BuzzSugar

What to Netflix: Barefoot in the Park

BuzzSugar — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 06:30:00 -0700

As you know, we've been paying a lot of attention to weddings this season on the Sugar Network. This week, we're wrapping up our coverage by talking about what happens when the honeymoon's over and the newlyweds begin their lives together.

Barefoot in the Park
As far as newlywed movies go, this one is a classic favorite. Written by Neil Simon and starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, this 1967 film follows newly married couple Paul and Corie Bratters. An age-old case of opposites attracting, Paul is a stuffy, conservative lawyer while Corie prefers to be spontaneous and carefree. In the first stages of their married life, they realize there's a lot to compromise over (and laugh about) - especially when you share a tiny New York apartment on the fifth floor of a walkup.

Georgia Rule: Not In Georgia, Doesn't Rule

BuzzSugar — Fri, 11 May 2007 12:19:21 -0700

In Georgia Rule, Lilly (Felicity Huffman) has her hands full with her smart and troubled teen Rachel (Lindsay Lohan). Lilly hopes that a few summer weeks in Idaho with her grandmother, the rule-loving Georgia (Jane Fonda), will straighten Rachel out before she goes off to college. But alas, things don’t start off well. In the opening scene, Rachel walks alongside her mother’s fancy car after a fight screaming “Get out of my life!” Only later do we find out that a dark secret fuels her bad-girl antics.

It’s hard not to think about this scene in retrospect and wish that not only Lohan but the entire talented cast of Georgia Rule had been able to bolt from this shallow movie. It has a split personality: the dark script goes in one direction while the tone of the film, under the direction of Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman, A League of Their Own), goes in another. As a result, its excellent cast is adrift in a film that doesn’t know if it wants to be a comedy or a drama. Although Georgia Rule attempts to blend the two, it ends up exploiting - rather than exploring - its heroine’s demons. To find out what I mean, read more

We find out very quickly that mother/daughter strife is multi-generational. Lilly is so uncomfortable being with her mother that she leaves right away, saying she has plans with friends. When Rachel shows up and hears this obvious lie, she deadpans, “She stopped drinking, smoking and hating herself, too.” Sounds like a laugh riot so far, no? Rachel quickly tests her strict grandmother, whose set of rules the film’s name references. “Do not take the Lord’s name in vain,” goes a typical refrain. “Georgia Rule.” Rachel’s response? “Don’t tell me what to do. Rachel Rule.” And what, primarily, does Rachel want to do? Seduce men.

The first man who catches Rachel’s eye is a handsome Mormon teen named Harlan (Garrett Hedlund) who first spots Rachel dozing on the side of the road. (Her relationship with him is one of the film's lame subplots.) Shortly after he gives her a ride into town, she hops into another stranger’s car, belonging to the town’s resident hunky vet and widower, Simon (Dermot Mulroney), who, it turns out, once dated her mother. He, too, resists her big city “forward” ways, ignoring her cleavage and leg-flashing. (She’s supposed to be from California, “the land of fruits and nuts.”)

Here’s where Georgia Rule gets into big trouble. Like those around her, the film doesn’t know how to handle Rachel sexually acting out. When it’s revealed that perhaps she’s been sexually abused by her stepfather, the sensitive viewer will be troubled by how Rachel’s shockingly self-destructive sexuality has been played for laughs and how the camera has been lingering lasciviously over her scantily-clad body for the entire film.

It’s the acting, primarily from Huffman and Lohan, that made Georgia Rule bearable for me. Huffman’s performance as a weak woman trying to deal with her daughter’s demons when she hasn’t even conquered her own is heart-rending. And no matter how you feel about Lindsay Lohan’s off-screen antics, she lights up the screen with her manic energy, humor and aggression. Nevertheless, in spite of its feel-good ending, Georgia Rule doesn’t have much affection for its female characters. They remain misunderstood until the very end.

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Movie Preview: Georgia Rule

BuzzSugar — Tue, 08 May 2007 23:22:18 -0700

Just in case you weren't aware of this yet, Georgia Rule opens this Friday May 11 and it stars Lindsay Lohan in a role that seems like it was made for her. She plays a rebellious young lady whose mother (Felicity Huffman, who I love) sends her to live with her strict-but-loving grandmother (Jane Fonda). I'm excited to see this movie because the two older women are awesome, and, admittedly I'm curious to watch Lindsay Lohan do something for the cameras besides flashing the peace sign or her unmentionables. I'll post my review on Friday. You can watch the trailer and tell me what you think if you read more

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Recast Results: "The Brady Bunch"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:12:45 -0700

Every Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I post a Recast challenge, where I ask you to choose new actors for a classic TV show or movie and the winner gets a BuzzSugar t-shirt!

Here I was thinking "The Brady Bunch" would be the hardest Recast of all, given the large cast, but once again you all surprised and delighted me with your lists. I especially enjoyed catstarr's mega-celebrity cast list - while Paris Hilton doesn't seem to adopt the, uh, Brady value system there is something intrinsically Marcia-like about her.

I also think legaleagle's pick of John Krasinski as Greg Brady is adorable. And I must say Yoshi Unique's idea of Jackie Chan and Salma Hayek heading up the Brady clan would be perfect for a 21st century "Brady Bunch."

Overall, however, my favorite cast list comes from celebrity_soup! Congrats, celebrity_soup!

To see celebrity_soup's recast list and the new cast photo, read more

celebrity_soup's cast:
Mike Brady: Dennis Quaid
Carol Brady: Faith Ford
Alice Nelson: Jane Fonda
Marcia Brady: Mischa Barton
Jan Brady: Emily Osment
Cindy Brady: Elle Fanning
Greg Brady: Adrian Grenier
Peter Brady: Adam Lamberg
Bobby Brady: Jacob Smith

First Look: Lohan, Fonda, Huffman in Georgia Rule

BuzzSugar — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 00:00:13 -0700

Though the movie doesn't come out for two more months, the trailer for Georgia Rule, starring Lindsay Lohan, just hit the Internet. Lohan plays an uncontrollable teenager (okay, not the biggest stretch) whose mother (Felicity Huffman) sends her to live with her grandmother (Jane Fonda) in a Mormon Idaho town. Hmm... maybe that's what Dina should have done.

After all that craziness with producer James Robinson writing a letter reprimanding Lohan for her terrible work ethic and partying ways, I kind of expected this project to turn into a disaster. Turns out, Lohan was just getting into character. I might actually see this film, mostly because Jane Fonda is awesome. Check out the trailer and tell me what you think when you read more