Cookie's Fortune (1999)
a review by Christian Pyle
Robert Altman is back! After a series of muddled efforts ("Pret-a-Porter," "Kansas City," and "The Gingerbread Man"), Altman has delivered a quirky comedy that deserves its place on his distinguished resume.
In "Cookie's Fortune," an elderly woman nicknamed Cookie (Patricia Neal) commits suicide to join her late husband. The body is discovered by her niece Camille (Glenn Close), a domineering neurotic who hurriedly makes the suicide look like a murder so that no one will suspect there is insanity in her family. (Of course, anyone who has met Camille KNOWS there is insanity in her family.) Suspicion falls on Cookie's only friend, Willis Richland (Charles Dutton), and the small-town police try to investigate the murder with the help of some outside experts.
Altman's trademark is the peopling of a film with a variety of unusual characters, and the population of Holly Springs, Mississippi, has familiar faces. Julianne Moore plays Camille's mousy sister Cora, who knows about the cover-up but says nothing. Liv Tyler plays Cora's rebellious daughter Emma, who takes up residence in Willis' cell. Boy wonder Chris O'Donnell plays a bumbling deputy who has the hots for Emma. Ned Beatty is also on the force; his character, Lester, has a simple reason for knowing that Willis is innocent: "I've fished with the man." Courtney B. Vance is a suave expert who takes charge of the investigation. And lurking around the fringes is Altman regular Lyle Lovett selling catfish. Altman's genius is that he can develop characters with only a few strokes and manage to keep them all in motion without the movie seeming crowded.
Altman and first-time screenwriter Anne Rapp also texture "Cookie's Fortune" with lots of wonderful comic touches. Many of the funniest occur when the developing investigation disrupts a church group production of "Salome" and several characters wander around the jail in their costumes from the play. Willis' lawyer (Donald Moffat) walks in wearing the purple robes of a king of Judea topped with a Fedora hat.
Glenn Close gives a flawless comic performance. Camille is a self-obsessed refugee from a Tennessee Williams play who is audacious enough to cut down the yellow crime-scene tape and take up residence in Cookie's house on the same day as the suicide. As I watched Close work, I realized that it had been years since I'd seen her in a project worthy of her talent. Hollywood tends to discard its actresses as they reach the middle of life; let's hope that this role generates more opportunities for her.
It's a joy to see Patricia Neal again. Even at 72, she retains the gentle strength that made her performances in films like "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "A Face in the Crowd," and "Hud" so memorable. "Cookie's Fortune" is her first theatrical release in ten years (in the meantime, she's appeared in three TV movies).
Holly Springs seems like an updated version of Mayberry. Its jail cells are left unlocked, and there's a genial atmosphere that pervades the town. The only person who doesn't fit that mold is Camille, who is wound way too tight for the pace of small town life; like any great comic character, she is extreme and rigid while everyone around here is free and loose. "Cookie's Fortune" is delightful because it welcomes the audience as friends and invites them to chuckle at the townsfolk's quirks.
Grade: A-
© 1999 Christian L. Pyle
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