"GEORGIA RULE" - GARRY MARSHALL'S PRETTY DYSFUNCTIONAL WOMEN

Before going to see this film just know that you will have to suspend belief to the utmost degree if you are going to buy the notion that Lindsay Lohan and her two co-stars, acting powerhouses Felicity Huffman and Jane Fonda are blood related. There isn’t a speck of resemblance between any of the three actresses. That aside, you can’t help but wonder if Ms. Lohan, a tabloid honey for all of her off screen wild child behavior, really needed to act to take on the role of a tempestuous, uncontrollable teenage vixen. As I was leaving the theatre I heard a few people laughingly say that she was typecast. It’s no secret that the young actress was difficult to work with during the making of the film which related to her off screen partying, drug abuse and absence from the set that eventually led to her going into rehab.

With that in mind it must have been a walk through for Lohan to portray Rachel, the rebellious 17 year old from San Francisco, with a history of drinking, drugs, and sex. As messed up as the character is, there are two other women that make up the story of three generations of dysfunctional women.

Lohan is the headstrong California teenager sent by her alcoholic 40 something mother Lilly (Huffman), against her will, to the fictitious town of Hull, Idaho to live with the grandma Georgia (Fonda, who pushing 70, still looks great and fit) she doesn’t really know, for the summer. Lilly can’t stand her mother and has been estranged from Georgia for years. Yet Lilly thinks this seems to be the best place to drop off her uncontrollable daughter after a car crash, involving a drunken Rachel, was the last straw. According to Lilly, Georgia is the one person Rachel “won’t be able to jerk around”. Why? Because Georgia’s life revolves around rules, exemplified by the way she controls her nest with an iron fist, thus the movie’s title. For example, she is rigid about such things as yard work, eating at a scheduled set time, and heaven’s forbid you should say the Lord’s name in vein unless your want to have you mouth stuffed with a bar of soap. Yet she doesn’t see anything wrong about using the F word when she sees fit. What’s IS interesting is seeing Fonda looking so much like and channeling her father Henry in “On Golden Pond.”

Each of the women is a piece of work, but most of the story revolves around Rachel, her interaction with several supporting characters and how they fit into the scheme of things. Rachel is a manipulative temptress, or more bluntly a brazen slut, who parades around in oversized sunglasses, skimpy mini dresses, off the shoulder tight blouses, and skimpy shorts to show off what she’s got and will seduce any man she pleases regardless of their moral standing. That includes Rachel’s in no way believable relationship with Harlan (Garrett Hedlund) the young, handsome, Mormon country bumpkin she connects with who happens to be a virgin and engaged to another. He falls in love with Rachel, for no reason whatsoever other then the fact that she gave him oral sex and let him touch her inner thigh during a boat outing. Old enough to be her father is Dr. Simon Ward, the town’s widower veterinarian, (Durmot Mulroney) who used to date Lilly, and is able to thwart Rachel’s sexual come ons.

Lilly is angry at her mother, years earlier driven away by her behavior only to return with her own problems. At one point during an alcohol binge (another unbelievable sequence) Lilly cuts off her hair, after which she is left to wear a noticeably fake, dreadful looking, short wig that for the rest of the movie was terribly distracting. How the person responsible for hair and makeup could get away with this is beyond me!

Obviously all three women have issues. But it is Rachel who doesn’t know the difference between lying and telling the truth which eventually leads to the subject of child sexual abuse rearing its ugly head. Unfortunately, the approach to this serious subject is poorly executed. Rachel’s vacillation between truth and lies about her stepfather Arnold (Cary Elwes) molesting her from the age of 12 does nothing but set up confusion as to what her motives are and why, leaving viewers uncomfortable to say the least. Something as serious and sensitive as sexual abuse should be dealt with delicately and not misused as a frivolous plot device. Adding insult to injury, the entire tone of the movie is inconsistent. The humorous moments mixed into this drama are mostly the result of ill fitting crude behavior that had me cringing instead of laughing.

Director Garry Marshall is not up to his game this time around. I hate to say it but The Pretty Woman, Princess Diaries director fails to deliver likeable female characters in this unlikable film that has the women portrayed as either a drunk, slut or control freak.

Georgia Rules is supposed to be about reconciliation, redemption, forgiveness and the ties that bind. It’s the typical love concurs all scenario. Nice message that deserves a better script. Only here, it has no redeeming value.

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