Saturday night I went to see the movie Georgia Rule . This movie stars Jane Fonda, Lindsy Lohan and Felicity Huffman. Jane Fonda, was the primary motivator for me to see this move. I have been a great fan of hers for most of my life and her career. Georgia Rule looked like a southern comedy. The movie is about three generations of women all of whom are a little messed up and dysfunctional. There is Georgia, (Jane Fonda) a very strict seemingly unemotional woman. Her daughter Lily (Felicity Huffman) a recovering alcoholic and Rachel (Lindsy Lohan) a rebellious, drug using mixed up teenager who lies to control, to confuse and to shock people.
Having seen the trailers for this movie and expecting some chick flick kind of movie I was very surprised when the movie quickly took a dark turn with Rachel the mixed up teenager sexually acting out and then revealing that her step father had been molesting her since she was twelve. Her behavior, at times angry and independent, at others weepy and needy exhibited the emotional dysfunction and acting out that is tragically very typical of sexual abuse victims. At one point Rachel herself becomes the abuser. Finally the audience is made aware that Rachel's abuser has stolen more than her innocence, he has robbed her of her ability to know who to trust.
The trailer I saw never revealed the real plot of this movie and watching it I found myself wondering why the director Garry Marshall and writer Mark Andrus would choose a comedy to expose people to the reality of the damage of child abuse. I wasn't sure if I was torn by feeling that this was in some way offensive and by the feeling that this was a very clever way to get people to faced the reality of the damage that child abuse does to it's victims and it's victims family. I also wondered how many in the audience got the message of this movie. While I enjoyed this move, for me this movie turned out to be more disturbing than funny.
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