"Fried Green Tomatoes"
Reviewed by Heather Picker
Directed by Jon Avnet. Written by Fannie Flagg, Carol Sobieski, and Jon Avnet. Starring Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker, Kathy Bates, and Jessica Tandy. 1991, 137 min., Not Rated (See below for details).
Just to kick this review off, I think this is pertinent info: "Fried Green Tomatoes" is not a chick flick. I generally consider so-called chick flicks to be fluff like "At First Sight." No, wait, "At First Sight" is just a bad movie. Chick flicks are melodramatic tearjerkers that claim to be about empowerment, you know, that sort of thing. Movies of the week, and most of Lifetime TVs movie programming comes to mind. But "Fried Green Tomatoes" is just solid entertainment: a good story told by talented artists who have a visible love for their work. That is evident not only in the actual movie, but in the making-of documentary included on the DVD.
The story, of course, derived from the Fannie Flagg Pulitzer Prize nominated "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café." Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) is an elderly woman in a retirement home whom befriends Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates), a middle-aged woman who is unsatisfied with her life. With Evelyn, Ninny shares stories about the remarkable friendship between two women in the 1920s, Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, whose lives were intertwined by tragedy, and who formed a bond that nothing could put a dent in. Several versions of the script were worked on by several people. Carol Sobieski was brought in originally, Flagg worked on the screenplay for a while, and then Avnet himself completed it and revised it several times before Flagg came aboard again. The finished product was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay (adaptation, the only other Oscar nomination was that of Best Supporting Actress, which Tandy was up for) and film characters that are just as unforgettable as those in the novel.
Idgie Threadgoode is a female Huck Finn. She is a tomboy, something that her older sister Leona finds embarrassing and that older brother Julian finds taunt-worthy. Her best friend is her older brother, Buddy (played by Chris O'Donnell). Buddy is a young man trying to romance Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker), and Idgie tags along as they go for a walk one afternoon. Buddy, as he tries to retrieve Ruth's hat, which had flown away and onto train tracks, finds himself unable to free his foot from the tracks. He is killed, and Idgie isolates herself from everyone and everything.
By the time Idgie is in her late teens and still in self-imposed exile, her mother brings Ruth back to intervene, as she will be in Whistle Stop for the summer. They slowly form a friendship that is fueled by their differences. After a fun-filled night of birthday celebration that Idgie had planned for Ruth, Ruth announces that she is going to be married to a man named Frank Bennett once the summer is over. Idgie is crushed and again isolates herself. But eventually she can no longer take it, and goes to see Ruth. A chain of events (that no one realizes will have the impact it eventually does) occurs that brings Ruth back to Whistle Stop, where her and Idgie live in a domestic bliss of sorts, running the Whistle Stop Café.
From this point forward, as Evelyn gains strength from her newfound self-confidence, supplied by her friendship with Ninny and the stories of Idgie and Ruth, the 30s story focuses on the mysterious disappearance of Frank Bennett. As was the case when I read the book for the first time, I like the Idgie/Ruth stories more than I like the Ninny/Evelyn stories. But it is in the characterization of the relationship between Idgie and Ruth that the movie most differs from the book. The book made things fairly obvious that Idgie and Ruth were more than friends, or at least shared the mutual feelings of attraction. The script's timeline isn't in accordance with that of the book, and overtones have been subdued in many places because of that. But director and co-screenwriter Jon Avnet didn't totally shy away from the subject.
There are several scenes that weren't in the book that, for the most part, served as the hints to the true nature of their relationship. So while I wished the movie had been more loyal to the book, I have to give Avnet props for what he managed to work in. A part of the book that did remain in the movie, and is basically the core of the story, is that Idgie and Ruth were daring in their time for a social reason differing from that just discussed: They employed Sipsey and Big George, and spent most of their time with them. The white folks in town didn't especially appreciate that, as they thought Sipsey and Big George didn't qualify as good company because of the color of their skin. Ruth and Idgie don't care, and against the warnings of Idgie's friend and once hopeful suitor (who made halfhearted passes at her before marrying someone else) serve food to black people, and care for and clean up Smokey Lonesome, an alcoholic drifter.
