Genres

Visitors Review

Robert Mcleod 2012-05-21 17:34:23

A dry visual and cinematic comedy.

This is a solid effort from Altman but it is anything except a mystery.Thisis where I think the film may run into problems as it is an exercise incross-genre film making, one I found damn funny and would classify as adrycomedy but not everyone in the audience I viewed it with felt the sameway.We had quite a few walkouts which I can only put down to misplacedexpectations. This is not a serious drama, it is not a crime mystery, itisnot even a straight comedy...I think this threw a lot of the audience offbalance. But if you like that kind of thing or can let go of yourexpectations it is a fun ride watching Altman play withyou.

Ian-100 2012-05-21 09:30:14

An effective, affecting little movie.

There is perhaps too much information available on the nuts and bolts ofthis movie and I am glad that I managed to shield myself from it by steeringclear of the multitude's reviews and comments. However, the movie does notdraw strength from plot development, though it is used expertly to tug atyou emotionally. Its real power is in subtle characterisation (with theexception of Glenn Close's journey over the top) and simple finecinematography.This movie has so many superb nuances and such respect for its audience thatyou cannot fail to enjoy it, knowing that it is a warm and comfortable film.Being English, I wouldn't like to comment on what seems like stereotyping,or even a lack of respect for, those living in the South, but this seems tobe the only failing. Its comedy is light, acting exceptional and it doesn't,where so many movies might, try to ensnare you into cheap emotionalresponses to simplified political ideas. A great film for just making youfeel good, without being too tediously "feelgood".

david-47 2012-05-11 21:11:39

Near perfect.

This movie should be required viewing for all the arrogant young turkswho've watched a lot of MTV and fast forwarded through hundreds of tapesfrom Blockbuster and think themselves qualified to write and direct a movie.Age and experience do count. This is the master showing us how it's done. Ithought I could write and direct until I saw this. Not a false noteanywhere. A superb script. Even apparently throwaway lines of dialog serve abeautifully-executed setups up for great payoffs. Unlike the frenetic dreckspilling into multiplexes from the child-auteurs, this is a textbook exampleof shot selection and camera movement. A camera so fluid you have to find aframe of reference and stare at it to realize the camera is moving. Editingso seamless you'll have to wait for home video and freeze frame to find thecuts. Characters so clearly drawn that any of them could have been the star.So funny you'll have to see it twice to hear all the dialog over thelaughter from the audience.

Mark Halverson 2012-05-11 07:42:52

[An] earthy, gently comic tale of death and family dysfunction.

aero_nut 2012-05-10 05:01:38

Great filmmaking

I'm not sure about spoilers, so bewareVery few films can compare to this one. You get honest laughs. The humoris not manipulated or stupid. The character Camille (Glenn Close)coulddefinitely be classified as a villain (not to mention a nut-case). Cora(Julianne Moore) plays a puppet for camille to boss. Emma (Liv Tyler) isthe rebellious, fish skinner, a totally differant motif from her normalfeminine roles she has had the last 5 years. Throughout the movie I gotslightly confused with how whom is related to whom. But the charming castand great acting out weighs that. The best part is the end with Coras'"revenge".

Kazuhisa Tsuruta 2012-05-09 13:14:55

This is what I call funny

This movie is exactly what I call funny. I like the plot, the music and the protagonists. I guess everyone is thebest in this movie. I also like the ending, which is very funny and ironic. Now I feel like recommending this movie to my friends.

2012-05-06 07:43:36

"Quirky"

This movie was certainly different, quirky describes it best. It was a nice surprise to see Patricia Neal. Charles S. Dutton played his role well. Julianne Moore played a character that was hard to get attached to. Live Tyler did an excellent job with her role. The storyline was a little hard to hold onto. Not as interesting as I would have liked. It was different, for sure.

