her scarf being ripped off her neck by a taxi. Because, among other ersatz things about this version of a briefly glimpsed New York City, people still rely on the yellow cab over an Uber, Lyft, et al.
As she lets the scarf unravel from her neck in such a way so that it twirls her around like she’s in a well-choreographed dance number, little does the viewer know, this is arguably the most dramatic, high-stakes occurrence that will go on in Irish Wish. Though it’s certainly not the most unbelievable. That credit might go to the fact that Paul’s “book reading/party” is depicted as though it’s a red carpet-worthy awards show, complete with eager, fawning paparazzi just waiting to snap a photo of Paul and ask him questions. New York might be the supposedly last literarily-enthusiastic place in the U.S., but this delineation exhibits just how little grounding Irish Wish has in any form of reality.
However, perhaps treating a book launch like a Hollywood industry event was merely a “signal” to viewers to prepare for things to get even more batshit in the next several minutes. Including Paul’s sudden attraction to one of Maddie’s “besties,” Emma Taylor (Elizabeth Tan), who presents herself to him in a state of feminine chaos as her fake eyelash is coming unglued. Paul appears to find this utterly captivating as the two fall under one another’s spell—much to Maddie’s dismay, as she watches it all unfold from across the room.
As their flirtation escalates (incongruously) over the next several minutes (which, in movie time, is a full evening), Maddie can see that she’s watching the man she “loves” slip through her fingers. And this despite what her mother, Rosemary (Jane Seymour, who appears to be taking on the role they couldn’t afford to give to Mary Steenburgen), warned her about: she needs to speak up for herself. Rosemary’s intermittent presence via telephone serves little other purpose than that…apart from showing people how to fix a stuck button on a keyboard.
Unfortunately for Maddie, she didn’t heed her mother’s advice and, by the end of the night, it’s “clear” that Paul and Emma are “smitten.” Still, Maddie tries to soothe herself in the taxi with her friends afterward by insisting to Emma, “It’s just a phone number. It’s not like it’s a proposal.” The cab lurches forward at that instant and the months on the calendar we see before us turn from June to August, followed by a brief scene of an airplane (with a shamrock logo and nothing else on it, naturally) flying across the sky. Cue Maddie’s other “bestie,” Heather (Ayesha Curry, who’s been on the promo tour for this movie with Lohan more than anyone else), remarking expositorily, “I can’t believe Paul and Emma are getting married. It all happened so fast.” Alluding to the cab’s lurching forward from a few months back (but in viewers’ minds, only a few seconds), she quips, “Like whiplash.”
As expected, “hijinks” ensue immediately upon her touchdown at the Knock Airport in County Mayo. Namely, she starts fighting over a suitcase with a “hot” photographer named James Thomas (Ed Speleers). Predictably, the suitcase explodes open and Maddie ends up touching his underwear (try desperately as it does to cultivate a meet-cute, Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife this is not). This is about the closest viewers will get to seeing something sexual happen (apart from Maddie covering her eyes at the sight of Paul in the shower). Whether that’s because of the “family-friendly” intent of the movie or the fact that Lohan is going back to a state of arrested development so as to return to the glory days of her “chaste” films (which are still not nearly as chaste as Irish Wish), well, that’s anyone’s guess.
What’s also anyone’s guess is why the “mischievous scamp” trope needs to be wielded, yet again, about the Irish. Indeed, the Irish stereotype that its people are somehow “magical” is alive and well in the movie’s use of Saint Brigid (Dawn Bradfield). She being, inexplicably, the person responsible for granting Maddie her casual wish to marry Paul under what’s apparently a wishing tree. Or maybe it’s a wishing bench she’s sitting on. Who the fuck knows? Logic clearly isn’t the point here. After all, as Olivia Rodrigo says, “Love is never logical.”
Just ask Melanie Smooter a.k.a. Carmichael (Reese Witherspoon) in Sweet Home Alabama, who also finds herself involved in a difficult love triangle (albeit a more believable, non-supernatural one). And, in case anyone had doubts about the Irish component of Irish Wish, the only cliche missing from the movie poster is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow prominently featured on it. As for those who could doubt it’s a “love triangle” movie, in that same poster, Lohan, framed in the center of her two “love objects,” holds out each hand on either side of her in a pose that indicates she’s weighing both of the men featured next to her. “Hmm, which subpar, generic dude shall I pick?” Neither of which, by the way, are actually Irish. In fact, sadly, the most Irish person in this movie seems to be Lohan herself (Speleers is British, while Vlahos is Welsh).
