COOKIE'S FORTUNE by DeWyNGaLe Rating: A-
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Lately, I have seen a similar plot in three movies. In Jawbreaker (D), Dead Man on Campus (C), and The Curve (A-). In all three films, the characters are trying to cover up a murder to make it look like suicide. In Cookie's Fortune, I got a little break from the repetitive plot. Instead of making the murder look like suicide, the goal is to make the suicide look like murder. Cookie's Fortune comes from legendary director Robert Altman. Unfortunately, I have only been able to see one of his either films, The Gingerbread Man (C+), but he is also the director of Academy Award hits M*A*S*H (1970) and Nashville (1975).
Cookie, played by Patricia Neal, is an elderly widow who is very lonely. She is kept company by Willis, played by Charles Dutton. We are also introduced to two nieces of Cookie's, Camille, played by Glenn Close, who is desperately trying to organize her Easter play, and Cora, played by Julianne Moore, who is the star of the play. When Cookie commits suicide and her body is discovered by Camille, Camille is desperate to cover it up to make it look like murder. She thinks that it is a disgrace for people in her family to commit suicide. She destroys all evidence of it looking like a suicide, including eating the suicide note she left to Willis. Now, the police must solve the case of who killed Cookie. Everyone related to Cookie in any way is a suspect. Willis becomes the prime suspect, even though it is the last thing in the world he would do.
There is an abundance of great subplots in Cookie's Fortune, which make this movie mostly about the characters. Sure there is the main plot dealing with Cookie, but there is also the subplot of Willis becoming a suspect, Cookie's great niece Emma, played by Liv Tyler, and her relationship with Jason, a police officer played by Chris O'Donnell, the play that Camille is putting on, and many, many more. At times there are too many, and I wish some of them could have been developed a bit more.
Cookie's Fortune is much like the 1997 film Playing by Heart. It follows different characters with different stories behind each one of them, and it relates them all with each other. Both of them are both realistic films, but Cookie's Fortune dealt with human emotion a little better. Charles Dutton in particular turned out a very emotional performance as he has to suffer through the hardships of losing one so close to him. The other thing that I liked better in this film than in Playing by Heart was that it really went somewhere, and it didn't just lead up to one small scene.
The performances in Cookie's Fortune are wonderful. Glenn Close leads the large cast, and she did a good job of it. Her character was funny, yet very unlikable. Patricia Neal, in her smaller role as Aunt Cookie, is very good. Her character is a very, very realistic one. Julianne Moore is hilarious. Her character is completely clueless as to what is going on around her. I'm really glad to see Liv Tyler in a great film again. She just gave me another reason in this film to make me think she is one of today's best actresses. There are also some underdeveloped characters in the film, played by Ned Beatty and Lyle Lovett.
Cookie's Fortune was a comeback movie of sorts, especially for Chris O'Donnell, who last appeared in the 1997 film Batman and Robin. Batman and Robin was trashed by critics, and then O'Donnell disappeared for a while. In Cookie's Fortune, he was great, and now people shouldn't look back on his performance in Batman and Robin anymore. Julianne Moore, who last appeared in the re-make Psycho, was much better in Cookie's Fortune than in Psycho. Also making a comeback in Cookie's Fortune is Liv Tyler, who played Grace in the 1998 box office smash, but the critically trashed film Armageddon. In Cookie's Fortune, Liv is able to go places that she wasn't able to in Armageddon or any of her other movies, such as That Thing You Do! (A+) or Empire Records (A-.)
It was great to see a mixture of comedy, black comedy, drama, and mystery all in one film. I would most likely classify this film as a black comedy, but nothing as dark as the terrible Very Bad Things (D-). All of the different genres in one worked really well. Each one of them stood out in different characters and different times. There are the funny parts which made me laugh, but there are also the sad, sad scenes, especially involving Cookie. Luckily, all of the different elements did level out to equal one fun, great film.
The Bottom Line- This cookie is worth a fortune.
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