When released in 1992, "Fried Green Tomatoes" was a surprise success at the box-office. I didn't see it then, but rather a few years later when it was first shown on network television (I must have been between ten and twelve years old), and even then I didn't pay much attention to it. The only memories of the film that I carried with me for the next few years were those of Evelyn repeatedly backing up and slamming into the car of the young women in a parking lot, and her greeting her husband, Ed, at the front door in a Saran-Wrap, well, a Saran-Wrap wrap. About a year ago I caught part of the movie on cable, and liked it enough that I couldn't wait to see it again in it's entirety. And once I owned the DVD, I found that I frequently wanted to watch it again, because I was so fond of the characters.
The only real weaknesses are the scenes that are aimed towards a bit more than melodrama; trying to jerk tears is one step too far, and attempts to do so are needless. And it begins to strain willingness to accept stories that try too hard to show the parallels between Evelyn's situation and the events in Whistle Stop. The story element that bothered me the most was that towards the end of the movie there is a suggestion that Ninny and Idgie are the same person, and I didn't like that, as I thought it was rather clear in the book that they are two different people.
Evelyn Couch is a great character, and Kathy Bates is the only actress that I think could pull off the role, and she did so wonderfully. As a matter of fact, all of the four actresses were first-rate choices. Jessica Tandy brings an effervescence to Ninny that deservedly won her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Mary Stuart Masterson had the mannerisms and attitude, accent and all, down pat, and Mary-Louise Parker was given the long-deserved chance to show her talent with her portrayal of complicated Ruth. Both Bates & Tandy and Masterson & Parker have great chemistry that made their respective scenes together magic.
The supporting cast is just as impressive. Cicely Tyson (Sipsey), Stan Shaw (Big George), Gary Basaraba (Grady Kilgore), Nick Searcy (Frank Bennett), Raynor Scheiner (Curtis Smoote) and Tim Scott (Smokey Lonesome) all lend believability to their characters. Director Jon Avnet did a wonderful job on this, his first feature film, and I give him and Sobieski and Flagg much credit for crafting such a great story. It is one of the rare stories that has it all: happiness, sadness, friendship, romance, death, mystery, laughter, tears; a celebration of life and regular people. As Sipsey and Ninny would say, "The secret's in the sauce."
DVD Details: A Universal Collector's Edition. Presented in it's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1; anamorphically enhanced. The transfer is terrific, the colors are rich and without flaw. The soundtrack is presented in DD 2.0, which suffices, seeing as the film is mostly dialogue. Trains, glass shattering, and the lively, atmospheric score all sound great. The running commentary of director Jon Avnet, is informative and elaborates on many of the things he brought up in "Moments of Discovery," an hour long documentary about the making of the film. It features interviews with Avnet, the stars and support cast members, the composer, author Fannie Flagg, various producers and the production designer. Their obvious enthusiasm over the film and their co-workers is refreshing. The documentary is entertaining, and features a tour of the Whistle Stop Café and the town surrounding it, as well as what happened to that town after the movie became a surprise hit. It should be noted that this was made years after the completion of the film, I believe specifically for the DVD. Other supplements include production notes, interactive menus, scene access, French and Spanish subtitles, English captions for the hearing impaired, cast and filmmaker filmographies and biographies, Jon Avnet's scene specific notes, production photographs, pictures of the posters used in the advertising campaign, Sipsey's recipes, the original theatrical trailer and a trailer for another of Avnet's projects, "The War." Keepcase with production booklet.
Notes: Several video versions are available, with options including clamshell case, widescreen format, and the extended version. Originally rated PG-13 for violence, adult themes (mostly just some tense scenes), and mild language. The extended version is seven minutes longer than the PG-13 cut, had the film been re-submitted to the MPAA, the rating would stand.
The Verdict: It's not without minor fault, but give "Fried Green Tomatoes" a chance. Winning performances and great characters make this worth seeing, and those who are left wanting more should definitely read the book. For fans of the film, the Universal Collector's Edition DVD is a must-have.
mailto: Ahber16@aol.com Review courtesy of http://www.thatmoviesite.8m.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews