Sara and I re-watched this on TV the other night and were
thoroughly entertained. This has a heartwarming story about the value of
friendship and how women must learn to assert themselves to gain self-esteem.
But its first and foremost about friendship. It has old Southern charm and
modern day concerns since there are two stories going here both about
friendship between 2 women. One set in modern day and the other in the 30s. A
wonderful movie worth searching out. I’d give it 3.5 out of 4*** The review is
not mine but presents as I would.
Green Tomatoes – (1991)
I was totally won over by Fried Green Tomatoes when
I first saw it theatrically in January of 1992 (it received a
limited release in late December, 1991 to qualify for awards
consideration before going wide in late January, 1992). In
fact, I ended up seeing the film a second time in theaters a few months later
and it ended up in the No. 5 spot on my annual best-10 list.
The pivotal character in Fried Green Tomatoes is
an unhappy, overweight Southern housewife named Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates),
who's settled into a humdrum, unfulfilling life with her longtime husband, Ed
(Gailard Sartain), who praises her cooking, but would rather eat it sitting in
front of the TV watching sports instead of sitting at the table and talking to
her. Ed's not a bad guy like another abusive louse we meet in the
movie. He's simply inattentive and addicted to sports -- if this were a
crime, half the men in America would be on death row.
While visiting one of Ed's relatives in a nursing home, Evelyn
meets a spirited nursing-home resident named Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica
Tandy). The elderly Ninny starts telling the repressed Evelyn intriguing
tales of a tomboyish, independent-minded young woman named Idgie (Mary Stuart
Masterson), and her best friend, Ruth (Mary Louise Parker), who together ran
the Whistle Stop Café in a tiny town called Whistle Stop, Alabama
during the Great Depression.
As the film intercuts between Idgie's story in the 1930s and
Evelyn's in the present day, Ninny's tales of Idgie and Ruth help inspire
Evelyn to become more assertive, regain her self-esteem and take more control
of her life.
Based on Fannie Flagg's novel, Fried Green Tomatoes
at the Whistle Stop Café, the film's screenplay was co-written by Flagg
and Carol Sobieski (apparently with much uncredited help from
director Jon Avnet). Their collaboration is a warm-hearted, touching and
funny ode to female bonding and the importance of friendship.
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