Another overt comparison to better rom-com premises of yore is My Best Friend’s Wedding, also about a love triangle and also starring a red-haired woman who has been staunchly friend-zoned by the object of her desire. Jules (Julia Roberts), however, at least has more to offer audiences on the Lucy Ricardo front than Lohan. And it is evident that Lohan seems to think having red hair should make her a natural comedienne. Alas, it does not, and she’s simply left trying to make the best of a very bad script. One that even has to drag ostensible “Irish mascot” James Joyce into things when James, who has conveniently been hired as the wedding photographer in the alternate reality where Maddie is marrying Paul, takes her to the Cliffs of Moher as a potential location for wedding photographs…despite it being a two-hour drive from County Mayo, where Paul’s family’s house is supposedly located if we’re going by the bus that drops her off right in front of it saying “County Mayo” on the front. However, among other glaring issues with Irish Wish is its Home Alone 2: Lost in New York sense of geography. Because the house the Kennedys live in, the Killruddery House, is actually in County Wicklow, an almost four-hour drive from County Mayo. And yes, Lough Tay, where the “wishing bench” is located, is also in County Wicklow, not Mayo.
But back to Joyce… To perhaps give him the swift kick in the crack he’s more deserving of than praise, Lohan as Maddie muses, upon finding herself on the cliffs with James, “I think I just stepped into a James Joyce novel.” It would seem she hasn’t actually read one based on that assessment. For Joyce’s novels were anything but “idyllic.” Oh yes, and, it should be mentioned, one supposes that Maddie is an aspiring writer-turned-editor who has compromised all integrity by letting Paul take the sole credit for writing his latest trashy romance novel, Two Irish Hearts (though, truth be told, that might be a better movie based on a book that whatever Irish Wish is—apart from a title that sounds like a takeoff on The Rural Juror from 30 Rock).
After their jaunt on the cliffs, which they were allowed to go alone on because Maddie kicked the shit out of Paul the previous night for trying to have sex with her as she was dozing off (“it was a knee-jerk reaction”)—more signs pointing to a not-so-hidden conservative agenda—a fallen tree blocking the only road back seems to further seal their “meant for each other” destiny. Thus, James decides to take her to his go-to pub, where he then “teaches” her how to play darts. Leaning into him, she hits a near bull’s eye that prompts James to “suggestively” tell her, “Maybe it’s the luck of the Irish then.” Another saccharine exchange the two share while he “teaches” Maddie how to throw darts is summed up by her looking up at him and gushing, “You’re a good coach.” Speleers is able to keep a straight face as he replies, “Well, you’re a good student.” This dialogue smacking of Cady telling Aaron Samuels, “Well, you’re a good tutor.” And yes, the Mean Girls element of Irish Wish is the fact that Emma is the Regina George of the outfit, the more “polished,” “put together” friend that Paul, the Aaron Samuels of the equation, falls for easily compared to “dowdy,” “awkward” Maddie a.k.a Cady (and, needless to say, Maddie wears glasses to confirm her dowdiness). And, if you’ve managed to get this far into the movie, it’s pretty damn facile to surmise how things are going to turn out.
With regard to the Freaky Friday premise at play, switching places with Emma is the patent allusion to that particular film, which Lohan has confirmed she’ll be dredging up with a sequel very soon. Because, as one can see, there aren’t exactly a lot of new roles that are clamoring to make her a bona fide star again.
As for Irish Wish supposedly being added to the canon of “Saint Patrick’s Day movies,” if you’re looking to feel “festive” about said day, maybe stick with The Fugitive. Or even Mad Men.
It is an increasingly “grand tradition” in the genre of songwriting. Not to mention a rite of passage for any major pop star who stirs up enough controversy. That tradition being to “clapback” at the faceless blob known as “The Critics” (though some are simply trying to treat art with the seriousness it should be imbued with—but try telling that to a stan, or a celebrity as convinced of her perfection as Lana Del Rey). With Ariana Grande’s lead single from Eternal Sunshine, “yes, and?,” she revives this grand tradition with the help of the inspiration that came from being, let’s just say it, a homewrecker (a song title that’s already been used, to memorable effect, by Marina and the Diamonds [now MARINA], and appears on the list below). Repurposing the narrative to her benefit with a song that takes ownership of loving a certain babyface ginger dick, Ethan Slater. Best known, that’s right, for his portrayal of SpongeBob SquarePants in the musical of the same name (Grande always has a fetish for the wiry, slightly gay types).
While “yes, and?” can’t quite surpass a track like Madonna’s “Human Nature” in terms of its stinging qualities against the critics (e.g., “I’m not your bitch/Don’t hang your shit on me”), it’s definitely become instantly “up there” among the ranks of iconic clapbacks in song form. Below are a few other noteworthy ones from the past few decades, in no particular order.
