Rating: 
Summary: Another overlooked movie that is GREAT!
Review: Folks...Kathy Bates is in this movie! Didn't anyone see Misery? She one best actress! Also Jessica Tandy is in this who is well known for her work in Driving Miss Daisy which earned her best actress! She also appeared in Cocoon, Batteries not Included and many more great movies! If you have not seen this flick, SEE IT! Directed by Jon Avnet, who also directed The War...another outstanding movie. I need a fan club to help me support all these great movies! So see it and write your own review!
Rating:
Summary: What's more to say...
Review: I watched this after a few years, and was taken in, totally, all over again. Jon Avnet's debut as director is certainly admirable, as are the well received performances of Kathy Bates & Jessica Tandy. Fannie Flagg's novel provided a perfect opportunity for some great female performances. The Oscar nominated screenplay of Ms. Flagg & Carol Sobieski only lost the Oscar because it was up against another Woman-driven script, "Thelma & Louise" (which won). How often will that happen again? The real driving forces in this film are the performances of Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary Louise Parker (unappreciated, both, with a respectable body of work behind them) Chris O'Donnell, just before his remarkable performance in "Scent of a Woman", made a big impression. It seems strange to me that I remember Lesbian overtones from the press about this film and, though, understandable, I don't know why friendship films like "Butch Cassidy" or "Thelma" or the original Oscar-winner "Wings" never got that buzz. People in love, even platonically, should be applauded. There's not enough love out there, lately...
Rating:
Summary: Better than Steel Magnolias
Review: Fried Green Tomatoes is two stories in one ---- depressed housewife Kathy Bates befriends an elderly woman (Jessica Tandy) who tells her the story of two best friends (Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker) who ran a cafe in the 1930s. The tale of the friends depicts domestic violence, pregnancy, childbirth, and two accidents involving trains. But the courage and spirit that the women have, as told by Tandy to Bates, encourages Bates to stop being a victim in her own life, particularly to her all right but insensitive husband.The movie does a great job of showing the trials and tribulations of being a woman but how female friendship can conquer all. It is even more riveting to see it set in a time when women -- particularly unmarried women of dubious sexuality --- have to overcome obstacles set by society in general and its views of what a woman's role is. TOWANDA!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: this will make you, laugh, cry, and smile!!
Review: this is a story mainly about idgie and ruth.. a story about their friendship, and about the whistlestop cafe. it all starts with ninny.. an elderly lady who befriends evelyn.. an overweight lady who is expeirencing menopause. ninny explains the story about ruth and idgie, and how they ran the best cafe of all time..
this movie will make you laugh, cry, and wish you had friends like all these wonderful charachters!
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Movie
Review: Heartfelt and Lovely, this movie is a fistful of emotions for you. How many movies make you cry? Add one more to your list.
Rating:
Summary: I could watch this many times
Review: This is one of my favorites. I guess I don't see where there's lesbian undertones to it. To me, it's more of a friendship love than romantic between Idgie and Ruth. The extra scenes are an added bonus. There is one scene that comes to mind that seems like it's just the actors in front of the camera and the picture quality changes from crisp to grainy, but that's about the only bad spot I can think of. And the other scenes really seem to add to the movie. There are a lot of special features including my favorite, Sipsey's recipes (which you can get in the back of Fannie Flagg's book, too).
Rating: 
Summary: A feast of delectable entertainment
Review: In an era where most women's film roles are confined to stereotypical sex objects and second bananas, Fried Green Tomatoes is a breath of fresh air. The film, directed by Jon Avnet, boasts not one, but four strong women's roles. They are executed to near perfection by actresses Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker and Jessica Tandy. Adapted from from Fannie Flagg's novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, the film tells two fascinating, intertwining stories. The first centers on the Bates character, a middle-aged woman attempting to make sense of life and menopause. She meets a nursing home resident played by Tandy, whom she visits for solace. Tandy shares her recollections of life in her hometown of Whistle Stop, which become the film's second story. Tandy and Bates are excellent, as one might expect from two Oscar winners. The star turns, however, come courtesy of Parker and Masterson; their performances make the flashback sequences the most beautiful and telling parts of the film. Though some might dismiss Fried Green Tomatoes as strictly the stuff of sentimentalists, it offers more than just good feelings. In one scene, there is a surprising act of violence that culminates in a scene of disgustingly fitting logic, and racial attitudes are also explored. No matter how you slice it, Fried Green Tomatoes is a feast of delectable entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Just Great!
Review: I am writing this review just 5 minutes after I saw the movie. I never did that before, but the movie was so captivating that I wanted to rush here and advise everybody to see it. I haven't had the time yet to come up with some highbrow review, I just loved the movie.
An old lady, Ninny, tells a younger (in her 40s?) woman, Evelyn, the story of two other women she knew in her youth - Ruth and Idgy. Ruth and Idgy's story is interrupted several times so that Ninny and Evelyn's interaction can progress. Ruth and Evelyn's story is so emotionally captivating that I was annoyed by the comic relief provided by Evelyn.
Anyway, the honesty and the depth of affection between Ruth and Idgy rings so true that it is impossible not to root for them.
Idgy and Ruth are both extremely brave; Idgy is tomboyish-brave, Ruth is ladylike-brave, but both take charge of their own life (and other people's life too) in an environment fraught by prejudice. Then there is the question of the lesbian undertones. There are hints about that possibility throughout the movie. Too close to call. My impression is that Idgy's love for Ruth was total (what we would call lesbian love, in today's terms); Ruth understood Idgy, but she loved her only in a platonic sense. Idgy respected that and never pushed forward. Anyway, this is just my opinion and the movie is open to interpretation. Whatever your standing, mutual love (and NOT attraction) is the true core of the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Sentiment, Soap Opera, and A Dash of Comedy
Review: Fannie Flag's interesting novel gets a gallon of gloss in this very Hollywood movie clearly created with a female audience in mind. The result is a well performed but somewhat uneasy mixture of sentiment, comedy and soap opera. In terms of story, the film operates on two levels. An increasingly frustrated middleaged woman living in Alabama (Bates) examine her life and finds it sadly lacking--but by chance she makes the acquaintance of a nursing home resident (Tandy) whose stories of the past encourage the woman to take charge of her life. The stories she tells are shown through flashback, and concern two depression-era women (Mary Louise Parker and Mary Stuart Masterson) who owned and operated a ramshackle diner in a small hard-times town called whistle stop. The present-day story emphasises comedy while the depression-era story tends more toward soap opera elements, and the two stories sometimes prove an uneasy mix. A great fuss is often made over the implied lesbian relationship between the two leads in the depression-era story, but I myself find this more in the eye of the beholder than in the actual film; it rather depends on how you read the characters. Much of the film is enjoyable, particularly in its performances with Bates a standout. The dreamy quality in which the depression-era story is presented is also nicely done. But the action is sometimes slow and the tone is both predictable and manipulative; I can almost hear the director telling me "laugh now; cry now" as the film progresses. Enjoyable for one, perhaps even two viewings, but not a film to which I greatly care to return--I'll take the more interesting novel instead.
Rating:
Summary: Simply excellent!!!
Review: Great story! Highly recommend this one! Some of it seemed far fetched, but Kathy Bates' character was unique and truly wonderful! You'll find yourself cheering her on, and wanting to help her change her life for the better. This is an excellent movie for any woman who feels in a rut of her current life, and needs or craves a little change.
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