Georgia Rule follows a rebellious, uncontrollable teenager who is hauled off by her dysfunctional mother to spend the summer with her grandmother. Her journey will lead all three women to revelations of buried family secrets and an understanding that - regardless what happens - the ties that bind can never be broken.
The central problem with the movie isn't that it deals with several hot-button topics, but that it addresses them with a shocking lack of emotional honesty.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
12 May 2007
rotten:
Director Garry Marshall has too much confidence that he can match the weighty issues here with the light comedy. He can't. Or at least he can't with this cast.
– Keith Phipps,
AV Club,
12 May 2007
rotten:
Time for a new book by Jane Fonda, and this time I expect a full chapter on how she got snookered into doing Georgia Rule.
– Rex Reed,
New York Observer,
16 May 2007
rotten:
The film is unforgivable.
– Melissa Anderson,
Time Out New York,
19 May 2007
rotten:
The confused script trades in such heavy topics as alcoholism and child sexual abuse, but every dramatic scene plays like one of those schmaltzy Happy Days moments that inevitably drew a big 'Awwwwww!' from the studio audience.