“shut up” by Ariana Grande:Obviously no stranger to criticism by the time 2020’s Positions rolled around, it was fitting that Grande should kick off that album with the saucy “shut up.” A clear message to critics, tabloid headlines and online trolls alike, Grande’s directive was simple: “You know you sound so dumb (so dumb, so dumb, so dumb)/So maybe you should shut up/Yeah maybe you should shut up.” Elsewhere, she points out that those who tend to criticize tend to have the most time on their hands and are also plenty criticizable themselves. Thus, she adds, “How you been spendin’ you time?/How you be usin’ your tongue?/You be so worried ‘bout mine/Can’t even get yourself none.” That line about “using one’s tongue” also foreshadowed the lyric from “yes, and?” that goes, “My tongue is sacred/I speak upon what I like.” Because, apparently, it’s only okay when Ari does that, not critics.
“Without Me” by Eminem: Released as the lead single from Eminem’s fourth album, The Eminem Show, “Without Me” was a sequel, of sorts, to “The Real Slim Shady” from 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP. By 2002, when The Eminem Show came out, Eminem was, even more than Grande, extremely well-versed in being caught in the melee of critics’ and politicians’ contempt. Not to mention the fellow celebrities/public figures Eminem was wont to name-check in his songs. In “Without Me,” that includes Dick and Lynne Cheney, Elvis Presley, Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSYNC, Limp Bizkit, Moby and Obie Trice (though Obie is only mentioned in reference to “stomping” on Moby). More than anything, however, Eminem’s intent is to remind all of his detractors how “empty” it would feel without him in the music industry. Hence, the earworm of a chorus, “Now, this looks like a job for me/So everybody, just follow me/‘Cause we need a little controversy/‘Cause it feels so empty without me.” The accompanying video portraying Eminem as a superhero rather than a villain only added to the efficacy of his jibe at critics.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Sinead O’Connor: Although “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the second single from I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, is about many things, one of its most fundamental verses is peak “clapback at the critics,” of which there were already many—especially in conservative Catholic Ireland—at the time of O’Connor’s second record release. The verse in question goes: “There’s millions of people/Who offer advice and say how I should be/But they’re twisted and they will never be/Any influence on me/But you will always be/You will always be.” In this way, O’Connor insists that the public perception or criticism of her will never matter—only the opinion and viewpoint of the one she truly loves (at that time, producer John Reynolds) will. The video for the song also heightens the notion of O’Connor continuing to perform however she wants to and say whatever she wants to as its entire premise is just her dancing and singing onstage in front of an expectedly judgmental crowd.
“Human Nature” by Madonna: The occasional Sinead adversary, Madonna, brought listeners the inarguable mack daddy of all clapback songs in 1994, with the release of Bedtime Stories (still among one of Madonna’s most underrated records). A direct reference to her treatment and the general slut-shaming that occurred during her Sex book and Erotica era, Madonna wanted to remind critics that she may have forgiven, but she didn’t forget. As the fourth and final single from the album, “Human Nature” differed from the previous singles (including “Secret,” “Take A Bow” and “Bedtime Story”) in that it deliberately sought to remind listeners and critics alike that, despite presenting a “softer side” for this record, the defiant, devil-may-care Madonna was still there. Ready to pounce—and in a black latex bodysuit, too. For just as iconic as the song itself was the Jean-Baptiste Mondino-directed video, awash in S&M aesthetics inspired by Eric Stanton. As Madonna herself said of the track, “The song is about, um, basically saying, ‘Don’t put me in a box, don’t pin me down, don’t tell me what I can and can’t say and it’s about breaking out of restraints.” The restraints that critics have, so often, foolishly tried to place on Madonna.
“Like It Or Not” by Madonna: By 2005, Madonna had more than just the usual critics on her back. After turning forty-seven, Madonna kept pushing the so-called limits of pop stardom by daring to keep not only releasing records and performing live, but still dressing “too scantily” “for her age.” Complete with the leotards and fishnets that characterized her Confessions on a Dance Floor period. Fittingly, “Like It Or Not” served as the finale to the record, with Madonna promising her detractors, “This is who I am/You can like it or not/You can love me or leave me/‘Cause I’m never gonna stop.” Turns out, she might have been directing those comments at Guy Ritchie as well.
