BRITISH director Sara Sugarman (Mad Cows, Very Annie Mary) makes her Hollywood feature debut with this candy-coloured teen chick flick, based on the book by Dyan Sheldon.

It's difficult to see what Sugarman saw in this generic slice of wish fulfilment that persuaded her to make the leap across the Atlantic.

We've seen this story countless times before, and doubtless will again.

Sixteen-year-old fashion queen Lola Cep (Lindsay Lohan) lives in glamorous New York with her bohemian mother Karen (Glenne Headly).

Adolescent angst bursts forth when Karen decides to flee the bustling city and move to New Jersey, where Lola has to endure the horrors of settling into a new school.

From the moment she struts into class in her designer togs, it's clear that Lola doesn't fit in and she soon finds herself under fire from top dog Carla (Megan Fox), who has rich parents and always gets what she wants.

Against the odds, Lola beats Carla to the lead in a rock opera version of Pygmalion, much to the delight of her friends, ugly duckling Ella (Alison Pill) and dreamboat Sam (Eli Marienthal).

However, Carla gets her revenge when she lands tickets to the farewell concert and after-show party of Lola and Ella's favourite rock band.

Can Lola and Ella somehow blag their way into the hottest concert of the year and still make the school play?

For all its perky protagonists and dream sequences set to an energetic pop soundtrack, Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen is dull.

Rising star Lohan, who was so wonderful in the recent remake of Freaky Friday, looks out of her depth, careering from one comic misfortune to the next.

Her eternally optimistic heroine is more irritating than endearing, forever embellishing her life to make herself sound more interesting.

Fox has the ice queen routine down pat and Pill brings much needed emotional depth as a painfully lonely and socially awkward child who finally discovers the courage to embrace her individuality.

The film's central mantra - be true to yourself and the people you love - is admirable. Pity that screenwriter Gail Parent delivers it with such heavy-handedness.

Rating: 3/10