In theaters

GEORGIA RULE, directed by Garry Marshall, written by Mark Andrus, 113 minutes, rated R.

The new Garry Marshall movie, “Georgia Rule,” stars everyone’s favorite bonne vivante l’enfant terrible Lindsay Lohan as Rachel, a misguided train wreck of a 17-year-old brat who sports the sort of foul mouth that crosses the line so often, some might want to wash it out with soap.

In fact, in a pivotal scene, that actually happens, with Jane Fonda’s Georgia literally applying the soap and the scrubbing.

Not that it does much good, mind you. You could dip this film and its characters in bleach and still you’d come away with a story that makes you itch.

Based on Mark Andrus’ screenplay, “Georgia Rule” is uneven and unrelenting. It begins on a shrill note and it sustains it, with Rachel and her alcoholic mother, Lilly (Felicity Huffman), having at each other’s throats in the road trip from hell.

Determined to straighten her daughter out, selfish, unlikable Lilly has yanked selfish, unlikable Rachel out of San Francisco and shuffled her off to, well, Idaho, where Lilly’s mother lives a cleaner life marked by the sort of strident rules that drove Lilly away years ago.

With Rachel also railing against those rules, the stage is set for loads of soapy confrontations between granddaughter and grandmother, which makes for an exhausting movie that plunges into an almost limitless well of bad taste, a good deal of which is masked as humor.

Witness, for example, Rachel’s behavior in town – she’s a blast of cold air cloaked in hot steam. She dresses like a tart, behaves like a tart, and essentially is a tart, going so far as to treat the local Mormon boy, Harlan (Garret Hudlund), a virgin, to oral sex, while later chasing down the local Mormon girls and promising she’ll sleep with their boyfriends if they don’t get off her back. To top things off, she puts the moves on her new employer, the smoldering local veterinarian (Dermot Mulroney), who happens to be her mother’s former boyfriend.

So, yes, Rachel is a charmer, as is the movie, which obviously has issues with the Mormon faith that linger on the screen like a stain.

Meanwhile, the film tries to explain away Rachel’s bad behavior by tossing in a heated subplot that involves child molestation, which ignites in Georgia a rage so deep, she comes out swinging with a baseball bat in ways that suggest all those Jane Fonda workouts from the 1980s weren’t for nothing. This woman does some damage.

What’s so disappointing about “Georgia Rule” isn’t just that Universal sold out audiences with a misleading advertising campaign that suggested a far lighter movie – the sort you’d expect from Garry Marshall, whose “The Princess Diaries” and “Pretty Woman” hardly are heavy fare – but that everyone here is better than the material, which awkwardly puts a halo on everyone’s head by the end of it. Fonda and Huffman have a go of it, sometimes rising to the occasion, but as for Lohan? She’s a lost soul.

Grade: D+

On DVD

VENUS, directed by Roger Michell, written by Kanif Kureishi, 91 minutes, rated R.

Roger Michell’s “Venus” features Peter O’Toole in a moving, Academy Award-nominated performance as Maurice Russell, an elderly, London-based actor who enjoys his share of drink and the carefully lobbed bon mot, and who has yet to deliver his swan song when it comes to the female pursuit.

If the movie seems a perfect fit for O’Toole, it is.

As written by Kanif Kureishi, the film blurs the lines between O’Toole’s character and his off-screen persona, but that’s hardly the only way it generates interest.

Beneath the movie’s initial high moments of comedy lurks a serious drama about aging. It’s a movie that recognizes that in old age, our minds might remain bright with humor and mischief, but our bodies nevertheless are designed to betray us. Coming to terms with that unwanted truth is what gives “Venus” its emotional final act.

The film’s key plotline involves Maurice’s relationship with Jesse (Jodie Whittaker), the crude, unmannered grandniece of his best friend, Ian (Leslie Phillips). Like her high-maintenance uncle, Jesse also is something of a handful, though she isn’t nearly as endearing. She’s closed and unhappy, a brittle young woman filled with such rage that she seems determined to spoil her otherwise attractive exterior.

Maurice recognizes her rage as pain. For him, she’s his Venus and what develops between them is a complicated relationship of sensual and financial give and take – he gives her diamond earrings and a new dress, she allows him to kiss her neck and caress her hand. For some, their tenuous bond will prove uneasy, at best, particularly since Maurice is 50 years Jesse’s senior. But the way it’s handled here makes for a satisfying study of two different generations armed with their own sets of needs, which each is determined to put first.

While the story occasionally veers out of focus, taking unnecessary detours that detract from the core, this never is true for the performances, which are spot-on. Vanessa Redgrave is particularly affecting as Maurice’s ex-wife – she and O’Toole share some of the movie’s most satisfying scenes. Likewise for Whittaker, whose presence is akin to a bruise. Still, this is O’Toole’s movie, and what he develops behind Maurice’s mask of fragility and longing is a character who resonates and, fittingly, who touches.

Grade: B+

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays and Fridays in Lifestyle, and weekends in Television as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? BDN film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Akeelah and the Bee – B+

The Ant Bully – B+

Apocalypto: DVD and Blu-Ray – C

Arthur and the Invisibles – C

Babel – A-

The Black Dahlia – C-

Blood Diamond – C+

Bobby – C-

Borat – B+

Breaking and Entering – C-

Cars – C

Casino Royale – A

Catch and Release – C

Charlotte’s Web – B+

Children of Men – A

Closer: Blu-Ray – B-

The Dead Girl – A-

Deja Vu – C+

The Departed – A

The Devil Wears Prada – B+

Dreamgirls – B

Employee of the Month – C

Eragon – C

Everyone’s Hero – C+

Fast Food Nation – B-

Feast – C+

Flags of Our Fathers: HD DVD and Blu-Ray – B+

Flushed Away – B+

Flyboys – C-

The 40-Year-Old Virgin: HD DVD – A

The Fountain – D

Freedomland – C-

Friends with Money – B

The Good German – C

The Good Shepherd – B-

Half Nelson – A-

Half Past Dead 2 – D

Hannibal Rising – C

Happy Feet – A-

The History Boys – B+

A History of Violence – A

The Holiday – C+

Hollywoodland – C

The Illusionist – B+

Infamous – B+

Invincible – B

Jackass Number Two – B

Kinky Boots – B+

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – B+

Last Holiday – B

The Last King of Scotland -B+

Letters from Iwo Jima: DVD, HD DVD and Blu-Ray – B+

Little Children – A-

Little Miss Sunshine – B+

Lost in Translation: HD DVD – A-

The Marine – C+

Match Point – A

Miami Vice – C

Monster House – B+

Munich – A-

Music and Lyrics – B

My Super Ex-Girlfriend – A-

Night at the Museum – C+

Notes on a Scandal – B+

The Painted Veil – B+

Pan’s Labyrinth – A

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl: Blu-Ray – A-

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest: Blu-Ray – B-

The Prestige – B+

The Pursuit of Happyness -B-

The Queen – A-

Rocky Balboa – B+

A Scanner Darkly – B+

Sherrybaby – B+

Shut Up & Sing – A-

The Skeleton Key: HD DVD – B

Smokin’ Aces – C-

Snakes On A Plane – A-

This Film is Not Yet Rated -B-

The Ultimate Matrix Collection – B+

United 93 – A

Venus – B+