If Lohan were up for playing at Bowler’s level, “Liz & Dick” might not be a great movie – like “Cleopatra,” the famously expensive film the two met on, it’s overdone in every way (there are two different framing devices, as if writer Christopher Monger and/or director Lloyd Kramer couldn’t choose between them) and features horribe dialogue like “I don’t loathe you I hate you!” – but it might be an entertaining biopic about a couple who inadvertently helped create the celebrity tabloid culture we live in today.The ex-Socceroo midfielder has had plenty of critics during his debut season with Victory for a lack of adventure and goals. More importantly, though, he’s believable as a temperamental, alcoholic star of stage and screen whose worst instincts come to the surface whenever he gets a look at Liz Taylor’s big violet eyes. The New Zealand-born Bowler does a close enough approximation of Burton’s deep Welsh voice. The shame of it is, her co-star Grant Bowler (you may remember him as Cooter the werewolf biker on “True Blood”) acquits himself quite well as the love of Taylor’s life, her two-time husband Richard Burton. On-camera, she”s inexpressive and extremely contemporary, in no way evoking one of the most iconic movie stars of all time even when she’s wearing one of Taylor’s signature costumes from “Cleopatra.”
Off-camera, Lohan got into several tabloid-ready incidents during filming. Second, Lohan and Taylor have enough in common – former child stars who have become paparazzi obsessions as adults – that the “Liz & Dick” producers might have hoped this would be the role to re-harness the talent Lohan has let drift away in the years since “Mean Girls,” and possibly provide some focus for her as well. (Case in point: this is the first Lifetime movie I’ve written about in six years, going back to Sarah Chalke in “Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy.”) First Lohan’s likely the most famous actress the channel could get for the role – even if she’s been more infamous for the last several years – and her presence will draw attention from people who otherwise wouldn’t bother watching.
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