“Vulgar” by Sam Smith and Madonna: In case you couldn’t tell by now, Madonna is not just the Queen of Pop but clearly the Queen of the Clapback—as further evidenced by this modern update to the content and attitude of “Human Nature.” Sam Smith and Madonna came together for this song after the latter’s condemnation for her appearance (too obviously riddled with plastic surgery—that was the usual critique) at the 2023 Grammys and after Smith, too, was criticized for his increasingly “fat” and “effete” appearance during the Gloria album rollout and the according visuals that came with it (including the video for “Unholy”—during which Smith is dressed in some very Madonna-as-Dita attire). Teaming up to hit back at those who would try to keep them down (even though Madonna has far more experience with that than Smith), the duo triumphantly announces, “Got nothing left to prove/You know you’re beautiful when they call you/Vulgar/I do what I wanna/I go when I gotta/I’m sexy, I’m free and I feel, uh/Vulgar.”
“Your Early Stuff” by Pet Shop Boys: The Madonna-adjacent (in terms of gay fanbase, musical stylings and coming up in the 80s) Pet Shop Boys also know a thing or two about being critiqued. Especially when it comes to the main criticism being that they’ve been around “too long.” As though an artist should simply pack it in because some arcane alarm clock goes off in their head about being “too old” to continue when, the reality is, true artists keep creating art until the day they die. Featured on 2012’s Elysium (the duo’s eleventh album), Neil Tennant had no trouble writing the song as, per his own words, “Every single line in that song, every single thing has been said to me.” This includes such backhanded “compliments” as, “You’ve been around but you don’t look too rough/And I still quite like some of your early stuff/It’s bad in a good way, if you know what I mean/The sound of those old machines” and “Those old videos look pretty funny/What’s in it for you now, need the money?/They say that management never used to pay/Honestly, you were ripped off back in the day.” Unlike the other songs on this list, “Your Early Stuff” is perhaps most unique for stemming directly from the criticisms of the common people, as opposed to more ivory tower-y, “legitimate” critics.
“URL Badman” by Lily Allen: Another British addition to the list, this still too-untreasured gem from Lily Allen’s equally untreasured Sheezus record, “URL Badman” is Allen at her most delightfully snarky (which is saying something, as she she’s quite gifted with snark). Taking little boys who write for the likes of Complex and Vice (RIP, but that’s karma) to task, Allen speaks from the myopic perspective of the URL Badman in question, declaring, “It’s not for me, it must be wrong/I could ignore it and move on/But I’m a broadband champion/A URL badman,” also adding, “And if you’re tryna call it art/I’ll have to take it all apart/I got a high-brow game plan/A URL badman/I’m a U-R-L-B-A-D-M-A-N with no empathy.” This speaking to the crux of how musicians feel about critics in general.
“Attention” by Doja Cat: Released as the lead single from Scarlet, Doja Cat’s mountains of controversy had piled up significantly by 2023, chief among them being her blithe defense of dating a white supremacist/sexual abuser and her venomous attack against her own fanbase, who she told to “get a job”—the usual dig made by people who think paid time for unsatisfying labor is supposed to make you a more worthwhile person on this planet (hence, “Billie Eilish Is A Jobist”). “Attention” paired well with this rash of events, with Doja Cat creepily talking about some invisible monster (perhaps what Lady Gaga would call “the fame monster” inside of her) that needs the attention, not her. It’s a very, “That wasn’t me, that was Patricia” defense, and maybe “Scarlet” is the easier part of herself to blame for needing her ego to be fed. Nonetheless, she still demands of the critics, “Look at me, look at me, you lookin’?” later mocking them with the verse, “I readed all the comments sayin’, ‘D, I’m really shooketh,’ ‘D, you need to see a therapist, is you lookin’?’/Yes, the one I got, they really are the best/Now I feel like I can see you bitches is depressed/I am not afraid to finally say shit with my chest.” Obviously, that last line sounds familiar thanks to appearing in the chorus of Grande’s “yes, and?” when she urges, “Yes, and?/Say that shit with your chest.” In another moment of skewering the critics, Doja Cat balks, “Talk your shit about me, I can easily disprove it, it’s stupid/You follow me, but you don’t really care about the music.”
“Taco Truck x VB” by Lana Del Rey: Lana Del Rey has often felt similarly. And, like Sinead O’Connor’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” it’s one verse in particular that makes Del Rey’s lengthy “Taco Truck x VB” (the “VB” being an abbreviation for a previously unreleased version of Norman Fucking Rockwell’s “Venice Bitch”) stand out as a clapback track. The one that shrugs, “Spin it till you whip it into white cream, baby/Print it into black and white pages don’t faze me/Before you talk, let me stop what you’re saying/I know, I know, I know that you hate me.” And just like that, Del Rey dismisses all responsibility for dubious behavior….like wearing a Native American headdress, posing a non sequitur “question for the culture,” posting unblurred-out videos of black and brown protesters/looters during the BLM of summer 2020 or insisting she’s not racist because she’s dated plenty of rappers (on a side note: no one knows who she might be talking about apart from white “rapper” G-Eazy).
