Georgia Rule

What’s the Story?

Lindsay Lohan is Rachel, a spoiled, highly sexualized San Francisco 17-year-old who's simply out of control: She lies, drinks, does drugs, and sleeps around without giving it a second thought. Her recovering alcoholic mom, Lilly (Felicity Huffman), realizes that her laissez faire parenting has created a narcissistic, manipulative monster, so she packs Rachel up and sends her to live with grandma Georgia (Jane Fonda) in small-town Idaho. Surrounded by rural Goody Two-shoes and her titular, rule-bound grandmother, Rachel gets her kicks by befriending handsome townie Harlan (Garrett Hedlund) and tempting sweet widower Simon (Dermot Mulroney), who happens to be her mom's high school boyfriend. Sex is a game, and Rachel knows exactly how to win. The movie adds a shocking backstory two-thirds of the way through when Rachel alleges that she's the victim of years of sexual abuse at the hands of her seemingly loving stepfather, Arnold (Cary Elwes).

Is It Any Good?

Septuagenarian director Garry Marshall has made many a woman-centered film, most of which are perfect for mother-daughter time -- Beaches, The Princess Diaries, etc. But GEORGIA RULE isn't the light-and-fuzzy Mother's Day picture it's being marketed as in TV ads. (Don't forget, Marshall is the man behind the funny-but-prostitute-focused Pretty Woman, too.)

Despite her off-screen reputation, Lohan has real acting chops. And Fonda and Huffman are clearly gifted actresses. But even their dramatic pedigrees can't save this melodramatic mess from devolving into quick-fix sentimentality.