Actress and singer Lindsay Lohan has been around for what seems like forever, having started her career as a child star, and her many controversies have dominated the headlines for years.
It is, therefore, easy to forget she's only in her mid-30s, is pretty talented, and has appeared in some genuinely memorable movies.
However, she's also appeared in some stinkers, so her list of watchable movies isn't particularly long. With that in mind, we'll list the 12 finest she's appeared in, ending with the best one.
Note: 2013's Inappropriate Comedy, which has a rare Rotten Tomatoes rating of 0%, will certainly not be on this list.
1. My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie (2005, Directed by Eric Fogel)
My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie is an animated rom-com based on Mattel's My Scene dolls toy line. The plot sees Barbie and her friends getting cast as extras in a movie after accidentally stumbling onto the set. However, when one of the girls becomes a massive star, their friendship is put to the test.
Lohan voices herself playing a character called Laural St. Clair in the film Barbie and her friends stumble upon. She does okay but is a little wooden in this. My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie is nicely animated and has a worthwhile message about friendship, equality, and inclusivity, but it's otherwise pretty vacuous. Younger viewers will enjoy it, though.
2. Among The Shadows (2019, Directed by Tiago Mesquita)
Among the Shadows is a supernatural horror thriller about a private investigator who descended from a line of werewolves attempting to solve her uncle's murder and uncovering a political conspiracy as she does so.
It's a watchable movie in which Lohan ably portrays Patricia Sherman, the vampire who hires the detective to investigate her uncle's murder. But her scenes are jarring because it's as though she was brought in for one day to film alone, as she doesn't share the screen with anyone else. Among the Shadows provides terror, mystery, and politics to make a movie that lovers of vampires and werewolves will likely enjoy.
3. Labor Pains (2009, Directed by Lara Shapiro)
Labor Pains is a rom-com about a young woman who avoids getting fired from her job by pretending to be pregnant. The special treatment it gets her results in her attempting to maintain the lie for nine months.
Lohan plays Thea Clayhill, the woman pretending to be pregnant who's a secretary for a bad-tempered publisher. Her fantastic performance makes the film worth watching, but the plot is so implausible that you must roll with it to enjoy it. Labor Pains is a cliché-ridden but silly fun film for a lazy afternoon.
4. Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005, Directed by Angel Robinson)
Herbie: Fully Loaded is a sports comedy movie and the sixth installment in the Herbie franchise. In this one, the new owner of Herbie, the Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own, puts the iconic car through its paces as a competitor on the NASCAR scene.
This film's impressive cast includes Justin Long, Breckin Meyer, Matt Dillon, and Michael Keaton, as well as NASCAR drivers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Dale Jarrett. Lohan stars as Herbie's new owner Maggie Peyton, and she's excellent in the role. Herbie: Fully Loaded is corny but ideal for young kids, as it boasts a light tone, some silly laughs, and some exciting visuals.
5. Bobby (2006, Directed by Emilio Estevez)
Bobby is a drama movie that gives a fictionalized account of the hours leading up to the shooting of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968, in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after he won California's Democratic presidential primary.
The most impressive thing about this film is its incredible ensemble cast, which includes Anthony Hopkins, Sharon Stone, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Harry Belafonte, Nick Cannon, Heather Graham, Elijah Wood, and director Estevez. Lohan plays Diane Howser, a young woman marrying her best friend in the hopes it will change his deployment, and she does an adequate job. Bobby is ambitious, complex, intriguing, star-studded, and generally well-performed, but too much is happening, and it gets jumbled.
6. The Holiday (2006, Directed by Nancy Meyers)
The Holiday is a Christmas rom-com about two lovelorn women from the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively, who agree to a home swap during the festive season to take their minds off heartbreak.
