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A well-intended ode to sex, lies and love, the film is at its best as a commentary on the amazing subtleties in women's intuition and a sense of deep truth -- if only they can trust it. Call this intuition a defensive weapon, call it a divine power, but, suggests the film, amid the appeal of modern lust and carnality, truth depends on the nuance of the unsaid.
That said, it is unfortunate that the film has some implausible circumstances and is tied to an awkward set of conveniences at the end.
Rebellious San Francisco high school graduate Rachel (Lindsay Lohan) is perpetually angry. She has zero tact and discretion. Her mother, Lilly (Felicity Huffman), with nowhere else to take the rash and brawling girl, carts her off to the one place to which she'd always vowed she'd never return -- her own mother's home in Idaho, where issues raged when Lilly left there 13 years ago.
No-nonsense, domineering Georgia (Jane Fonda), having all the grace of a hissing rattler, is definitely not your garden variety sweet and doting grandmother. She lives by uncompromising rules, which apply to anyone she permits into her home.
First rule: Do not use the name of the Lord in vain. The second is "hard work," and there are lots more. Rachel, of course, has her own primary rule, which is that there are no rules and plenty of liberties. This includes sex with a confused local Mormon boy and coming on with driven seduction to the local vet (Dermot Mulroney), not to say claiming she's been sexually molested by her stepfather (Cary Elwes).
Some long-buried secrets are going to surface -- for all three women.
With some very workable and often clever dialogue that's minimalist and evocative -- more smartly delivered by 21-year-old Lindsay Lohan than the veteran Jane Fonda -- you can almost believe in the conflicts.
Not so, however, are the agonizing contrivances used to resolve them.
In particular, the film needs something, anything, that would fill out Fonda's character to moderate Georgia's borderline witch personality. And, obviously, Lohan playing a 17-year-old is not right.
The film's dilemma, actually, is in the mandate, as Hollywood sees it, of rushing feelings at you as if they're going out of style, instead of giving them a little more space and time to exist, expand and settle in. Many men need some serious learning experience at this, and Lindsay Lohan, with an able assist by Huffman's Lilly at the end, makes an admirable effort.
"Georgia Rule" suffers in a distinct lack of uniqueness in its basic story. Still, it's a "chick flick" with noble intention.
Call it a really good try, especially in its willingness to create suspense entirely out of women's feelings.
Got it.
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