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15 out of 17 people found the following review useful: One of Altman's best, 19 April 1999 Author: Sean Gallagher (naes@cgocable.net) from Oakville, Ont. Canada
It's hard to believe a film this sunny came from Robert Altman, and is also this good, but there you go. While I love some of his films, like M*A*S*H, MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, NASHVILLE, THE PLAYER, and SHORT CUTS, there are times when I feel he has a fundamental contempt for his subject matter, like in THE LONG GOODBYE and POPEYE, and for his characters. But while this movie, well-written by Anne Rapp, is essentially a Tennessee Williams drama turned inside out (Glenn Close's character is the only one who seems like a refugee from Williams territory), we instead feel a great deal for each of the characters. Even Close's Camille, whose machinations end up in the temporary jailing of an innocent man for a crime that never was, is somewhat likable.When Altman is on, we really get a sense of community and place, as opposed to movies which are just a triumph of production design, and this is no exception. The best example of this is how Lester(Ned Beatty), a deputy sheriff, sums up his reasons for why Willis(Charles S. Dutton), that innocent man referred to earlier, is innocent of killing Cookie(Patricia Neal); "I fished with him." In another movie, that line of reasoning would be ridiculous, but since you feel all of these people have known each other for years, it seems just right. And the rhythms of the town feel right as well, so you don't feel like you're just watching a filmed set.Casting has always been a hallmark of Altman films, and this one is no different. Charles S. Dutton is as good as they say, being more restrained than usual, Close shows great comic timing in her role, and Julianne Moore is very good as her put-upon younger sister, who has a lot more to her than meets the eye. And Altman regulars like Beatty and Lyle Lovett are quite good as well. The most surprising turns came from Liv Tyler and Chris O'Donnell. I've liked Tyler before(in HEAVY, EMPIRE RECORDS, and THAT THING YOU DO!), but to imagine her with shorn hair playing a rebel who skins fish for a living was a bit much, to say the least, but she's utterly convincing. O'Donnell has always seemed too callow, but here he's quite funny as a deputy sheriff who's seen way too many cop shows. And he and Tyler have nice chemistry together.
17 out of 21 people found the following review useful: Holly Springs, MS - What a Great Place to Live, 10 February 2001 Author: gbheron from Washington, DC
Robert Altman has an affinity for the South, and "Cookie's Fortune", reveals that it is gentle, pleasant and relaxed. Set in small town Mississippi there are none of the typical Hollywood stereotypes of flaming racial hatred, sexual oppression, and class bigotry. Well, not much at least. The characters in Holly Springs all know and like one another regardless of their race and social standing. Well acted by a great ensemble cast that portray an 'Altmanesque' kaleidoscope of small-town characters, most of whom are eccentrics. The plot revolves around the suicide of Cookie, a matriarch of one of the town's leading families. Since suicide is considered disgraceful, two of her nieces, upon discovering her body, cover it up to make it look like a murder. And then an innocent man becomes the prime suspect and...off we go. Ok, so it's not as 'deep' as many of Altman's films, nor as dark either. But that's not bad, and "Cookie's Fortune" is a very enjoyable movie. I recommend it highly for a Saturday night rental.
14 out of 18 people found the following review useful: A pleasant surprise, to say the least! Cookie is a wonderful, rich work from Altman with great characters, performances, story, music and writing!, 28 July 2004 Author: Ben_Cheshire from Oz
Cookie shoots herself. Glenn Close discovers the body and the suicide note. Being a theatrical director, she decides this will not do... She invents a scenario for how a burglar might have murdered her. What she didn't expect was for the police to find a suspect...Everything just goes completely right in Cookie. The atmosphere really gels, the cast are cohesive, the plot situation is interesting and its subtextual implications on suicide is also fascinating. Its actually an Altman film you feel like delving into. The amateur production of Salome the community are putting on is one of his most interesting devices. It gets you thinking of rhythms that run through the film, of suicide and human existence.Also, Glenn Close's being a theatrical director, and carrying those skills into everyday life, to fairly extreme measures in the film, is an interesting subtext - commenting on the director/author as God.Altman's regular themes of the small town and the weather are here - the weather once again reminding us of a higher force we have no control over.I thought it was a fascinating, enjoyable film. I laughed out loud many times - mainly at just fun little aspects of the characters. Which is why it was such a pleasant surprise that Cookie's Fortune was not only an enjoyable movie, its actually a really great one.10/10. One of Altman's best, and my favourites so far.
