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| Universal Pictures | Release Date: January 24, 1992 |
Starring:
Chris O'Donnell, Cicely Tyson, Gailard Sartain, Gary Basaraba, Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker, Stan Shaw, Timothy Scott
Summary:
A housewife who is unhappy with her life befriends an old lady in a nursing home and is enthralled by the tales she tells of people she used to know.
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It takes a while for this powerful, funny movie to grab you, but once you get hooked, it feels like you're swimming in a wonderful stream of humanity, bathed in intimacy, romance and, not a little bit, delicious fun. Fried Green Tomatoes is as likely as any film around to carry your heart away and leave you with a wonderful glow. [27 Dec 1991, p.D1]
At its best, Fried Green Tomatoes is a pleasantly nostalgic tale wrapped around a murder mystery (which, frankly, isn't all that mysterious). The filmmakers do a decent job of weaving the texture of the thoroughly racist and sexist society within which Idgie, Ruth and the movie's major black characters (played by Cicely Tyson and Stan Shaw) must struggle to preserve their self-respect and, at critical times, their lives. At its worst, the film is unexciting and rambles too much.
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Fried Green Tomatoes is fairly predictable, and the flashback structure is a distraction, but the strength of the performances overcomes the problems of the structure. I especially liked Mary Stuart Masterson's work, but then I nearly always do (see her in Some Kind of Wonderful). And I enjoyed the vigor with which Jessica Tandy told her long-ago tale, about a woman not completely unlike herself.
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Fried Green Tomatoes doesn't mean to be schizophrenic, really; it's a story within a story, and both are well-developed and wonderfully cast. It's just that the past is so much more captivating than the present that it makes you wish the memory movie could stand alone. [14 Jan 1992, p.C1]
It's all over the place, trying to cover every base as it delivers its neon-style message: Nothing is more important than friendship. Indeed, it's so busy pushing buttons that it rarely has time to settle down to establish even one relationship that rings true - by and large, we have to take the actors' word for it - yet fans of this cast probably won't mind too much.
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The tale from the past is very nostalgic, heartwarming and mouth-watering and all, as Idgie and Ruth cook up a storm, are kindly to their black domestics and stand up to piggy men while events fitfully progress to a courtroom climax. And Masterson is a peach. But the best bits belong to Bates as her dreary Evelyn raises her consciousness, lowers her weight and starts speaking her mind. It's a nice, pleasant celebration of friendship, but without much meat to chew on.
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Fried Green Tomatoes was obviously cooked up with the best of intentions but, like the dish to which it refers, it's rudimentary eats - not quite junk food, but not quite nourishing, either. [03 Jan 1992]
Aug 1, 2022
Emotionally riveting, but intriguingly captivating, Fried Green Tomatoes is a thought-provoking coming of age film.
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Jul 9, 2023
An empowering movie with a great story, I think this is a great story that you can experience many times over and over again.
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Oct 20, 2019
It’s challenging to create a movie that holds true to the corresponding book. This movie succeeds in all the right ways.
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May 14, 2020
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Apr 11, 2022
What a feminist propaganda. They even reveal, that it is not a problem to kill a man and cook him as a barbecue. And the character of Idgie was not sympathetic to me, but annoying.
The only good thing in this movie is the presentation of the old southern US life.
The only good thing in this movie is the presentation of the old southern US life.
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
Apr 8, 2019
Decent acting but this winding tale about nothing in particular is a bit tedious.
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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