Lindsay Lohan's The Canyons savaged by critics

Lindsay Lohan has been dealt a fresh blow as she prepares to end her rehab stint after her new movie The Canyons was branded "lame" and "dreary" by critics following its premiere in New York on Monday (29Jul13).

The erotic thriller, written by American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis, finally screened at The Film Society of Lincoln Center in Manhattan after it was previously denied slots at a number of film festivals last year (12), with organisers of Texas' South by Southwest (SXSW) rejecting it over "quality issues".

Lohan was unable to attend the red carpet event on Monday night as she is serving out the final few days of a court-ordered rehab sentence in California, but she is unlikely to be cheered by the majority of the movie's reviews.

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter brands the film a "lame, one-dimensional and ultimately dreary look at peripheral Hollywood types not worth anyone's time either onscreen or in real life" which is full of "melodramatic cliches" and characters with a "lack of distinct personalities".

The New Yorker's David Denby writes, "Lohan is a real actress, but in this movie she's puffy and overwrought and unfocused, and she weeps a lot.. You're not sure whether she's crying in character, or lamenting her participation in a low-budget movie, or grieving over her own troubles."

Eric Kohn of Indiewire.com singled out Lohan's performance for particular criticism: "Lohan is as bland and unfocused as the material," adding, "Her robotic delivery freezes the possibilities of bona fide tension."

However, Scott Foundas of Variety gave the film a more favourable write-up and even compared Lohan to legendary actor Marlon Brando, writing, "Lohan... gives one of those performances, like Marlon Brando's in Last Tango in Paris, that comes across as some uncanny conflagration of drama and autobiography. Lohan may not go as deep or as far as Brando, but... there's a little-girl-lost quality to the onetime Disney teen princess that's very affecting."

The Variety review touched Lohan, who posted a link to the article and a message of thanks on her Twitter.com page, writing, "Wow... humbled and feeling so much gratitude."