Lay off Lindsey Lohan for turning down The Hangover.

As expected, the tabloids are currently ripping into Lindsey Lohan, implying that she's an idiot for turning down The Hangover. Hindsight is 20/20 and actors turn down golden opportunities all the time. But this is a situation where Lohan's choice wasn't all that inexplicable, and may have been beneficial to all involved. First of all, you can't go on and on about what a big surprise the film's success was, then make fun of someone who didn't see it coming. Second of all, the role probably didn't seem all that appealing on paper. Heather Graham's role wasn't exactly a goldmine of rich material. She was the obligatory 'hot stripper with a heart of gold', written more as eye-candy than a fountain of comedy. She was a solution to a plot-problem ('we want them to find a baby in the hotel, but we can't have them chucking the kid around the whole movie'). And finally, Heather Graham's star has dimmed enough that she could blend right in with the B-level cast (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Bowfinger were ten years ago), while Lohan's celebrity is still such that she would have stuck out like the gimmick casting that it probably was intended to be. Point being, the filmmakers should thank Lohan for turning down the picture.

Scott Mendelson

For more of this nature, including why Michael Bay is wrong to verbally attack Megan Fox, and why Michael Bay might now wish that he kept his mouth shut, go to Mendelson's Memos.