Jay Andrew Allen 2012-05-06 01:29:53

A script goes out of control

My only prior exposure to Altman was READY TO WEAR - a film I did notsurvive. COOKIE'S FORTUNE started off only slightly better, with the storyheld together by whimsy for the first 20 minutes or so. Once Cookie blew herbrains out in one of the most uniquely-filmed suicide shots I've ever seen,I was finally hooked.Unfortunately, that didn't last. I come to films for good, soild story, andthat's lacking in abundance here. As with READY TO WEAR, there are so manycharacters in this film that they crowd each other out - we never knowenough to care what happens to any of them. The story lumbers foward untilthe villian's doomsday draws nigh, the just desserts are served as per themenu - and then everything *dies*, leaving about a half-dozen subplots andlove stories crying for their mommy.Glenn Close's Camille, unfortunately, takes center-stage in all herone-sided glory. We never see anything but her ugliness. A last-minuteattempt is made to infuse some humanity into her, but it's cheap and has nofollow-through. Close's acting is solid, but she puts more into thischaracter than it can contain, and ultimately turns her into a caricacture.Julianne Moore is as good as she can be in the limited role of Cora, a mousylittle thing with an arc that peaks too steeply, too quickly.And then there's Liv Tyler. Whoever cast her as Emma should be shot. (Andyes, that applies to Robert Altman.) She plays this "bad girl" role with thesame whispery whininess she brings to INVENTING THE ABBOTS (where it worked)and ARMAGEDDON (where nothing worked). In the hands of Christina Ricci, orDrew Barrymore, or even Winona Ryder, this might have been a compellingcharacter; in Tyler's hands, she's Pamela Abbott with a butch-dyke do and abunch of unpaid parking tickets.Rating: 3 out of 10

Angie Errigo 2012-05-03 01:14:08

This isn't great Altman but it's fun Altman.

pegalynw 2012-05-02 07:40:26

From a Mississippian's Point of View

I absolutely love this movie. The acting was brilliant, and even thoughthe plot primarily revolved around one central character, it was trulyan ensemble movie. True, the characters may seem a bit widely drawn tosome, but anyone who has spent any time at all in the deep South willhave no trouble accepting the eccentricities and logic of thecharacters. "Because I fished with him" is as good as a surety bond inMississippi. After you fish with a man you pretty well know what he'smade of. I lived for many years outside the town of Holly Springs, andthese folks could have been my neighbors. In the South we don't get ina hurry too often; so it's easy to see why a slower moving story mightnot be to everyone's taste. But anyone who wants to see a little pieceof what could be real life in any small Mississippi town would be wellserved to see Cookie's Fortune at least twice. Once for the story, andonce for the atmosphere. It's a real treat on every level.

Harvey S. Karten 2012-05-01 09:08:19

Entertaining but only mildly amusing.

Christopher Null 2012-04-30 16:59:56

Wryly funny.

Janet Maslin 2012-04-25 10:57:20

The sweet assurance and guerrilla wit of Robert Altman's vintage ensemble films makes a serenely captivating return.

2012-04-24 17:41:23

Crazy Relations

This review is from: Cookie's Fortune (DVD) Cookie's Fortune is a laugh a minute with relatives who stroll thru each other lives and don't listen to each other. Each knows best and each knows zip. You'll laugh at the turns and twist and the ending....well worth watching.

2012-04-23 22:25:29

Wonderful comedy

This is a hysterically funny comedy (a tad on the dark side though) that will easily wind up being one of the best films of 1999. If your idea of comedy is people slipping on a banana peel, or Larry, Curly, and Moe, hitting each other in the head with a hammer, this is not for you. If you like subtle humor, mixed in with great performances you will want to see this immediately!

Jeffrey M. Anderson 2012-04-23 10:49:17

Legendary director Robert Altman gives us a crime movie that somehow makes an old story seem fresh and funny.

noralee 2012-04-20 22:42:34

Altman Takes on Small Town Eccentrics with Lovely Soundtrack

"Cookie's Fortune" has Robert Altman's patented esprit de corps withensembles, here representing the intimacy of small town eccentrics,with somewhat amusing intricacies of lies and misunderstandings. The young folks' parts are underwritten so Chris O'Donnell simplydoesn't have a lot to do, though Liv Tyler breathes life into her role.Rufus Thomas has an entertaining bit part. Lyle Lovett's role is acharming bit, less lines but more character substance than O'Donnell's.There is wonderful original blues music throughout, with guitar work byThe Edge of U2.(originally written 5/9/1999)

waha99 2012-04-20 16:28:59

Parts better than the whole...

