Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

classicsoncall Anyone else think that Idgie and Ninny were the same person? I didn't catch any other reviews who broached the topic, but the FAQ page for this movie addresses the topic from opposite perspectives. I'll tell you what I think at the end.This movie is over a quarter century old and I just got around to it. That happens sometimes and after seeing one like that, I have to wonder why it took so long. I enjoyed this one for it's story telling style and gentle humor. Going in, if the only thing you've seen is the DVD sleeve, you would think the story is about four women of varying ages who become friends during a particular time and place. Instead, it spans the generations with the principal characters and story taking place in the 1920's, while the flashbacks to that era occur roughly during the time the picture was made. It's not an unusual filming technique but here it worked especially well.This is an unusual love story but not in the traditional sense. Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker) and Idgie Threadgoode (Mary Stuart Masterson) become fast friends after a bit of a rough start, and their relationship grows stronger over the period of time that transitions from teenage years to young adulthood. The bond is cemented when Idgie and her friend George (Stan Shaw) save Ruth from a disastrous marriage. The plot thickens at this point, and it takes an additional five years to come to terms with the disappearance of Ruth's husband shortly after the incident at Frank Bennett's (Nick Searcy) farm. The only disconnect I have with the story is the way Idgie and George were arrested for the murder of Frank Bennett. There was absolutely no grounds for the arrest to my thinking. Idgie did make a statement that she would 'kill Frank' if he ever came by to harm Ruth again, but that was stated in the heat of the moment. Sheriff Curtis Smoote (Raynor Scheine) using that as a pretext for arresting Idgie didn't make any sense to me at all. Not only that, but the truck recovered from the swamp had no body in it. That should have been enough to preclude any kind of murder trial. Be that as it may, I got a kick out of the judge dismissing the case because as he rightly proclaimed, it wasn't a case at all. The Reverend Scroggins (Richard Riehle) swearing on a copy of 'Moby Dick' was a neat bonus.But there was another facet of the cross examination that bothered me as well. When Ruth was pressed by the prosecuting attorney as to the reason why she left her husband, she replied that it was because Idgie was the person she loved the most in the whole world. Why couldn't she have said that it was because her husband beat her? Leaving that out of the script seemed like an unforced error that would have exonerated Ruth favorably. The story didn't need it as it turned out, but still, that bothered me. Taken all together though, this was a fine story of friendship and loyalty with enough of those little home spun tales thrown in to make it endearing. Like Buddy's (Chris O'Donnell) 'oyster/pearl' analogy and the one about the geese moving the lake out of state. I'm going to remember those for the grand-kids. I think they'll get a kick out of 'em.Oh, and by the way, even though the book that this film was based on had Idgie and Ninny (Jessica Tandy) as separate people, I think there was enough ambiguity at the finish to make them one and the same in this movie. I think Evelyn (Kathy Bates) would agree.

Richard von Schweissguth So few movies have the ability to work the human magic that this film does. From the beginning you cringe, celebrate, heal, mourn, and realistically become a part of the lives of these people (I won't say characters, but people as they become people and no longer actors / characters). Hating and loving the people, there is no way to watch Fried Green Tomatoes and not have it impact you. That is unless your heart is scarred and become calloused to the point where you don't let anything in anymore.The ins and outs, ups and downs... and oh yes.. the BBQ! It shape shifts you and draws you in. And for a moment of your life you are no longer you, but one of them. Just watch it. And if you would like to escape for 2 hours this is how you do it.So Hollywood! Why won't you, can't you, make movies like this anymore? Its budget was 11 million and it grossed 13 times that much. I am sure it's not the money that stops you. I am not sure you have the talent to make a movie with the magic and the power of FGT.

kevjfarrell I've watched this a few times now over the years and it never fails to entertain and delight. This is so easy on all the senses. It's what this genre of movie-making is all about. The story isn't a sweet story of southern life, it touches on some sensitive subject matters and handles them very well. Great acting performances by all the major players. It depicts the sentiments of that era and the south very well. One of the few movies you can watch more than once without feeling like you're watching a re-run, and you realize that you have forgotten parts of the story! It's not over-emotional and sickly sweet and it's a lot more than a chick-flick. A great story well told, and well acted. This is a movie for guys too!!! If you haven't seen it, then you are missing out on a treat!

mark-4522 Here's the real summary of the film: The story is a flashback about two women, a butch feminist rescuing a "femme", helpless woman from her racist, abusive Southern husband (is there any other kind?) She kills the husband and feeds the body to unwitting, stupid Southerners as BBQ. haha! Jokes on those stupid Southerners! Happy ending for Hollywood. During the film, the women grow together with grrl power and start their own business (because that's the path to feminine empowerment) and befriend weak men they are able to use to help make them more powerful.If you liked this, then you'll love Thelma and Louise which is a similar type of grrl power film. Another film with a similar theme is the Emma Stone vehicle The Help which features African servants spilling the secrets of privileged white Southern women (which I found funny in retrospect because when Hollywood stars got hacked and had their nude pictures posted on the web, they got all upset about the invasion of privacy.) These films are useful to watch to see the contempt Hollywood has for the working class people that keep them fat and happy.