“Homewrecker” by Marina and the Diamonds: Even if Marina Diamandis a.k.a. Marina and the Diamonds a.k.a. MARINA is singing from the perspective of her alter ego, Electra Heart, 2012’s “Homewrecker” is still plenty viable as a clapback song. And it definitely ties into Ariana Grande’s overarching theme on “yes, and?,” which is a direct addressment of the critics who have called her, that’s right, homewrecker. Opening with the tongue-in-cheek lyrics, “Every boyfriend is the one/Until otherwise proven…/And love it never happens like you think it really should,” MARINA paints the picture of a woman who won’t be torn down by the slut-shaming insults lobbied against her. Besides, as she announces (in the spirit of Holly Golightly), “And I don’t belong to anyone/They call me homewrecker, homewrecker.” She gets even cheekier when she adds, “I broke a million hearts just for fun” and “I guess you could say that my life’s a mess/But I’m still lookin’ pretty in this dress.” This latter line reminding one of Grande’s lyric on “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” “You got me misunderstood/But at least I look this good.”
“Piece of Me” by Britney Spears: No stranger to being called a homewrecker herself after getting together with Kevin Federline in 2004, when Shar Jackson was pregnant with his second child, Spears was already jaded about critical lambastings by 2007. And “Piece of Me” was the only appropriate response to all the scrutiny (especially after Spears was reamed for her performance of “Gimme More” at the 2007 VMAs). Thus, she unleashed it as the second single from Blackout. Having endured the critical lashings of her every move, 2007 was also the year that Spears famously shaved her head at a Tarzana salon, providing plenty of grist for the tabloid mill. But to her endlessly stalking paparazzi and the various critics, Spears roared back, “You want a piece of me?/I’m Mrs. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous/I’m Mrs. Oh My God That Britney’s Shameless/I’m Mrs. Extra! Extra! This Just In!/You want a piece of me/I’m Mrs. She’s Too Big Now She’s Too Thin.” So apropos to her entire existence in the spotlight, Spears’ Vegas residency would end up being called that as well—a heartbreaking choice considering how many pieces her family took of her to make her endure that ceaseless run of performances.
“Rumors” by Lindsay Lohan: Inarguably Lindsay Lohan’s only solid contribution to the music business, “Rumors” embodies the apex of 00s tabloid culture, awash in all the language of voyeurism (“I can see that you’re watchin’ me/And you’re probably gonna write what you didn’t see”). And Lohan made the mistake of releasing it slightly before she would really be turned into a tabloid/late night talk show joke. This stemming from her overt dependency on drugs and alcohol at a time when a movie titled Herbie: Fully Loaded was going to come out. Cue all the obvious jibes. If only “Rumors” had been released just a year later to secure maximum impact as a defense for her clubbing/party girl behavior. Even so, it remains what RuPaul would call safe as part of the clapback canon.
“Industry Baby” by Lil Nas X featuring Jack Harlow: In 2021, Lil Nas X came under fire by Nike for selling a limited run of Satan Shoes featuring the famous swoosh logo with the help of MSCHF, an art collective based in Brooklyn. Nike sued for trademark infringement, prompting Lil Nas X to create quite the tailored concept for the premise of the “Industry Baby” video (with the title sardonically alluding to the insult “industry plant”). Incidentally, it was directed by Christian Breslauer, who would also go on to direct Grande’s “yes, and?” video. But Lil Nas X wasn’t just rebelling against the lawsuit, but all of his haters in general, rapping, “You was never really rooting for me anyway/When I’m back up at the top, I wanna hear you say/‘He don’t run from nothin’, dog’/Get your soldiers, tell ’em that the break is over.” And while co-production from Ye (a.k.a. Kanye West) has left some taint on the track, it still packs a punch when it comes to walloping the critics.
“Mean” by Taylor Swift: Probably the most flaccid of the clapback tracks on this list, “Mean” was a direct response to music critic Bob Lefsetz, who reviewed Taylor Swift’s 2010 performance at the Grammys less than favorably. Among some of his more scathing assessments about her off-key performance (made all the more noticeable because she had joined Stevie Nicks onstage) was that she full-stop “can’t sing” and that she had “destroyed her career overnight.” Nostradamus this man is not. But his words clearly stung enough for Swift to include an angry little girl clapback (something that “Look What You Made Me Do” would perfect) on 2010’s Speak Now, released nine months after she performed at the Grammys in January. Which means she found the time to tack “Mean” onto the record for optimal impact. Even so, Lefsetz would rightly note later of the rumors that it was about him and his review, “If this song is really about me, I wish it were better.”
