Georgia Rule (2007)

Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes

Premise: A rebellious daughter is packed off to live with her grandmother when her mom can't control her any longer. As she stays in the country, the daughter reveals her pain and learns to move forward.

Stars: Jane Fonda * Felicity Huffman * Lindsay Lohan * Cary Elwes * Dermot Mulroney

The story: Rachel (Lohan) is a rebellious daughter who's broken the final straw: wrecking a new car given to her by her stepfather. Her mother Lily (Huffman), an alcoholic and also self-destructive, takes her from California to Idaho, to live with her grandmother Georgia (Fonda).

Once there, the rebellious teenager flirts and tries to seduce two men, Harlan and Simon. Harlan, presented as a young, naive and innocent Mormon about to go on a two-year missionary trip, falls victim to her big-city charms. Simon, more experienced and wiser in the ways of the world, resists her charm and remains true to his nature.

She also struggles with inner demons - being molested by her stepfather (Elwes) - and learns to move beyond the past with the assistance of Harlan, Simon and her grandmother. When she reveals the truth, her mother leaves her husband and comes back, attempting to reconcile with her daughter. But, being miserable herself, she continues drinking.

Eventually, all three come together as Lily discovers the truth when Arnold gives Rachel his prized Ferrari as a bribe to keep quiet.

Review: Sold as a comedy and a feel-good movie, this film is about incest and sexual abuse. If it did not have the approach of Garry Marshall - it's advertised as being 'from the director of Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries' (both of which are decent) - and was taken as a serious drama film, it might have been worth watching. Instead, moments that are designed to be humourous are distracting and badly misplaced.

Fonda is nice, but given the role of a rock as Georgia, there's not much more than the 'crusty old country grandma/mom' the role calls for. Huffman is definitely wasted, and Lohan proved she was on a downward spiral. If her attempts at seduction are supposed to be humourous, again, they do a disservice to the film, but they are laughable - terribly unfunny but laughable.

I wonder what a serious take on this idea could've looked like.

Overall: Bad.