Good movie but grossly overrated

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Compelling family drama-comedy, great acting by all three leading actresses (Felicity Huffman, Lindsey Lohan and Jane Fona), entertainment combined with depth. Offers food for thought as well as laughter, just perfect.

A troubled teen is sent to stay with her grandmother, and they bond and learn from each other. While there are tons of movies that could be described by that tagline, Georgia Rule is perhaps the best representation of the "troubled teen at Granny's" genre.Perfectly cast Lindsay Lohan comes to stay at grandmother Jane Fonda's house for the summer. She's a horrendous troublemaker, with sex, drugs, and booze as her extracurricular activities, and her mother, Felicity Huffman, doesn't know what to do with her. At the end of her rope, Felicity takes her to her estranged mother's house, hoping the strictness will straighten her out. Of course, throughout the movie, the ladies will bond, cry, learn, and grow. That's how these movies work! This one is great to watch if you've never seen a film in this genre, or if you're in the mood for an estrogen fest with a little eye candy. Pour the mimosas for a bunch of your girlfriends, or for you and your mom, and get ready for the classiest cheesy movie of the summer. Look out for Dermot Mulroney, Cary Elwes, Garrett Hedlund, Hector Elizondo, and Laurie Metcalf in the supporting cast of this heartwarming Garry Marshall flick.

After this, I said "WAW, what a beautiful script!". I ran to the internet to see who wrote it, to discover that he is (Mark Andrus), the very scriptwriter who gave us before (As Good as It Gets). The drama has excellent victories; it's a movie about what's real and what's a lie. It begins with a lie, and ends with a truth. Almost all the characters are deprived of love, and escaping from facing the truth is the main reason why; e.g. (Dermot Mulroney) stopped laughing after the death of his wife, (Felicity Huffman) drinks because she misses compassion for all of her life, (Jane Fonda) lives alone because she never expresses her feeling of love.. etc. Add to that : catchy and so wise lines, funny antics (Jane's soap for one), and how everybody is being influenced by the other; e.g. (Lindsay Lohan) exposes the truth of (Mulroney)'s sadness to himself, getting – with her aggressive attitude – the delayed money from his patients, while, on the other hand, he teaches her the lesson of "if you can't trust, you can't love".(Mulroney)'s portrayal of that depressed doctor is more like being reborn. Some actors don't get the quality mark before hitting their forties I believe. Now, a lot of middle-aged characters are waiting for him to be acted memorably. (Fonda) played a play on her real-life father (Henry Fonda) (who didn't have the best relationship with his daughter). Ironically enough, (Jane) plays a role too similar to one (Henry) himself played with her in (On Golden Pond), where she was the ignored daughter (in the movie and reality). So it was like art imitating life that has been imitated by art before, to see (Jane) in her story; yet once as the daughter, then as the father-turned-mother this round. Anyway, she hit a new degree of proficient, giving a ripened acting, looking so young along the way as well! Though, many would hate that "though", the winner was (Huffman). She had the best part; with many alterations, more pains, delivering a bit better performance than (Jane)'s, topping everybody else in this movie. So, glad with the script, the cast I was. Not the same can be said about (Garry Marshall)'s direction !(Marshall) doesn't have a respectively deep look into how to embody relationships, affections, emotions, or simply any special, no comic, moment on screen. He started by directing episodes of sitcoms like (The Odd Couple), (Mork & Mindy). Then, at his film career, he never had an opportunity to show off his capacities as a serious drama master. He used to make light comedies like (Overboard, The Princess Diaries, Raising Helen). And in his close to drama ones like (Nothing in Common, Beaches, and – naturally – Georgia Rule) he couldn't prove any uniqueness. Yes, I admit that acting and comedy are perfect in his movies, moreover he's capable of handing in a lovely image, making entertaining movies altogether. However, deepness isn't his thing, and he deals with the serious drama as easy romantic comedy !This is exactly the problem here. He took a lot of this movie's intrinsic splendor by leading everything spiritlessly or in a usual manner at best. The way the cast moves is lazy, the camera doesn't utilize any background creatively, the image is mute. While the performances are strong, the editing deformed a lot of the moments, degrading them into the traditional "sigh" moments in sitcoms. It was too hasty or too mechanic; as if the plan was making all the shots with one length ! A scene like "Did you ever love me?" between (Jane Fonda) and (Felicity Huffman) was brutally murdered. That was the wrong way to do it. It messed, like many other scenes, the warmth existing in the script. I felt rather no feeling from that directing towards the story in the first place! Thank god for the script, the way how (Marshall) could bring the best out of his cast, and conduct their comic moments brilliantly. Otherwise it would have been completely cold and banal.Casting (Cary Elwes) exposed big part of the surprise about his character. He had an obvious dirty weasel written all over his face. Choosing him in that character made it predicable. I hated how (Lohan) was pictured as Femme Fatal. Her body was mostly awful (The top : a woman. The rest : a child !). So with her fine performance, I always felt something untruthful and wrong. Also, the sexual stuff was too much. (Lohan)'s character was sleeping with everybody like it's a long sex party. From my point of view, the movie didn't need any of that (Oral sex ? Really ?!). Maybe they were the wheels in (Lohan)'s vehicle as a new sex goddess that this movie was meant to be (an already broken vehicle if you asked me!). Then, the marketing of the movie, OH GOD, Hollywood had taught the whole world how to sell, but they failed in selling this?! To say the least, an addict of movies' trailers, such as me, didn't run into even a teaser for this movie anywhere, while all the "brainless" movies had / have all the possible publicity all the time at everywhere ! This script is like walking on the moon. With that direction; it's fake moon! Well, (Georgia Rule) just yearned for less simplistic director, to be more arty, distinguished and effective. But ultimately it somehow works, even if as a movie-of-the-week, being a breath of fresh air while burning weather of remakes, sequels, superhero flicks and toilet comedies. Yes, boys and girls out there, there is something named drama, and it has its own movies too !

There are too many stories within the main story here. Jane Fonda's perfection of a mother is a story in itself. The hangups of widower Dermott Mulroney are also interesting. A Mormon guy (Cary Elwes) wants to go to do missionary work for 2 years, but at the same time he is conflicted about his current life.All this serves as the backdrop to the real theme of the daughter of Fonda, an alcoholic, whose second husband may have sexually abused her daughter.The performances here are all quite good. The big surprise is Lindsay Lohan. If she'd only get her act together in real life, she could definitely be a star in the making.The movie has a really important theme,but there are too many subordinate clauses that should have been dealt with.Had this movie been 35+ years ago, Fonda would have been a sensation in the Lohan part, a rebel in every way possible.