Evelyn, an ordinary housewife, visits a nursing home and befriends the old lady Ninny. Together, they bond over stories from the past about two intrepid women of Whistle Stop Cafe.Evelyn, an ordinary housewife, visits a nursing home and befriends the old lady Ninny. Together, they bond over stories from the past about two intrepid women of Whistle Stop Cafe.Evelyn, an ordinary housewife, visits a nursing home and befriends the old lady Ninny. Together, they bond over stories from the past about two intrepid women of Whistle Stop Cafe.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 6 wins & 12 nominations total
- Smokey Lonesome
- (as Tim Scott)
Featured reviews
The acting is exceptional. Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary Louise Parker carry the bulk of the acting load. They are fantastic. The relationship between these very different young women is complex and satisfying.
Since the movie is about women and the female roles are so strong, this movie has been dubbed a "chick flick", but that pejorative is unfair. This is good film making and those who like plot-driven cinema will enjoy this immensely. This one is in my DVD collection.
It was a good thing that Kathy Bates made this movie so soon after "Misery." She had made such an impression as a psycho in the earlier film that she might have had trouble getting herself out from under the mantle of Annie Wilkes. But she plays a completely different character here, a dowdy, bored housewife who befriends a little old lady forgotten in a retirement home (Jessica Tandy). Tandy begins to tell her the story of a female relative, Idgie Threadgoode, and her deep friendship with Ruth, which is played out in flashback by Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker. The story is one of those melodramatic, life-affirming ones, but it's acted extremely well by the four women, and the film mostly avoids the treacle that threatens to come pouring in around the edges.
Grade: A-
If you want to be charmed, enchanted, moved, and find yourself wishing.... This is a film you will cherish.
I won't belabor more than others have written so well. It is a film that resides in my permanent library on my top shelf. When I watch it again, I find myself wishing that I knew the characters personally and somehow find that I do.
This film is one of the only that I esteem. It adds to your life. It hugs the heart and enriches who you are.
I want to thank all the marvelous actors. If they ever wondered why they chose their profession, this film is why.
200 years from now it will be loved and valued. The test of time is guaranteed with Fried Green Tomatoes!
Well written and superbly acted it tugs at the heartstrings harder than almost any other movie. The way it sets up an obvious story line and then like a gentle roller-coaster suddenly takes you in another direction is unequalled in this type of film.
There are so many points of genuine sadness and whenever you think you have guessed the story you suddenly turn to find an outcome more surprising than you thought.
Major characters die, major characters do not "fall in love" and major characters are not allowed to cop-out; it is as a film should be.
Remarkable well written, produced with care and acted with understatement and love - it is a beautiful film.
Watch it.
Also superb is the acting. Jessica Tandy is absolutely brilliant in this film, and quite rightly received an Oscar nomination. She plays an old-timer in the American South, who tells stories of the bigotry she encountered during her youth in the 1930s. Kathy Bates is a sheer delight as Evelyn, a modern-day housewife who visits Tandy in the nursing home and finds inspiration in memories from her past. Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker are terrific as well as Ingrid and Ruth.
Overall, Fried Green Tomatoes is a lovely little film, wonderfully acted and just very relaxing to watch. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Did you know
- TriviaMary Stuart Masterson did all of the bee stunts herself because her stunt double quit at the last minute.
- GoofsWhen Evelyn was knocking out the wall in her house she was using a 10 pound long-handle sledgehammer to break through the wall. When Ed comes she has switched to a 2 pound sledgehammer. Swinging the big hammer is tiring and imprecise for most people. She switched to the two-pound hammer to knock out the horizontal braces.
- Quotes
[Evelyn is cut off in a parking lot]
Evelyn Couch: Hey! I was waiting for that spot!
Girl #1: Face it, lady, we're younger and faster!
[Evelyn rear-ends the other car six times]
Girl #1: What are you *doing*?
Girl #2: Are you *crazy*?
Evelyn Couch: Face it, girls, I'm older and I have more insurance.
- Alternate versionsIn the TV version, Idgie watches Ruth teaching Sunday school before taking her to her birthday party at the saloon.
- SoundtracksMy Blue Heaven
Written by Walter Donaldson and George Whiting
Performed by Gene Austin and His Orchestra
Courtesy of the RCA Records Label of BMG Music
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $11,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $82,418,501
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $105,317
- Dec 29, 1991
- Gross worldwide
- $119,418,501