“Not My Responsibility” and “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish: The subject of frequent scrutiny, Billie Eilish already has two clapback at the critics songs under her belt and she’s only twenty-two years old. The first “song,” “Not My Responsibility,” wouldn’t really become a song until it appeared on her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, in 2021. Originally created as a short film interlude for her Where Do We Go? World Tour, the song came at a time when Eilish was being constantly called out for being, let’s say, the epitome of a twenty-first century sexless pop star. A direct attack on body- and slut-shaming, Eilish softly states, “I feel you watching always/And nothing I do goes unseen/So while I feel your stares/Your disapproval/Or your sigh of relief/If I lived by them/I’d never be able to move.” This more modern commentary on what criticism in the age of social media can do extends not just to critics, but the legions of online commentators as well. A legion that Eilish also acknowledges on “Therefore I Am,” which was released later in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, ergo Eilish’s ability to film freely in a vacant Glendale Galleria. A privilege the critics she derides would never have access to. Something that shines through in her laughing taunt, “Stop, what the hell are you talking about?/Ha/Get my pretty name out of your mouth/We are not the same with or without/Don’t talk ’bout me like how you might know how I feel/Top of the world, but your world isn’t real/Your world’s an ideal.” Often, an impossible one for anybody to live up to. But such is the complex and isolating nature of being a critic.
In a series called Mondo Bullshittio, let’s talk about some of the most glaring hypocrisies and faux pas in pop culture…and all that it affects.
As though to further confirm that Mean Girls has entered into the so-called woke era, the latest development in its digital release ultimately comes as no shock. For the “slight alteration” caters to a particular person’s sensitivities, which is what life after the early twenty-first century has been all about. Pandering, bowing, capitulating, etc. Even to the very celebrities that were once so readily fed to the wolves in the era of “Lindsay Lohan supremacy.” An era that, as many know, was very short-lived once Lohan buckled under the scrutiny of child/teen fame and proceeded to pull a Miley before Miley even did. In fact, it could be argued that Lohan (in addition to Britney Spears) paved the way for women like Miley Cyrus to have their “rebellious” (read: normal reaction to their situation and lifestyle opportunities) “phase” with far less flak. Because, believe it or not, Cyrus was far less shat upon in her “shedding the Hannah Montana persona” days than Lohan or Spears in the mid-00s.
Although there were “attempts” on Lohan’s part to make a comeback (something she’s been announcing since she started to fall off after Herbie: Fully Loaded), it seemed no matter what movie she made it was 1) rather bad (even if bad in the gay-loving camp sort of way) and 2) totally mitigated by her latest drug-addled hijinks. In 2006, when the infamous “fire crotch” line that served to sting Lohan (even, when she least expected it, in 2024) came to light, it was caused by the unholy matrimony of the internet and celebrity-obsessed culture. Thus, the existence of a video like the one of Brandon Davis (who no one except Paris and Lindsay remember) calling Lohan a fire crotch could be immortalized in the annals of pop culture. But it was so much more specific than that mere “epithet,” still often used to demean the female ginger. No, Davis got extremely passionate about Lohan’s fire crotch, egged on by Paris Hilton to deliver his epic monologue on the subject while drunkenly sauntering through the streets of Hollywood after going to Hyde Lounge (the height of “seeing and being seen” in 00s LA). In fact, Davis wasn’t even naming names until Hilton goaded, “Who has a fire crotch?”
And that’s when Davis let it rip: “Lindsay Lohan has got the stinkiest, fuckin’ sweaty orange vagina anyone has ever seen. I haven’t seen it! But it shits out freckles, it’s orange and it fucking smells like diarrhea.” Elsewhere in the tirade, Davis adds, “The truth is, her movie bombed and her pussy is orange. Nobody would fuck her with a ten-foot pole” and, again, “Lindsay Lohan is a fire crotch. And she has freckles coming out of her vagina.” There’s no doubt that Lohan saw the footage of this at some point. Or was at least informed of it. Indeed, 2006 was the year of bandying insults for Paris and Lindsay, with the latter calling her a cunt on camera and then immediately taking it back to say, “Paris is my friend.” In any case, it seemed no coincidence that Lohan dyed her hair a dark shade of brown that year, almost as though to deny her ginger-ness altogether. Though, in the present, she’s obviously decided to fully embrace it by starring in a Netflix movie (yet another one) called Irish Wish (which surely has to be better than Falling For Christmas…a feat that’s not difficult to achieve). Parading that red hair of hers for good “Irish roots” measure. Perhaps if Davis ever sees the movie, he might be severely triggered again.
