Georgia Rule (2007)

Overall rating from 1 to 100: 73

O Masterpiece (95-100)
O Excellent (75-94)
X Good video rental (60-74)
O Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don’t watch (1-29)

Review by Jason Pyles / May 18, 2007

Even though I’m not a Felicity Huffman fan — and especially not a Lindsay Lohan fan — “Georgia Rule” is an impressive little film.

I can almost guarantee that it’s not what you’re expecting: This is not a comedy, nor is it “a chick flick,” though it has some of those elements. “Georgia Rule” is a drama about heavy issues that is lightened up by its small-town setting. From the moment the movie begins, we can see that this isn’t going to be as playful as we suspected.

Lilly (Felicity Huffman) is delivering her wayward daughter, Rachel (Lindsay Lohan), to her strict grandmother, Georgia (Jane Fonda), for the summer. (To clarify, Georgia is Lilly’s mother and Rachel’s grandmother.) Lilly and Rachel live in San Francisco. So this temporary move up to Hull, Idaho, where Georgia lives, is not a welcomed change — to say the least.

Rachel is a hellion: promiscuous, obnoxious, rude, crude, drug abusing, lying, instigating, troublemaking, etc. (Coincidentally, you may remember hearing that during filming, the CEO of Morgan Creek Productions sent a warning letter to Lohan reprimanding her for being “discourteous, irresponsible and unprofessional.”) Apparently, she’s a method actress, because her art seemed to reflect the reports of her real life, according to the media. I must admit that Lohan’s performance (as well as the other actors’ interactions with her) was convincing. Perhaps it was all genuine.

In the movie, Hull, Idaho is home to a lot of Mormons, and that fact plays a significant role in the movie. Many things about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are discussed. And I must give credit to “Georgia Rule” (which is not an LDS film) for doing a better job with committing Mormonism to film than LDS films, such as “Mobsters and Mormons” (2005). Nevertheless, it’s not a perfect depiction. The virtuous young LDS girls are depicted as judgmental simpletons next to Rachel’s “cool,” bad-girl ways.

In short, it is hoped that over the summer, Georgia, (and her rules) can straighten Rachel out. However, Georgia and her daughter have a perilously rocky relationship, too. Basically, all three women are at odds with one another, and we get to be flies on the wall for their unflinching ferociousness.

The main plotline of the movie deals with a dark secret from Rachel’s past at home in California. But because she’s such a liar and a relentless troublemaker, we, and many of the movie’s characters, don’t know whether to believe her. The movie uses this to jerk us around, back and forth, a few too many times.

I liked “Georgia Rule” for two characters: Jane Fonda’s Georgia is a strong, stoic woman whose tough love is tougher than her hardened posterity. And my favorite character — and definitely one of my favorite characters of all time — is Simon (Dermot Mulroney). He doubles for the town’s veterinarian and “people doctor.” I loved this character because he is a pillar of moral strength, an archetype of real manhood.

“Georgia Rule” is simply a good character drama, and I recommend it.

Directed by Garry Marshall
Jane Fonda / Lindsay Lohan / Felicity Huffman
113 min. Drama
MPAA: R (for sexual content and some language)

Copyright 2007.
JP0111 : 506