Introducing Vivien Leigh Reid, a comic chick-lit-style teen novel, is the third book written collaboratively by Toronto authors Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout.

Living with her father in Seattle, 15-year-old Leigh is sent kicking and screaming to spend the summer bonding with her actress mother, Annika, who’s filming a movie in Ireland. Annika turns out to be every inch the vain, self-absorbed diva Leigh anticipated, infuriatingly attempting to pass off Leigh as her sister. When the director gives Leigh a small role in the movie, it sparks an All About Eve-style rivalry between the two as they compete for screen time and the attention of Annika’s hunky 21-year-old co-star.

In their uninventive storyline, the authors leave few stereotypes about the film industry or Ireland untouched. Talk about typecasting: the director is an egomaniacal tyrant, the makeup artist is a caftan-wearing queen, and the earthy Irish housekeeper possesses an impenetrable brogue. When the cast and crew aren’t filming Danny Boy, they’re hanging out in pubs and going on excursions to kiss the Blarney Stone.

Though Collins has worked in the film industry for years, her portrait of the business is surprisingly lacking in detailed insider perspective. The comic set pieces dramatizing Leigh’s discovery that filmmaking is more grind than glamour are lively and telling, but there aren’t nearly enough of them. And the development of Leigh’s passion for acting and her reconciliation with her mother are glossed over.

Leigh comes across as a committee’s idea of a typical teen, her rants and interests generic. Had her characterization been more individualized and her narration exhibited the tart humour and sharp eye of a Bridget Jones, this mildly engaging story full of soft targets and easy laughs might have had more freshness and energy.