It may only be March, but Lindsay Lohan is already having a banner year. In January, the 37-year-old actress appeared in the new Mean Girls musical reboot, and today, her new romantic comedy Irish Wish premieres on Netflix.
In her new film, Lohan plays plucky book editor Maddie, who has fallen head over heels for the author she's been ghostwriting for, but when he gets engaged to one of her close friends, Maddie has to set her feelings aside to attend the wedding in Ireland. Once there, magic intervenes when Maddie wishes for true love, and she wakes up as the bride-to-be. Only then does she realize that her soulmate could be someone else.
While the romantic comedy is all about a straight love story — in fact, there isn't a single queer character in the entire film — that's never stopped the gays from loving the Parent Trap legend over the years. Between her iconic performance in the original Mean Girls and playing gay icon Elizabeth Taylor in Liz & Dick, as well as her past relationship with DJ Samantha Ronson, it's easy to see why the queer community has been embracing Lohan for years.
"It feels so lovely," Lohan tells PRIDE when asked about her relationship with her LGBTQ+ fans. "It's the best. Are you kidding me? I love love, so it feels great."
In Irish Wish, Lohan is joined on screen by Ayesha Curry, who plays Maddie's best friend Heather. She is fun, light-hearted, and looking for love. "She's definitely a departure from me, but I like to think that she's like my alter-ego if I hadn't had gotten married and had kids so young," Curry says. "Who knows, I could have been a little Heather-like in my life."
The life-swapping rom-com has an element reminiscent of Sliding Doors or Freaky Friday — in which Lohan starred opposite Jamie Lee Curtis — where Maddie can see how both choices in her love life would play out. Both Lohan and Curry relate to the fork-in-the-road decisions life presents you with.
"I think we all go through that at some point or another, whether we realize it or not," Lohan says. "There's always that decision-making kind of moment."
Curry agreed, saying, "We don't get to see both sides of things like you do in this film, but I think you have those moments where you think like, 'I wonder what would have happened if…' and I think it's only natural."
Netflix
While the movie follows many of the formulaic beats of a rom-com, the addition of Lohan's charm and physical comedy makes it a whole lot of fun, if a bit predictable.
"Everyone goes on high alert when I'm doing the physical comedy; they're like, 'Are you okay? Are you okay?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm fine. Should we do it again?' I'm committed," Lindsay says, explaining that she did some of her own stunts in the film.
Making the transition from child star to successful adult actress wasn't always easy for Lohan, who spent her late teens and 20s partying, getting arrested, and doing stints in rehab, but now that she's on the other side she's loving life — Lohan and her husband welcomed their first child last year — and feels like she's found her lane in the movie industry.
"It's been interesting," Lohan explains. "I like doing very PG rom-coms like that's my angle because I want it to be fun for the whole family. So I think that's where I had to figure out what the transition would be and keep it — so that it's not oversexualized, or it's not this or it's not that. So that's why I think I've found my niche in rom-coms."
Irish Wish is now available to stream on Netflix.
