Rating: 
Summary: Inspirational...TOWANDA!
Review: I filled my lap with sodden Kleenex the first (and the second, and the third...) time I entered the world of this magical story. It's a solid, uplifting story about the relationships of two women in the past and two women in the present. It's about being true to yourself, and the film has the remarkable effect of imparting new strength and resolve with each viewing. TOWANDA! And don't miss the book either. It's slightly different but every bit as enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: An especially wonderful movie for women
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite movies. The characters are so compelling, that I found myself a little upset each time the story shifted from the Kathy Bates/Jessica Tandy view to the Mary Stuart Masterson/Mary Louise Parker view and vice versa. If you are looking for a 2 hour escape from your life, you can't do better than this movie!! Just don't forget your tissues.
Rating:
Summary: Idgy Threadgoode
Review: Just a note for Jennifer Weymouth and others - Ninny is *NOT* Idgy. The movie, in the beginning, and the novel even more so, makes this abundantly clear. She was a cousin of Idgy.
Rating:
Summary: Great Southern Storytelling on the Screen
Review: I'm always surprised how badly great storytelling makes it to the screen. Particularly, great Southern stories, which tend to make it to the big screen replete with caricatures and stereotypes. I recall, with particular sadness, the movie adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. While this adaptation to the screen of Flagg's tremendously moving novel does have its share of simple, stereotypical southern "archetypes", these are largely drawn from Flagg's book, and are largely essential to the story. It is, without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable movies I have ever seen and, ten years after first seeing it, it still brings raucous laughter and tears to my eyes. It's the classic "story within the story", and begins with the introduction of a tenacious elderly widow to a repressed younger southern housewife in a nursing home in rural Alabama. What starts off to the housewife as polite and indulgent small talk of past acquaintances with a likely senile elderly woman turns rapidly into an engrossing story with what must be the best "hook line" in storytelling ("Why anybody would have thought she killed that man is beyond me!"). This story then becomes a parable which the housewife uses to change her life for the better.While certainly a moral parable of the greater value systems of past times, and of loyalty and courage in the face of bigotry and oppression, the story never loses its infectious humor, despite some genuinely tragic events. The lesbian theme of the book is only mildly hinted at, and one would almost overlook it were one not to deliberately search for it. Some of the more brutal aspects of the book are retained, with the rampant racism and wife-abuse still harrowingly reflected, if toned down. Consequently, younger viewers may best appreciate the film in the company of an adult. Regardless, this is one of the best "feeling good" movies I have ever seen, and being a Southerner from an area very near that depicted in the book, makes me pine for the South in profound ways. It's a film about empowerment and, more importantly, the empowerment one gains through friends, and through standing up for one's friends, and through an unshakable belief in self-respect. No little credit for the success of the film goes to the incredibly strong performances of Masterson as the tom-boyish Idgie Threadgood, and Marie Louise-Parker as Ruth Jamison, along with the underrated performance of Stan Shaw, one of TV's great character actors, as Big George. However, the film's strongest performances come from three grande dames of the screen (and stage): Cicely Tyson, as Sissy, Jessica Tandy, as Ninny Threadgood, and Kathy Bates, as Evelyn Couch. While Tandy and Bates have received their due, Tyson's performance, as always, is often overlooked.
Rating:
Summary: fried green tomatoes, food for the soul
Review: I have seen this movie probably 20 times in my life and I have to say it is definetly a personal favorite in my collection. This movie touches on so many emotions that it will have you angry, sad, touched, uplifted, empowered and roaring with laughter. This movie is told to a fed-up repressed housewife (kathy bates) by a sweet ,lonely ,vivacious old woman (ninny) during visits to a nursing home after a chance meeting. The intertwined story is about Idgy a Tom-boy who distances herself with the world due to a tragedy at a young age. As Idgy ages the only person she is close with is her "hired hand" Big George and his mother Sipsy. Idgy's mother becomes concerned with Idgy and decides to have Ruth ( a girl from idgy's past) come and stay with them to try to reach Idgy. At first Idgy is stand offish but soon they become best friends that is, until Ruth leaves because she marries. I dont' want to "spoil" the rest of the story so I'll leave that alone for the time being. As Ninny tells Mrs. Couch (kathy bates) they become close friends and Mrs. Couch begins to become empowered by the strong women in the stories and making some changes in her own life. It touches on tough topics such as racism, spousal abuse, death, tragedy, loneliness, fear of death, and fear of life for some. This dvd is a must watch and own for your dvd collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Haunting and poignant script!
