Miley Cyrus mauled by critics as 'stiff' and 'unconvincing' in first serious acting role in The Last Song

By Daily Mail Reporter

'Serious actress': Miley Cyrus tries to move away from her clean-cut Hannah Montana TV persona alongside Liam Hemsworth in The Last Song


Miley Cyrus is fast approaching adulthood and has spoken of her wish to move away from her clean-cut TV alter-ego Hannah Montana.

But it appears the world may not quite be ready for the more serious side of the 17-year-old singer/actress after critics mauled her first 'serious' acting role in The Last Song.

The film, which also stars Greg Kinnear, Kelly Preston and Cyrus's real-life boyfriend Liam Hemsworth, has failed to impress critics in America ahead of its opening this weekend.


In the movie, Cyrus plays troubled teenager Ronnie, who is unimpressed when she is sent away from her home New York to spend the summer with her estranged father Steve (Kinnear) in the small Georgia beach town of Tybee Island.

One critic even compares Cyrus's performance to Britney Spears' infamous 2002 movie Crossroads, which was similarly criticised after its release.

The Boston Globe's Wesley Morris is particularly scathing: 'A more convincing star could make this a degree more tolerable, although in Cyrus’s defence not much more.

She’s cute whether she’s smiling, crying, or wearing a pretty lavender dress.

'It’d be nice to see her do some acting, but that doesn’t appear to be high on the movie’s list of priorities. Allegedly, this is the film in which Cyrus gets all, like, dramatic. If by "dramatic" one means pouty, sullen, and cute, then OK.'

The Miami Herald's Connie Ogle cites Cyrus's 'stiff, unconvincing' acting as the main reason not to see the film.


Big night: Cyrus and Hemsworth at the Los Angeles premiere of The Last Song last week


Variety's Rob Nelson also said Cyrus 'alas, hasn't yet learned not to act with her eyebrows and overbite'.

The New York Times's A.O. Scott wrote: 'Acting, for the moment at least, seems almost entirely beyond her.

'In The Last Song she pouts, slouches, storms in and out of rooms and occasionally cracks a snaggle-toothed smile, but most of the time she seems to be mugging for the camera, play-acting rather than exploring the motives and feelings of her character.'

The Rolling Stone's Peter Travers said: 'The Last Song, with a screenplay by Sparks himself, is so bad it makes The Notebook look like Casablanca...

'The only tragedy you'll face is paying good money to this swill.'

The New York Post's critic Lou Lumenick writes: 'It's the worst of both worlds as Disney cash cow Miley Cyrus makes the most dubious "dramatic" debut of any singer since Britney Spears...

'Displaying approximately one and a half expressions, the teenage Cyrus pouts her way through a fire, a wedding and a funeral.'

The Post also says Cyrus has 'a total lack of on-screen chemistry' with Hemsworth, who she started dating while filming the movie last year.

The film is based on the latest book by best-selling author Nicholas Sparks, who was asked about the novel before he even wrote it.

The Notebook author Sparks was approached by film-makers after Miley said she wanted to repeat the movie success of singer-turned-actress Mandy Moore, whose performance in another Sparks adaptation A Walk To Remember landed her critical acclaim.

After finishing the screenplay, Sparks then converted the story into a novel, which was released last September.


source: dailymail