Georgia Rule (2007)

I always enjoy a movie directed by Garry Marshall, because first and foremost, this guy knows how to tell a good story. His typical film is a tight, character driven drama, and Georgia Rule is a prototypical example of this type of film.

Complementing this director are three generations of Hollywood's leading ladies: Jane Fonda, Felicity Huffman, and Lindsay Lohan. Rounding out the cast are Dermot Mulroney, and Garrett Hedlund (who I first saw in Eragon). Certainly more than enough talent to make a good film.

The drama focuses on the three generations of women, and the conflict between Grandmother, mother, and granddaughter. Fonda plays Georgia, a domineering matriarch who lives life according to a strict protocol, hence the title Georgia Rule. This has driven her daughter, Lilly (Huffman) off from the family homestead in Idaho, to California where she is married to a high powered attorney. For the summer, Lilly decides that her daughter, Rachel (Lohan) has become too much to handle, and the plan is to drop her off for a while before she packs up to go east for college.

The film goes from conflict to conflict. We begin with Rachel walking outside her mother's car as they approach the town in Idaho as she prematurely parts ways with her mother. Lohan is perfectly cast as the rambunctious "rebel without a clue," as she personifies in real life. Next, Rachel and Georgia have different ideas of a summer vacation when her grandma signs up her to work at the local vets office. It's kind of funny to see the townspeople getting their medical care from the local vet, Simon, played by Mulroney. (As an aside, while this may seem ridiculous at first, the town is kind of small, and the nearest doctor may have been miles away. I also know more than one MD that was fed up with their vet bills and got meds for their animals, so while not encouraging this, I could see it happening the other way). We also have the makings of a love triangle as Rachel attempts to seduce the local Mormon teen, Harlan (Hedlund).

Lest you think the entire film is formulaic, and just small town idyllic Idaho living, we next take a turn into the more serious. Rachel blurts out that she has been sexually abused, by her father. This shocking revelation, coming from one so rebellious and not exactly reliable, then forms the basis of the rest of the drama. Her mother returns from California to get to the bottom of things, followed by the father. Marshall expertly directs this so that for the rest of the film, it's purposely fuzzy if the allegation is true or not up until the very end.

Georgia Rule is a tight drama, that kept my attention throughout. The dialogue is well done, and each of the characters is multidimensional- there are no stereotypes here, even among the lesser characters. This film takes on the difficult subject matter of child sexual abuse by a family member, and gives it a dignified treatment, which is far more common than many would want to admit. While this is not exactly "family friendly entertainment," it does make for a moving motion picture. Check it out when you get a chance.

Overall Grade: A

--Jonas

On The Lot (FOX Television)

At first I rolled my eyes when I saw that they were going to have a competition to become a film director into a reality based television show. Was this simply another attempt at Survivor or The Apprentice? Having accepted the fact that Treasure Hunters wasn’t coming back for a second season, I decided to check On The Lot out.

From thousands of short film submissions, fifty aspiring film directors were brought out to Universal Studios in California (as an aside, if you’ve never been there, it’s a really fun place for a visit). The goal is to have one emerge as the winner of a movie studio contract.

Judging the competition is legendary director Gary Marshall, almost has been Carrie Fisher, and Brett Ratner known for the X-Men series. In the end, we can hardly say that these three haven’t had enough experience to know what goes into directing a movie.

Their first task was to pitch a movie. They were randomly given one of five taglines, and literally overnight, had to come up with a sketch of a plot and characters to try to sell their movie to the judges who played the role normally occupied by Hollywood moguls. As Marshall points out, at over 100 G’s a day to shoot a film, these guys don’t want to take a chance on a project that the director is not sure of himself. In the end, the pitch is about selling oneself as much as selling the film itself.

After the pitch, we were down to thirty contestants. The next task is to work in groups of three to write and direct a 2.5 minute short film using three included locations. On this task, those that don’t work and play well with others are clearly at a disadvantage.

Based on the pilot, so far I’m hooked. I learned something about film making, and look forward to seeing how the competition progresses. On The Lot also looks like it will use the internet to interface with the audience to allow them to view the films that these young directors produce during the competition. Look for the show on Thursday on the FOX network at 9:30 PM, EST.

Overall Grade: B

Keeping Up With the Steins (2006)

Keeping Up With the Steins is a tongue-in-cheek look at what goes into a Bar Mitzvah, and outdoing one's neighbor in the process. Its cast includes Daryl Hannah, Doris Roberts and Garry Marshall, notably directed by his son, Scott Marshall.

Despite the serious nature of this religious milestone in a Jewish boy's journey to manhood, this film pokes fun at it in a respectful way. The opening scene showing the way over the top Titanic themed Bar Mitzvah is more than entertaining. This is the Stein's boy's Bar Mitzvah, that throws the gauntlet down that the competitive Fiedler's will try to outdo. Unfortunately, the true meaning of milestone gets lost as the event planner boosts the event to even bigger levels as they plunge full steam ahead to rent out a stadium and hire stars to appear. As we proceed, at an almost out of control rate, the boy gets to develop a relationship with his grandfather, and the whole event gets regrounded before it spirals off into space somewhere.

For anyone hat has ever planned an event, Keeping Up With the Steins is sure to ring true; just don't expect anything too meaningful out of it.

Overall Grade: B-

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