Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
In a world connected by YouTube, iTunes, and Facebook, Lola and her friends navigate the peer pressures of high school romance and friendship while dodging their sometimes overbearing and confused parents. When Lola's mom, Anne, "accidentally" reads her teenage daughter's racy journal, she realizes just how wide their communication gap has grown.
LOL (2012) is a fairly formulaic American remake of the 2008 French film of the same name, hitting all the standard coming-of-age beats without adding much new perspective. The plot is predictable teen drama territory with the journal-snooping premise and mother-daughter tension resolved in well-worn ways. Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore deliver serviceable performances that slightly elevate the generic material. The cinematography is competent but unremarkable, typical of mid-budget teen dramedies of the era. Novelty suffers greatly as it is a direct remake of an existing film and recycles familiar tropes without a distinctive voice or fresh angle. The ending follows the expected reconciliation arc without any meaningful subversion.