Lohan's role is a mere uncredited cameo as an actress in the trailer of the fictional movie Deception. The core cast of Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black are all fantastic, and the chemistry between their characters, who find love with each other, is lovely. The Holiday is mushy, sweet, touching, sentimental, and perfect for Christmas. It is, however, a tad too long.
7. Falling for Christmas (2022, Directed by Janeen Damian)
Falling for Christmas is another festive rom-com, and this one's about a spoiled hotel heiress who gets amnesia from a skiing accident and is cared for by a widower who owns a lodge at Christmastime.
The spoiled heiress, Sierra Belmont, is played by Lohan in her most recent movie role, and it's some of her finest work in years. Falling for Christmas is no It's a Wonderful Life, but it's an easy watch full of charming performances. Chord Overstreet plays Jake Russell, the man who takes Sierra in, and he matches her perfectly. The pair's chemistry is palpable.
8. Machete (2010, Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis)
Machete is an exploitation action movie based on the eponymous character from the Spy Kids franchise and an expansion of a fake trailer published as a part of the promotion for Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino's 2007 film Grindhouse. It follows the eponymous former mercenary who, after being set up and betrayed by the man who hired him to assassinate a Texas Senator, sets out on a vicious revenge rampage against him.
It's an absolute riot, and Danny Trejo is superb in the lead role. In badass style, Lohan plays April Booth, described as “a socialite with a penchant for guns” and “a nun with a gun.” Machete is violent, bloody, trashy, tasteless, and one hell of a mess, thus perfectly achieving its goals. You'll have a blast watching this cartoonishly epic film.
9. A Prairie Home Companion (2006, Directed by Robert Altman)
A Prairie Home Companion is a musical comedy movie that gives a fictional account of what goes on behind the scenes at the long-running public radio variety show of the same name.
Lohan plays Lola Johnson, the daughter of one of the eponymous show's regulars. She does a grand job and doesn't look out of place in an outstanding ensemble cast that includes Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, and Meryl Streep, who plays her mother. A Prairie Home Companion is quirky, profound, excellently acted, and simply lovely. It could be better, though, given its cast, which includes multiple Academy Award winners.
10. Mean Girls (2004, Directed by Mark Waters)
Mean Girls is a teen comedy movie based partly on Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes. It follows a new girl at an Illinois high school who becomes popular with the establishment's A-list girl clique until she falls for the group leader's ex-boyfriend and feels their wrath.
Lohan plays Cady Heron, the new girl, and the film's main character, in her most iconic role. She's fantastic and supported by stars like Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Lizzy Caplan. Mean Girls is a brilliantly written movie (Tin Fey, take a bow), intelligent, funny, and performed superbly. It's one of the best female-led comedies in recent memory.
11. The Parent Trap (1998, Directed by Nancy Meyers)
The Parent Trap is a rom-com, a remake of the 1961 movie of the same name, and an adaptation of Erich Kästner's 1949 German novel Lisa and Lottie (Das doppelte Lottchen). In the film, a pair of identical twins, separated at birth and each raised by one of their biological parents, meet at summer camp and plot to bring their estranged parents back together.
The eleven-year-old twins, Hallie Parker and Annie James, are brilliantly played by Lohan, who gives them each distinct personalities in her breakout role. The Parent Trap is a delightful movie as good as the original, and it's sweet, slick, sentimental, and brightly colored. Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson are excellent, giving their all as the twins' parents.
12. Freaky Friday (2003, Directed by Mark Waters)
Freaky Friday is a fantasy comedy based on Mary Rodgers's 1972 novel and the second movie remake of the same story. It's about a mother and daughter whose minds get swapped into each others' bodies by a mysterious mystical Chinese fortune cookie.
Lohan plays Anna Coleman, the daughter, and Jamie Lee Curtis plays Tess Coleman, the mother. Both actresses are fantastic, and Lohan is remarkably mature and impressive when portraying the mother in the daughter's body. It's the best Freaky Friday movie by some distance, and it's funny, charming, and conveys an important message about tolerance and understanding.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.