Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary:
Biased, pithy comments: This is one of those depictions of the South where everyone makes lovely-looking homemade food and says ``Oh, Lordy, gurl!'' This is clearly a movie aimed at women, especially under-empowered ones, and I'm not in the category. I, in fact, am ``The Man'' against which they are rebelling, and I wasn't a fan of how I was depicted. (Insert friendly grin here---I'm only kidding. Mostly.) Anyway, it's a little slow but chock full of plot; there is a murder mystery buried in shots of blueberry cobbler along with a broad swath of time depicted. And here is the rub with the film---the two main themes, the passage of time and that best friends are the greatest things ever, are undercut by the production. The costumes seem somewhat unchanged, all depicting an attractive early 90s cut of trousers, and the actors are given almost no makeup to indicate their age; we really have to imagine Masterson and Parker being teenagers, young women, and then older women. Secondly, the relationship between these two women clearly goes well past best friends and into homosexuality; I haven't seen such a lesbian-themed movie with no lesbians in it since ``Aliens 4.'' I'm cool with platonic friendship, but it seems disingenuous to say that Parker and Masterson are just best friends, especially with that really Freudian bit with getting honey out of the tree. Of course, I'm being a little cruel; Tandy and Bates are fun to watch and aside from the leads' costumes the world of pre World War II south is carefully re-created down to the constant spoken and unspoken racism.
Other Notes: Clearly I'm in the minority; people love this movie apparently more than they love life itself. And, yup, in the novel, Idgie was all woman-lovin' woman. I'm glad my years in the Bay Area have finally paid off in spotting this sort of thing, although middle America might have missed it.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker
Directed by: Jon Avnet