Yesterday on "This American Life", the NPR series, Ira Glass spoke of the"I'm Wishing"-type song that introduces many Disney animated features, andindeed, many musicals. Simply put, the first song of the movie establishesthe dreams and wishes of the hero/heroine of the film, and then the rest ofthe film is about fulfilling that dream or wish. Robert Altman doesn't work that way. As his movies begin, the "I'm Wishing"song has not only already been played, it was played several days ago and isprobably more than likely forgotten. The characters of his films arealready long established in their own worlds, and Altman leaves it up to usto work out the details of his film-residents. This movie is no exception:we are not introduced to the residents of Holly Springs (the setting of thisstory), we are simply shown the seemingly everyday goings-on of variousfolks and the blanks left open at the beginning of the movie are filled ingradually throughout the rest of the film.I guess I'm not an Altman fan, although I certainly admire the way he canbring several loose parts together to unify the whole of a movie. Thismovie is very typical of his filmography-multi-character, story seeminglydropped in on instead of began, humorous in places, touching in others,great performances. I watched this movie several hours ago and now amthinking back on the elements I liked...Glenn Close gives one of her bestperformances, Julianna Moore grows into hers, Charles Dutton is masterful,Ned Beatty is reliably good as always. It's a thrill to watch Patricia Nealworking, as always. Liv Tyler is good. Chris O'Donnell is merely okay, asis Lyle Lovett. Oh, the plot? Cookie (Neal) commits suicide early in the film, and we seehow various people react to her death, and how they react to other'sreactions to her death.Yes, I do recommend this film. For Altman enthusiasts it may be perfect, sogive this one a chance. 6/10

2012-04-19 03:36:39

Vintage Altman

Intrigue surrounding the suicide of a crazy old lady in small Southern town. Rober Altman's best film since Short Cuts. Unique and mellow, full of wacky characters and down-home charm. Some wonderful performances too; especially by Patricia Neil and Charles Dutton. I could do without Chris O'Donnel or Liv Tyler, but even they are likable in this fun yet unsettling story, expertly directed and acted.

2012-04-18 20:41:11

Gently Blossoming Splendor

Cookie's Fortune is about a murder, the investigation that ensues and the long covert secrets that are revealed. The setting is Mississippi, where everybody knows everybody else, and more often then not, everybody is everybody else's cousin. It's the same place where Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe once hunted down some inbred racist good ol' boys and the ku kux klan in Alan Parker's Mississippi Burning. Even if a black man is taken in for the murder of his white landlady/friend/confidant (or is she?), Altman's peculiar little slice of some very distinct lives is as far away as you can get from that sensationalist film. For starters, the old lady, Cookie Orcutt (Patricia Neal) has, quiet happily, committed suicide to join her departed husband. There has been no murder. The "investigation" involves friendly chats with the local witnesses where the police clerk, a cute wide eyed young woman ponders complex questions in the vein of "How can I strike Eddie's statement from the record. I'm recording this, not writing it". Meanwhile, the "suspect", the immensely amiable Willis (Charles Dutton) sits in an open cell, playing scrabble with the police chief Lester Boyle, who believes Willis to be innocent because he has "fished with him". The suspect's stay is so relaxed that he complains that he may die from the lavish prison food, incidentally cooked by the Police chief's wife, before he gets anywhere near an electric chair. In an Altman film, the setting is almost as important as his numerous characters. In this case, it is Holly Springs, with its staples and archetypes. The camera wonders around town, lazily observing them, slowly revealing the plot, which is obvious and serves only to highlight those archetypes. The story, which, despite a couple of twists near the end is just an excuse to observe this inbred, particular architecture of inter-locking relationships. There is Camille (Glen Close), Cookie's niece who discovers Cookie's body and eats the suicide note because "no one commits suicide in this family". This is her contribution to the plot, more important to Altman is the fact that she is a pompous, elitist eccentric who is currently directing a "revised" Oscar Wilde's version of Salome for which she shares a writing credit. Her sister, a ravishing moron, Cora(Julianne Moore)is the star who could hypnotize a bull in heat with her "performance". Cora's daughter is Emma (Liv Tyler), a free spirit who rejects her family, and is in love with a local doofus cop, Jason Brown (Chris O'Donnell) who in turn is acting her deranged aunt's play. And so goes the circle.The town of course is comically under prepared for a murder investigation. Much of the humor comes from the way these people's child-like reactions to what other more cynical movie characters would react with requisite formality. In truth the film is difficult to classify. Partly a comedy of manners or a gentle farce or a tour of a deep fried utopia even a tale of one man's camaraderie with his town. It has a lightness of touch, that would make those frenzied, desperate young directors jealous. After the useless, Grishamed, plot-driven Gingerbread Man, I think the best classification for this little gem would simply be "A Robert Altman film".