Review: Through the admirable acting of Jessica Tandy, and the talented Kathy Bates we will be the silent spectators of a brutal drama in the late years of the WW1 in the South.
But this central nucleus has another parallel dramatic line. Meanwhile , Bates will experience the lack of affection of a terrible boring and predictable husband who only thinks in himself and his favorite passion; the sports.
The admirable storytelling will captivate your heart and soul.
Arresting photograph and remarkable artistic direction make of this film a must see.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Movie!
Review: This is one of the funniest and most poignant movies out there. Jessica Tandy was a treasure and Kathy Bates was so funny in a role that I certainly could identify with. I do want to correct some misinformation in a post two down from me! Fannie Flagg IS the author of the book on which the movie is based...but she is not Patricia Neal, the actress who starred in HUD. Patricia Neal was Fannie's given name but when she went into acting, the name was obviously taken, so her father told her to make up a memorable name. Fannie Flagg is nothing if not memorable. She is a very funny lady...and an excellent author. The movie is worth seeing over again.
Rating:
Summary: True Story!!!!
Review: This movie is a hilarious & heartwarming movie!I'm not really from California I just lied cause I wuz scared that people would find out where I live but I'm from Alabama & they filmed this movie in Irondale,Alabama which is on one side of Birmingham & some people say that this is a true story although there is a novel of it!but anyways the movie is just so funny!I laughed my head off about the things Kathy Bates does especially the older,more insurance scene!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, not bad!
Review: This film was pretty much what I expected, from both word of mouth and packaging: a somewhat predictable and manipulative tear-jerker (read: soap!) rife with made-for-TV cliches but still well directed/written enough to be fairly enjoyable, with one fairly original and intriguing main character played by Mary Stuart Masterson. There were parts so trite and corny I felt compelled to leave the room (e.g. the wife-beating husband) but otherwise the movie held my attention pretty well.
It really is a story within a story, with the present-day protagonist (Bates) being inspired and, in typical Hollywood fashion, transformed by the story she's told by a woman she meets while visiting an in-law at the local nursing home---Jessica Tandy, who is easily the most radiant and splendid woman in the cast.
There is a quasi-feminist subtext of women empowering themselves and other women, which I wish had been developed in greater detail and on a less superficial level and with fewer cliches. But at least there's a subtext in the first place, something usually missing in these types of films which just concentrate on making you identify with the characters and cry/laugh on cue.
Good light entertainment, on the whole. And men: if you're on the make, this film should get you well past second base! : )
All the predictability and melodrama make this one hard to watch more than once, though.
3.5 stars
Rating:
Summary: Loved this movie, but....
Review: I saw this movie about 10 years after it came out. Loved it! I don't care what anyone says about it.
I would like to thank the person who explained the relationship between Idgie Threadgoode and Ninny Threadgoode. That did throw me at first, but I do recall that Ninny mentioned that she had a crush on Idgie's brother Buddy and she was also married to Idgie's brother, Cleo, later on.
As to the person who remarked that everything PC was up front in this movie....well, not completely. White men are NOT depicted as only evil. They forgot about Smokey Lonesome who loved Ruth, the white guy who drove with Idgie and Big George to bring Ruth to Idgie's place (though he was a little cowardly), and most of all, Grady Kilgore who truly loved Idgie even though he got hooked up with Gladys.
I have not read the book, but as to the lesbianism...how come everybody but me picks up on that? I'm a southerner myself and, my god, women have lots of loving relationships without being lesbians. How come nobody writes about straight people who have close relationships with their own kind without being gay? They do exist.
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