LOL

French writer-director Lisa Azuelos has adapted her 2008 coming-of-age drama LOL: Laughing out Loud for American audiences, but something must have been lost in the translation. While there are still some French elements (the casual attitude about family members bathing in front of each other, adults who routinely smoke marijuana at dinner parties, and even a spring break trip to Paris), the social media-laden plot (texts and status updates pop up on the screen) seems more like a Lifetime cautionary tale for parents than a compelling teen drama worth renting.

Although the cast is promising at first, Cyrus proves not only utterly devoid of charm but also incapable of toning down the overacting she learned on the Disney Channel. The supporting players -- who occasionally, like Fisher Stevens and Gina Gershon as Anne's married best friends, provide well-acted relief from the melodrama -- can't save this oddly paced and over-the-top soap from its main problem: an unlikable protagonist who's too selfish to see beyond her own OMG! troubles. And while it's expected for teens to be self-absorbed (on or off camera), LOL is nowhere near as funny as the title suggests.