We all know there’s something about a Lifetime movie that’s so bad it’s good. The reason why this works is they don’t aim too high. This Liz & Dick movie was NOT going to be an accurate portrayal of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, or even a complex psychological character study (CLICK HERE to read some of the worst reviews.) It’s really more about our culture’s fascination with Lindsay Lohan than anything else. Lindsay Lohan didn’t sound (she sounded like Lindsay Lohan, sometimes with an accent,) act, or even really look like Elizabeth Taylor, but she was fascinating to watch last night. The movie was more about inside jokes about Lindsay’s headlines over the years: with nods at tabloid headlines, jewels, pills, booze, calling paparazzi to let them know where she is, and hiring her own photographer to take pictures of herself on a boat. After not being able to find work for a while, Lindsay-as-Liz laments how “bored” she is because she’s been working all her life. That’s been a complaint of Lindsay’s throughout all her troubles. Last week on a GMA interview she even said it was “safer” to keep her on set at all times.
But what held the movie all together was the guy who played Richard Burton, Grant Bowler. His roll wasn’t exquisitely written, but he did a smashing job of portraying a masculine emotional-trainwreck to Lindsay Lohan’s Liz. But, who is Grant Bowler?