11 out of 14 people found the following review useful: A comedy that deserves to be seen, 22 June 2005 Author: Philip Van der Veken from Tessenderlo, Belgium
Ever since I've seen "Gosford Park" I'm convinced that Robert Altman has some real talent. The only Altman movie that I had seen before that one was "Prêt-à-Porter", at least a part of it, but enough to know that I didn't like it. So when I got the chance to see this movie with the interesting title "Cookie's Fortune", I gave it a try. I thought that this would be a comedy about a Chinese restaurant or something (The only thing that I knew before taping it, was that it was a comedy from Robert Altman, that's where my confusion comes from). It had nothing to do with what I thought, but I liked it nevertheless...Jewel Mae "Cookie" Orcutt is an older lady who lives in a small town, called Holly Springs. All the residents are peaceful, kind folk, except for her niece Camille Dixon. Cookie is a widow for several years now, but she isn't alone. Willis Richland does all her shopping and helps her wherever he can. But she is tired of living without her husband and she wants to die. She commits suicide, but when the irritating and pushy Camille discovers what her aunt has done, she decides to cover up the real story, convinced that this will have a bad influence on the good family name. Together with her shy younger sister Cora, whose estranged daughter Emma as just returned to town, she tries to make it all look like a robbery and murder. To do so, she eats the suicide note, hides the gun in the bushes and shatters some windows. The police is convinced that the murder story is true and they start looking for a suspect, Willis. Although the rest of the town is convinced Willis didn't commit the crime, an outside investigator isn't so sure. But as the truth comes out, more secrets are revealed than everybody thought existed in this quiet town...I guess it's the combination of the rather naive looking people in the town, the nice story and the fine acting that makes this movie work. Of course you expect to see some nice performances from people like Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler,... but in my opinion it was Charles S. Dutton who was the most surprising of them all. He has already played some minor roles in well known movies like "Alien³" and "Se7en", but it was the first time that I saw him in major role and I must say that I liked it.Overall, this may not be the most original movie, but it is a nice comedy and I had some good laughs with it. Sure, it is a bit stereotypical, but that's not bad. It's a comedy and well-used stereotypes are always funny to watch. Add to this some fine acting and a nice story and what you get is a comedy that certainly deserves to be seen. I give it a 7/10.
10 out of 13 people found the following review useful: Enjoyably light film with only a few moments of misjudged seriousness and humour, 20 July 2003 Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK
In the small town of Holly Springs, Mississippi, the highly strung Camille is leading rehearsals for a performance of Salome. When she drops in on her Aunt Cookie (whom she has a frosty relationship with) she finds that Cookie has taken her own life in order to be with her late husband again. Unwilling to have her family name tarnished by this shameful act, Camille takes a necklace and moves things around to suggest a murder. Things get more complicated when Cookie's caretaker and loyal friend is arrested for the murder and the investigation begins in earnest.I wasn't sure what this film was about when I took up to watch it but was wary as often I have found Altman films to be too sprawling for my tastes and have struggled to get into them. This film started well and light and pretty much managed to retain that feeling for the duration, making it enjoyable to watch. In terms of plot, the central action is strong enough to hold the focus, although really the film is more about the characters than anything else. This is good as I felt the film's strength was the cast and the characters. All the characters are watchable and interesting – whether they be amusing, likeable or strange.The film's humour is good as it matches the light tone it sets itself. At times though the humour is misjudged, for the most part it is natural and charming but there are times when the film forces jokes (for example semi-pratfalls etc) and they don't fit the mood. Likewise the drama occasionally goes a little too heavy (the ending for example) but these are minor compared to the effect of the whole. Generally it free wheels along quite nicely – funny without ever becoming absurd or unenjoyable. Having said that, it may annoy those who expect more of a firm plot.The rich ensemble cast makes it worth watching alone. Dutton stands out in the lead role, he is as relaxed and as affable as they come which was needed to carry that role. On the total other side is a well pitched Close, her character needed to be realistic (i.e. not another Cruella De Ville) but still be unpleasant enough not to have the audience with her – Close manages it well. Tyler does ok but I found it a little hard to accept her casting at first, O'Donnell appears to have little to do but does well to play a fool without thinking of his career too much. Moore is good in support and Neal's pitching of Cookie's past and personality in only a few scenes enables us to feel for her and thus prevent her dark act from taking away from the light touch too much. Beatty has some great lines and Vance steals many of his scenes with a comic touch.Overall this film is very slight and may not appeal to all for that reason. I felt like I'd had a rest on a hot day after watching it – it was enjoyable and undemanding. Not perfect by any means but it's fun to spend to hours with the characters herein.
