Georgia Rule

Georgia Rule

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Garry Marshall
Produced by James G. Robinson
Peter Guber
Written by Mark Andrus
Starring Lindsay Lohan
Jane Fonda
Felicity Huffman
Music by John Debney
Cinematography Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Edited by Tara Timpone
Production
company
Morgan Creek Productions
Mandalay Productions
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • May 11, 2007
Running time
 113 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $20 million[1]
Box office $24,991,167

Georgia Rule is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Garry Marshall and starring Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan, Felicity Huffman, Dermot Mulroney, Garrett Hedlund, and Cary Elwes. The original music score was composed by John Debney. The film received negative reviews from critics, however, several praised Huffman's and Lohan's performances.

Plot

Rachel Wilcox (Lindsay Lohan) is an uncontrollable 17-year-old girl from San Francisco, California headed to Vassar College in the fall. With her latest car crash, Rachel has broken the final rule in her alcoholic mother, Lilly's (Felicity Huffman), San Francisco home. Lilly 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 Randall (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 to do the same. She will make anyone who takes the Lord's name in vain wash out their mouth with a bar of soap. 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 (Dylan McLaughlin) and Ethan (Zachary Gordon), 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 crash. He refuses to have sex with Rachel even when she tries to seduce him, but feels some passion for Lilly, 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, only if Rachel goes home. Rachel then threatens them by saying if they have anything to do with her and Harlan again, then she will find all of their boyfriends and "fuck them stupid."

While trying to make a point to Simon about survival, Rachel bluntly says that her stepfather Arnold (Cary Elwes) had been raping 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 sexual abuse, and Georgia in turn tells Lilly, who at first thinks Rachel is lying. Lilly comes to believe her daughter, however, and begins to drink heavily and 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. Rachel sees that Lilly cannot accept the truth, and lies to her, saying she didn't do anything sexual with Arnold.

At the motel where Arnold is staying, Rachel tells him that she has a video tape of him raping her when she was 14. Arnold seems worried, which further convinces the viewers of his guilt. Rachel demands $10 million (half his presumed net worth) if he does not keep Lilly happy. She admits to him that she lied to Lilly because she does not want her to be upset anymore. On the way back to San Francisco, Arnold tells Lilly that he is giving Rachel his new red Ferrari. Hearing this Lilly quickly recalls Rachael's earlier claim that he bought her a Ford Mustang to keep her silence and demands to be let out of the car. As Lilly jumps out of the car and starts walking back to town, Arnold angrily admits to having sexually abused Rachel; he claims to have been seduced, that Lilly's heavy drinking drove him to it, and finally saying that Rachel enjoyed it. After fending off an attack from an enraged Lilly, Arnold drives off, daring her to take him to court.

In the end, Georgia, along with Simon, Rachel, and Harlan, catch up with Lilly 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 returns from his two-year mission.

Cast

Production

Ostensibly set in Idaho, per the ending credits and DVD extras, the film was actually shot in Southern California, and much of the scenery was created with CGI.

Reception

Georgia Rule was panned by critics. The film earned a Rotten rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes, with a score of 17%.[2] The film also had a low rating on Metacritic with a score of 25, which means Generally Negative Reviews.[3] Georgia Rule was rated the #2 worst movie of 2007 by AOL.[4] The movie received "two thumbs down" from Ebert and Roeper, with the guest critic calling it "Lindsay Lohan's Gigli" (many critics would compare Lohan's following star vehicle, I Know Who Killed Me, to Gigli) and "a sitcom about sexual abuse".

Nominations

The film received nominations at the TCA. The film received 1 nomination for Choice Actress - Drama, for Lohan's performance. Felicity Huffman received a Prism Award nomination for Best Performance in a Feature Film.

Year Ceremony Award Result
2007 Teen Choice Awards Choice Award for Choice Actress - Drama: Lindsay Lohan Nominated

Home media

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

References

  1. ↑ http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Georgia-Rule#tab=summary
  2. ↑ Georgia Rule - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
  3. ↑ Georgia Rule (2007): Reviews
  4. ↑ The 50 Best Movies of 2007 (And 10 Worst) - Moviefone

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Georgia Rule