If you look at the US box office this morning, you might think Machete's successes have been modest – it opened at No 3 behind George Clooney's The American and the week-old The Takers, grossing roughly a tenth of what Toy Story 3 took in its opening weekend – but for Lindsay Lohan, it is a massive victory.
Commercially, Machete is Lohan's biggest film since Herbie: Fully Loaded five years ago. Nothing she's done since – not Just My Luck or A Prairie Home Companion or Bobby or Georgia Rule or I Know Who Killed Me or Chapter 27 or the direct-to-cable comedy Labour Pains – has come close to matching Machete's $11,300,000 opening.
But, even better, people don't actually seem to hate her in it. Admittedly this might be because she's playing an exaggerated version of herself – a gun-licking, drug-obliterated party girl in a nun's outfit – but reviews have been favourable, none the less. What's more, Lindsay's co-star Jessica Alba has repeatedly found room in her promotional schedule to call her a "brilliant actress" and director Robert Rodriguez was so impressed by her performance he's hinted at an entire spin-off movie for her character.
This professional upswing couldn't have come at a better time for Lohan. Her recent stints in jail and rehab have hopefully acted as a full stop to years of troubled behaviour, both on and off set, which have blighted her career, and now she seems genuinely ready to put everything behind her. Just last week Lohan appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair telling everyone how determined she was to make a success of herself again. And now that Machete has reminded us she's an actor, Lohan has never had a better chance to seize upon this newfound momentum.
The Guardian
