Search - Georgia Rule (Full Screen Edition) on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 3/17/2024...

Jane Fonda ruined this when she showed up!

Callie K. (ballofglitter) from GRAND ISLAND, NE
Reviewed on 8/20/2014...

This one is a really good movie about family relationships and how one thing can tear them apart and the question "Do you believe your rebel daughter or your new husband?" It was slow in some parts but mainly entertaining and it has some comedy that's good.

0 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Tracie C. from ALAMOGORDO, NM
Reviewed on 6/1/2009...

My 16 year old niece's synopsis of the movie:

Lindsay Lohan is basically a ho, and she gets in a lot of trouble. But she's really that way because she's had a hard life and her mom doesn't understand. But her grandma does and believes her, so she starts being a little better, but she's still a ho, but her and her grandma eventually become friends. And then her mom comes back and starts to act like a mom.

Interestingly, after seeing the movie...my niece was right on!

2 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

"Courageous"...But Not Particularly Good

Gregor von Kallahann | 09/06/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Viewing GEORGIA RULE recently I flashed back on a passage from Salinger's FRANNY AND ZOOEY (which I had recently re-read). There is a passage in that book in which a young television actor, speaks disparagingly of scripts that are "courageous," without their necessarily being particularly good. What he's talking about, of course, is the kind of drama that is supposed to be risky and challenging, a bit off beat maybe. "Edgy" might be the current word. That's precisely the kind of dramatic work GEORGIA RULE tries to be. You can just imagine the filmmakers patting themselves (and each other) on the back, congratulating themselves on their frankness and daring.

This is a movie that wants to say SO MUCH--to bravely go where no screenwriter (or director OR producer) would have dared to go before (except that they HAVE, in point of fact). You've got your intergenerational conflict, your intergenerational substance abuse, you've got promiscuous teens--and apparently incestuous step-dads. You've got salty grandmas, agonized moms and troubled, but spunky teens. Now even if you haven't seen all these ingredients mixed up before, it's hard not to find GEORGIA RULE a bit contrived and quite desperate. It nearly breaks under the strain.

The reviews for this film have not been kind, and it seems likely that whatever notoriety it may have garnered may have more to do with Lindsay Lohan's reported bad behavior on the set than with the film's inherent quality. As it turns out, she probably could have just pleaded "Method" and claimed that she was just staying in character off-camera. Her Rachel is a bit of a wastrel. With a heart of gold, of course.

This is a film that virtually invites reviewers to say something cranky about a stellar cast adrift in a lame production. Well, it IS a pretty solid cast, and all the actors have their moments. Felicity Huffman and Lindsay Lohan have some very strong scenes--and others where the script or their director (or their own best instincts) let them down. Jane Fonda is probably the most consistent of the three starring actresses, but that may have much to do with her character's flinty, discipline-for-discipline's sake nature. She can coast a bit on her character's quirks. Huffman and Lohan are required to take more risks. Sometimes they take off, and sometimes they fall flat (quite literally in Huffman's case).

GEORGIA RULE, while not especially good, could prove instructive to aspiring actors. It's true you get to see good actors at work (and I mean, HARD at work). What you don't get is a good, solid story. In 2007, simply presenting viewers with intergenerational dysfunctionality doesn't cut it anymore--if it ever did. Yes, we know that happy families are all alike, and that unhappy families are unhappy in uniquely different ways. If that's true, however, you shouldn't have to struggle so much to show those differences. GEORGIA RULE #1 should probably have been: Don't try so hard!
"

Uneasy blend of comedy and drama

Tess Capra | Greensboro, NC | 09/09/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"In an industry that increasingly misrepresents its products via preview trailers, this is the most appalling example I've ever seen. Have you seen the trailer? Are you expecting a mostly lighthearted "troubled girl puts her life on track with guidance from her sassy grandmother" movie? Think again.

I'm spoiling a plot development from about 20 minutes in so don't read farther if you don't want to know.

*Georgia Rule* is actually a heavy-handed molestation tale, with Lohan playing a dangerous and unpleasant "am I telling the truth or lying?" game by accusing (then recanting, then accusing, then recanting) her stepfather of abusing her when she was 12-14, three years ago.

Such stories have a place, and some probably open doors of communication in troubled families. However, this one strikes an extremely uneven balance between comedy and drama thanks to director Garry Marshall's mistaken vision. A mother's alcoholism, a daughter's abuse and subsequent slide into drug use and sexual promiscuity can't be juxtaposed with Fourth of July pie-eating contests (naturally featuring cameos by Marshall's never-ending supply of relatives) and wacky hijinx down at the local vet's.

The acting is good, but the script and direction are very, very, very bad. The script kicked around Hollywood for a decade; it should still be gathering dust on a forgotten bookcase."

How do we know we're loved? 4 1/2 stars

C. Harmon | south carolina | 09/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Though I don't recall this movie getting great reviews from the critics, I expected at least a decent movie considering the three main stars. I got more than expected. The three lead actresses were well chosen. Jane Fonda, looking exceptionally well at age 70, is outstanding as the grandmother, Georgia, who lives her life by certain 'rules,' hence the title, and who has a history with her daughter, Lilly, (Felicity Huffman), that seems lacking in emotion. 'Seems' is the operative word. While we aren't exactly privy to what has caused this rift between mother and daughter, we glean from one particular scene that Georgia's parents never told HER that they loved her. We gather that Georgia's apparent inability to say the three words, "I love you" to her daughter may simply be because she was not told what she needed to hear from her parents. In one touching scene between Georgia and Lilly, when Lilly asks her mother if she ever loved her, Georgia replies, 'How could I not love you?' She still is not able to say those three magic words to her daughter though she has no trouble saying them to her granddaughter, Rachel, (Lindsay Lohan). Dermont Mulroney is wonderfully cast as the kindly veterinarian whom Rachel works for and Cary Elwes well cast in a somewhat chilling performance as Rachel's stepfather.

Rachel lies, manipulates, has a history of drug abuse and all manner of teen problems. There is, of course, a reason for her behaviour and underneath it all, we see many glimpses of a tender heart.

This is Ms. Lohan's best performance since she made her wonderful debut as identical twins in 'The Parent Trap' at the age of eleven. Despite the two other big name stars, Lindsay Lohan is THE star of this movie. We can only hope that this gifted young lady is able to heal herself before a very promising career is ruined."