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At the Movies
with Mark Moorehead
The Lizzie McGuire Movie

General Audiences:  B-

Italian-style tear jerker catering to middle-school kids longing for puppy love during their European vacation. Sugar and spice and everything nice in this young teen flick.   Nothing objectionable.  Rated PG. 

Family Audience:  B-

Girls ages 9 to 15 will giggle with delight while boys of the same age will consider Game Boy or X-Box much more exciting than Hilary Duff. If you tag along with the kids you’ll find the school chaperon a hoot. Good clean fun for the whole family.

 

You know your 15-year-old kid is really spoiled if he or she perceives a two-week stay in Rome no more of a thrill than a field trip to the local dairy farm unless they meet a famous Italian rock star.

That’s essentially the premise in The Lizzie McGuire Movie. Hilary Duff reprises her role as Lizzie McGuire from the Disney Channel’s hit series of the same name. Lizzie and her pals Gordo, Kate and Ethan join her in a school trip to Italy, where developing a closer relationship with the opposite sex is the singular goal. 

Upon arrival in Rome, Lizzie is mistaken for Isabella (also played by Hilary Duff), part of a famous Italian pop rock duo, and falls in love with Isabella’s ex-boyfriend Paolo (played by Yani Gellman). 

However, Lizzie’s loyal friend Gordo (Adam Lamberg) also has a thing for Lizzie. Gordo reluctantly takes a back seat and mopes while Lizzie and Paolo tool around Rome occasionally locking lips. Director Jim Fall deserves kudos for the superb picturesque shots in and around Rome.            

Playing two different roles is not easy for a 15-year-old actress. Duff succeeds in pulling if off and also proves she’s a capable singer. In the real world Duff is currently recording a new album, which will be released this year for her anxious fans. 

Comic relief is provided by the class trip chaperone Miss Ungermeyer (played by the talented Alex Borstein).

Borstein’s boot-camp-style command and control admonishments are hilarious and keep the pace moving. Back home, Lizzie’s younger brother Matt (Jake Thomas) plots to exploit his sisters new found celebrity status as Paolo’s main squeeze. Matt’s greed drives him to enlist the support of his unwitting parents in his diabolical scheme and convinces them to fly to Italy. Wouldn’t be cheaper for mom and dad to call Lizzie and fly her back to the states a little early? 

This modern day Cinderella story would have worked better if Lizzie’s character exhibited a little more small-town girl in the big city factor.

What was needed is an innocent, wide-eyed teen-age Audrey Hepburn or an Amelie.  Instead, what we get is a cross between Brittany Spears with a coat-hanger smile and a young Sally Struthers before she made those teary eyed “Save the Children” commercials. Let’s hope Duff has a more promising future in show biz.     

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