Mère avant l'heure

Mediocre movie of the week about a young girl who goes to visit her long lost mother and winds up getting caught in the web of an unstable stranger. This meeting leads to much sorrow for not only the girl but her only other living relative, her grandfather, who winds up in dutch with the state police. Ally Sheedy played, and looked, the part of a burnt out drunk with nothing to live for. Interesting enough story but not very believable and way too corny for my tastes.

This movie was a joyful surprise. Seldom did we see George C Scott in such a tender role. Just goes to prove what a well rounded actor he was; how we shall miss him! What a delight to see a whole town pulling together to help neighbors. How funny to see those rugged truck drivers cradeling that little baby. The expressions on their faces were wonderful to see. I don't know what made me tape it but I am glad I did as I shall watch it again and again (something I seldom do.) I gave it to my neighbor to watch also. Hollywood: we want more movies like this; no sex, no foul language and no nudity. Are you listening????

I recently seen this film and I have to say that I will never look at Don Diamont ("Ray Wilcox") the same way again, he has the "Creepy Rapist" act down pat, even when I watch him in The Young & the Restless he creeps me out (and he plays a nice guy), Rachael Leigh Cooks ("Emma") part in this film is convincing enough but doesn't show the best of her talent, the film itself is interesting enough and Ally Sheedy gives a brilliant performance as Emma's mother who is drunk and out of it for most of the film.

I reccomend it to anyone who wants to look at some of Rachael's early work and all those Don Diamont fans who want to see him in a completely different to type role.

A very sensitive topic--15 y/o girl abandoned by mother as a baby and who goes to visit her, continues to be ignored, is raped by her mom's boyfriend, becomes pregnant. There was not enough depth displayed of this situation. Too much of time is taken up on the chase with the truckers transporting the baby. (Interesting, this baby with asthma--you never see him cry-- except once--, be fed, have is diaper changed during the whole truck transport ordeal.) I would have liked to have seen more of the interrelationships, more focus on the fact that this girl was a minor--this should have stood up in court immediately.

And this was a true story! It deserved a better telling than that!!

If it weren't for the subject matter, I would have given this closer to a 0 rating. I rented this from the library. Only later I found out it was a made for TV movie.

oh well

The premise of Country Justice (also titled Family Rescue) is easy enough to predict, but the second half completely derails and takes you on a wild wide. At the start, young mother Ally Sheedy abandons her daughter so she can live a more reckless and selfish life. She leaves her baby with her father, George C. Scott, and takes off. Fifteen years later, Rachael Leigh Cook is curious about her mother, even though she loves and respects her grandfather. On a whim, she buys a bus ticket and leaves George a note, but when Ally isn't glad to see her, she's very disheartened. Ally's boyfriend, Don Diamont, is very attentive to Rachael - too attentive. So, yes, it's easy to guess what happens next.

Parts of Country Justice have the potential to really affect the audience, but most of it felt like a cheap tv movie - which happened to get George C. Scott to play the lead. I liked him as the steady grandfather who puts his family first no matter the cost, and it was interesting to see Mary Anne from The Babysitter's Club going through such a dramatic ordeal. But much of the plot was very far fetched. You're going to have to really be in the mood for a melodramatic tv flick to get engrossed in this one.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. It doesn't go into detail, but there is a rape scene involving a teenager, so I wouldn't let my kids watch it.