Just as Lohan was by the term “fire crotch” being wielded in Mean Girls 2024 by none other than Coach’s new-fangled/erstwhile Regina George, Megan Thee Stallion (who also offered her services for the lead single from the soundtrack, “Not My Fault”). The line, no doubt written by Tina Fey, comes up after Regina (Renée Rapp) falls with a major thud onstage at the Winter Talent Show (something that, of course, doesn’t happen in the original movie) and a barrage of TikTok videos commenting on the literal and metaphorical fall is unleashed. Among the commenters speaking in favor of Cady (Angourie Rice, taking on Lohan’s part) “saving the performance” is Megan Thee Stallion, who declares, “Okay so, somebody sent me this look and I was like, ‘Hot girls, we are going back to red!’ Y2K fire crotch is back!”
But, as Lohan has decreed, it apparently isn’t (even though the drama she created about the phrase being used resulted in her making far more headlines than she’s lately been accustomed to). Or at least, that “hurtful” two-word moniker isn’t…even if the look itself (for her) is. In fact, Lohan was very “disappointed” (as Ms. Norbury would say) in the use of that “slur” in the movie, taking her back to a place, emotionally speaking, that she didn’t want to revisit. Not just 2006, but also her cellblock in 2010, for it was also reported that fellow inmates would chant that nickname at her. Per a July 25, 2010 report from Intelligencer, “Lindsay Lohan has reportedly been brought to tears in jail because…inmates have been calling her ‘fire crotch.’” But hey, like the show says, “Orange is the new black.” Or maybe, like “fetch,” Lohan can’t seem to make it happen. But what she could make happen was airing her sentiments about the line out there for everyone to hear (well, everyone who’s still interested in 00s pop culture…so yeah, everyone). Except, instead of releasing a statement herself, she had her “representative” announce, “Lindsay was very hurt and disappointed by the reference in the film.”
Be that as it may, “hurt feelings” being a reason to stifle an artistic choice or a certain breed of humor is a dangerous habit to form. And yet, it is a habit that has appeared to become a “best practice” in recent years, as we’ve also seen Taylor Swift eliminate the word “fat” from her “Anti-Hero” music video and Beyoncé remove the word “spaz” from her lyrics. All of these things done pretty much instantaneously upon the expression of offense. Designed to blot out the fact that it ever happened (in true Orwellian fashion).
With the removal of Megan Thee Stallion’s “shady” comment, however, Mean Girls 2024 becomes the complete version of its overly-sanitized self—including changing “fugly slut” to “fugly cow.” Because Lohan forbid we should have any hurt feelings. And yet, even when the steps to “eradicate” the potential for such hurt occurs, most people know full well that we still live in a world of mean girls (and boys). Alas, in “girl world” (run by little boys posing as men), all the fighting continues to be “sneaky.”
Reports suggest that the ‘Mean Girls’ reboot, now available on streaming platforms, has shortened Megan Thee Stallion‘s cameo.
As you’ll probably know, the comedy, released in January, made some not-so-positive headlines over a line where Meg appears to make a slight dig at Lindsay Lohan.
“Fire Crotch” Line Removed From ‘Mean Girls’ Digital Release
The Daily Mail claims that LiLo, the star of the original version in 2004, also made a surprise cameo in the movie and reportedly received a payment of $500,000.
However, the actress had no knowledge that writers included a joke about her, especially after she agreed to appear in the motion picture.
In the scene in question, Meg appears in a TikTok video as a photo of Cady Heron, formerly played by Lohan, pops up next to her.
“OK, so somebody sent me this look and I was like, ‘Hot girls, we are going back red, Y2K fire crotch is back,’” the ‘Body’ rapper said.
The flick, which eagle-eyed fans have been watching on platforms such as Prime Video, noticed that Meg’s cameo no longer includes the “fire crotch” remark.
The digital version of #MeanGirls has altered Megan The Stallion’s controversial “fire crotch” line after Lindsay Lohan was allegedly hurt by the joke.
The line now ends at “We are going back red” and jumps to her laughing, cutting out “Y2K fire crotch is back.” pic.twitter.com/LDytcHj1SL
Instead, there’s a slight cut that then jumps to Megan saying, “Somebody sent me this look and I’m like, ‘Okay, you know what? Hot girls, we are going back red!’”
A rep for Lohan previously claimed that the ‘Herbie’ star didn’t find it amusing, but rather hurtful, according to Variety.
Socialite Brandon Davis infamously attached the phrase to LiLo, giving her the derogatory nickname during a night out in 2006 with Paris and Nicky Hilton.
Megan Has Not Commented On The Situation
Meg hasn’t addressed the controversy that erupted when Lohan’s team openly shared that the actress was displeased by the scene.
But the decision to take the line out would clearly indicate that producers were looking to rectify the mistake they made by including the joke to begin with.
