Georgia Rule

Infobox Film
name = Georgia Rule

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caption = Promotional poster
director = Garry Marshall
producer = James G. Robinson
producer = Peter Guber
writer = Mark Andrus
starring = Jane Fonda
Lindsay Lohan
Felicity Huffman
Dermot Mulroney
Cary Elwes
Garrett Hedlund
music = John Debney
cinematography = Karl Walter Lindenlaub
editing = Tara Timpone
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = May 11 2007
runtime = 113 min
country = USA
language = English
gross = US$24,969,257
imdb_id = 0791304

"Georgia Rule" is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Garry Marshall and starring Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan, Felicity Huffman, Dermot Mulroney, Garrett Hedlund and Cary Elwes. The film is rated R for sexual content and some language. The film was released on May 11 2007. The film produced middling returns at the box office and received mostly negative reviews from critics.

Tagline

*"Mother. Daughter. Grandmother. In this family, attitude doesn't skip a generation."

Plot

Rebellious teenager Rachel (Lindsay Lohan) screams, swears, and drinks; she is, in a word, uncontrollable. With her latest car crash, Rachel has broken the final rule in her mother Lily's (Felicity Huffman) San Francisco home. With nowhere else to take the impulsive and rambunctious girl, Lily hauls her daughter to the one place to which she had sworn she would never return: her own mother's house in Idaho. Matriarch Georgia (Jane Fonda) lives her life by a number of unbreakable rules—God comes first and hard work comes a very close second—and wants anyone who shares her home do the same. Now saddled with raising the young woman, it will require each patient breath she takes to understand Rachel's fury.

Georgia arranges a job for Rachel as the office girl of Dr. Simon Ward (Dermot Mulroney), the local veterinarian, who also unofficially treats people. His two nephews Sam and Ethan are often at Georgia's house. Simon does not show interest in Rachel or other women, so she thinks he is gay. However, Simon's sister Paula (Laurie Metcalf) reveals that he is still mourning the death of his wife and son who were killed in a car collision three years earlier. He refuses to have sex with Rachel even when she tries to seduce him, but feels some passion for her mother Lily, whom he has dated in the past.

Rachel performs oral sex on Harlan Wilson (Garrett Hedlund), who, not yet being married, was still a virgin because of his LDS (Mormon) religion. Backed up by a reluctant Rachel, he confesses to his LDS girlfriend, who is shocked. A team of LDS girls starts spying on Harlan to make sure he does not "have sex" again. After a short chase using Harlan's truck, Rachel explains to them that what happened was over, and that they can go back to having their summer fun. They agree to do so, but only if Rachel goes home. Kicking it up a notch, Rachel then threatens them by saying if they have anything to do with her and Harlan again, she will find all of their boyfriends and "fuck them stupid", at which point they stop insulting her and stop spying on Harlan, for fear they, too, would be embarrassed.

While trying to make a point to Simon about survival, Rachel bluntly says that her stepfather Arnold sexually molested and raped her from the time she was 12 until she turned 14. Seeing the effect of her revelation, Rachel tries to convince him she lied. However, Simon has already told Georgia about the abuse, and Georgia in turn tells Lily, who at first thinks Rachel is lying. Heartbroken Lily comes to believe her daughter and begins to drink heavily. Lily asks Arnold for a divorce.

When Arnold arrives, Georgia tells him to leave and will not allow him in the house. Finally, she attempts to force him off the property by hitting him with a baseball bat; when he still refuses to leave, she forces him, by using the bat to threaten his sports car in order to put a bar of soap in his mouth, after he takes God's name in vain. Rachel sees that Lily cannot accept the truth, and lies to her about being molested.

At the motel where Arnold is staying, Rachel tells him that she has a video tape of raping her when she was 14. Arnold seems worried, which further convinces the viewer of his guilt. Rachel demands US$10 million (half his presumed net worth) if he does not keep Lily happy. She admits to him that she lied to Lily because she does not want her to be upset anymore. On the way back to San Francisco, Arnold tells Lily that he is giving Rachel his new red Ferrari, and Lily realizes that he is guilty.

As Lily jumps out of the car and starts walking back to town, Arnold angrily admits to having raped Rachel. He claimed to have been seduced, as well as offering the excuse that Lily being a raging alcoholic made him do it and finally saying that Rachel enjoyed it. After fending off the inevitable attack from an enraged Lily, Arnold drives off, daring her to take him to court.

In the end, Georgia, along with Simon, Rachel, and Harlan, catch up with Lily in Harlan's pick-up truck, and a tearful Rachel makes up for her behavior. Harlan also mentions to Georgia that he is in love with Rachel and plans to marry her when he gets back from his two-year mission.

Cast

*Jane Fonda as Georgia Randall
*Lindsay Lohan as Rachel Wilcox
*Felicity Huffman as Lily Wilcox
*Dermot Mulroney as Simon Ward
*Garrett Hedlund as Harlan Wilson
*Cary Elwes as Arnold
*Héctor Elizondo as Eezy
*Dylan McLaughlin as Sam
*Zachary Gordon as Ethan
*Laurie Metcalf as Paula Richards
*Tereza Stanislav as Violin Teacher
*Fred Applegate as Townie #1
*Cynthia Ferrer as Townie #2
*Destiny Moore as Waitress (as Destiney Moore)
*Christine Lakin as Grace
*Shea Curry as Melodee

Reception

Box office

The movie opened at 2,523 theaters. The film has taken in US$24,786,640 worldwide. It grossed US$17.4 million on DVD rentals in the United States, making a total of US$41 million.

Critical reception

Reviews of the movie were mostly negative at the time. The film earned a "Rotten" rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 18% [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/georgia_rule/ Georgia Rule - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes ] ] with a "Cream of the Crop" rating of only 7%. The film also had a low rating on Metacritic with a score of 25, which means "Generally Negative Reviews". [ [http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/georgiarule Georgia Rule (2007): Reviews ] ] Georgia Rule was rated the #2 worst movie of 2007 by AOL. [ [http://movies.aol.com/movie-photo/best-movies-of-2007 The 50 Best Movies of 2007 (And 10 Worst) - Moviefone ] ] The movie received "two thumbs down" from Ebert and Roeper, with the guest critic calling it "Lindsay Lohan's "Gigli" adding that it is "a sitcom about sexual abuse".

Release

"Georgia Rule" was released on: May 10 2007 in Australia; May 11,2007 in the United States; and September 13 2007 in the Netherlands.

"Georgia Rule" was released on DVD on September 4, 2007.

References

External links

* [http://www.georgiarulemovie.net/ Official site]
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* [http://movies2.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/movies/11geor.html?ref=movies "New York Times" Review]