Outside of her cameo, Meg played a huge part in the film’s success.
She teamed up with Reneé Rapp, who stars as Regina George, for the soundtrack single, “Not My Fault,” which was accompanied by a Mean Girls-inspired music video.
The pair promoted the track in a joint performance on Saturday Night Live, where Megan also got to meet the OG Regina George — Rachel McAdams.
Now that they have revised the digital release, everyone can return to enjoying the film without having to hear the “fire crotch” line that haunted Lohan throughout the ’00s.
Roomies, do you think the line was uncalled for or would you have been okay with it?
That’s so fetch. If you’re wondering if this iconic actress will make a cameo in the new movie-based-off-a-musical-based-off-a-movie, here’s if Lindsay Lohan is in Mean Girls….the 2024 musical movie version.
Mean Girls is 2004 movie written by comedian Tina Fey and is hailed as a cult classic for its iconic lines and as a high school dramedy. In 2017, Fey adapted the movie into a hit Broadway musical and announced in 2020 that it would be adapted into a movie. (Cue that 30 Rock joke here.) Though, it’s technically a reboot adaptation with young castmembers like Angourie Rice, Renée Rapp, Aull’i Cravahlo, Christopher Briney, Bebe Wood, and Jaquel Spivey. Fey reprises her role as Ms. Norbury and Tim Meadows reprises his role as Principal Duvall.
Fey talked about the young cast in the new movie to The New York Times. “We learned so much with the [stage] show that there doesn’t have to be rigidity in the casting of these roles, in terms of what they look like and how they identify. This story works in many interesting permutations. Anyone with charisma is a good Regina. Anyone who looks like they might come apart can be a great Gretchen.”
Fey confirmed that the original cast members won’t reprise their roles, but they could always have a small role. Suspicions also rose when Lohan walked the red carpet premiere of Mean Girls with Tina Fey. Here’s if Lindsay Lohan makes the cut in the new Mean Girls.
Is Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls The Musical Movie?
Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
Yes! Lindsay Lohan is in Mean Girls and it’s a pretty long cameo, if you ask us. She appears as the adjudicator in the Mathletes scene where Cady brings her team to victory. It’s a pretty meta cameo because it’s the scene where Cady says, “The limit does not exist.” It appears to say the same thing about how many Cadys could appear in a scene together.
Angourie Rice takes over the role of Cady, a teenager who just moved from Africa and tries to fit in through the cruel social hierarchies in high school. Lohan famously played the role in the 2004 version. To Rice, the comparison doesn’t affect her. “I think no matter what, no two people are going to do the same thing the same way. So I think no matter what, it’s going to be different,” Rice told Entertainment Tonight. “Even if you got two actors in a room to say the exact same speech, it’s just going to be different.”
“So I’m not too worried about it being too similar or too different,” she adds. “I think it’s going to be what it is, and I can’t wait for people to see it.”
Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection
Being a fan of the movie really helped her get ready for the role. “I love, love, love Mean Girls the movie,” she gushed. “I grew up on that movie. It’s one of my favorites. I know it all by heart. So to be a part of it was just so, so exciting.”
If you expected Lindsay to reprise her role, fear not! She just starred in a series of Walmart commercials where she plays Cady, but all grown up. Along with Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert, Daniel Franzese, and Rajiv Surendra all reunited nearly two decades after the release of the original film to promote Walmarts Black Friday savings deals. They’re all grown up and have adult jobs with kids but are still trying to navigate their way through North Shore High School.
“Some things never change. On Wednesdays we wear pink, but now we shop Walmart Black Friday deals,” Lohan says in the ad, while Lacey Chabert (who plays Gretchen Weiners) pulls up in a convertible to greet her high school-aged daughter with Walmart bags. There are several throwbacks in the video like the iconic “Jingle Bell Rock” performance, Amanda Seyfried’s character Karen Smith predicting the weather, Rajiv Surendra’s character Kevin Gnapoor amping his kid up for high school, and a heartfelt reunion of Daniel Franzese as Damien Leigh and Cady Heron.
“It was so nice being back together after all these years. It was great catching up with everyone,” Lohan told People. While Chabert shared the same sentiment, “It was wonderful to spend the day with Amanda and Lindsay and it was so much fun getting to reminisce and be together again,” adds Chabert.
Tina Fey is also opening the door for a Mean Girls sequel, bringing back the OG cast. “I have a feeling Paramount would love that,” she told The New York Times. “I have not really thought much about that. To me, part of why the stakes are so high in the story is because everyone’s so young and feelings are huge, love is huge and friendship is huge in a way [that it isn’t with] middle-age moms. I love writing about middle-aged people, but I don’t know.
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