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: rather sweet; left me with a smile when I first saw it, 4 June 2006 Author: MisterWhiplash from United States
One might call Cookie's Fortune a 'minor' effort from Robert Altman, a filmmaker who once commented that each film "is all part of the same picture", or rather one long movie with bits and pieces making up a career whole. But it has enough going for it through its very competent cast and interesting script to keep it afloat from being the kind of small film little old ladies might watch on TV during the day. In that sense it isn't as 'heavy' as some of Altman's other work. It is also cool enough to treat the subject of a mystery around a suicide with enough humanity to make some scenes smile-worthy. Considering some of the darker elements in the script, Altman depicts this to the point where- get this- Cookie's Fortune is sometimes shown on the HBO family channel! Is it really a kid's film? I'm not sure, but it isn't work for only one age group- its appeal from its cast of a collective of small towners is appealing to most in the audience. That the cast- Glenn Close, Liv Tyler, (especially) Charles S. Dutton, even Chris O'Donnell- gels and plays some of the dialog sincerely even when its meant to not be taken seriously at all, is a credit to the filmmaker. That it also might not be quite as memorable as some of the director's major films is and is not a fault. It is a fault because the subject matter is sort of stuck in a certain genre realm. It is not because the subject mater is also very much more intelligent than would be expected at times. I was also fond of certain scenes and interactions with the actors, the rhythm of it all, like early on with Dutton and the actress Patricia Neal who plays the old lady. I also really like the climax. So it's a good work about the rumblings and eccentricities of a small town, the good in people as well as the lesser parts, and parts of greed and death seen through a light that is not aiming for anything 'cheap', so to speak.
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: An excellent film; thoroughly enjoyable, sentimental, but wise., 2 January 2001 Author: jack_94706 from Albany, California
I'll fess up, Altman ranks high with me and has for a long time. This is far from his best work -- but also far, far above your average bear, er, rather... average film. It has much to recommend; many fine performances, a complex storyline; it will request a little patience from you -- be so kind as to grant it. Patience lies at the heart of this film; not the high-jinks and rapid-fire action of most movies. Kindness gets lost, and many deeper human qualities, too -- when people or a culture push patience out of the way. Altman seems to know this, to celebrate patient people, sensible people. But there are plenty of good jokes, visual, verbal, plot-involved. Relax and laugh, let things develop. You might even laugh pretty hard -- and happily. I suppose this film could be called Capra-esque, and thus old-fashioned, even nostalgic -- not a good fit with the tumult of violence and dishonesty which characterized the media's portrayal of the nineties. Too bad. Rent the video; or buy the video and watch it with your kids and later with the grandkids. People complain about too much violence in the cinema and then ignore a film like this -- and many of these people are critics! Here's the full panoply of human life, young, middle-aged, and elderly, all interesting, all central to the story. What a fine thing!
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: A nice place to visit..., 24 May 2004 Author: Merwyn Grote (majikstl@aol.com) from St. Louis, Missouri
What would it have been like had Tennessee Williams -- for some unfathomable reason -- been hired to write a script for "The Andy Griffith Show?" This is hardly a pressing question for either amusement or intellectual debate, but the answer would surely be something very much like Robert Altman's COOKIE'S FORTUNE. This is undoubtedly Altman's most accessible and likable effort. It is set in Holly Springs, Mississippi, but it could just as easily be Mayberry, North Carolina. Both are in a fantasy world just north of Sitcomville and across the ridge from Capratown. In Altman fashion, Holly Springs is populated with variety of oddball folk, but in contradiction to Altman tradition, they mostly tend to be free of cynicism and malice. Andy, Opie, Barney and Aunt Bee would feel right at home. Indeed, there is even a town jail where the cell doors are left unlocked, all the better to allow visitors to come and go as they please. The hypothetical contribution by Tennessee Williams is nonetheless apparent as well. There is a murder mystery, a suicide, a bit of gore, a dash of sex, some racial consciousness and Glenn Close, whose character might be a second cousin to Blanche DuBois. But these elements of dark and twisted madness aren't all that removed from the cheerful eccentricity that is a trademark of fictional smalltown America. As such, COOKIE'S FORTUNE falls somewhere between SHADOW OF DOUBT and THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN in its representation of bucolic life; there is a cheerful silliness to the characters, but tragedy darkens the edges just a tad. No one would ever accuse Altman of being the sentimental type. His screen career has consisted largely of taking pot shots at the American landscape, aiming to reveal hypocrisy behind everything from patriotism to idealism, with his preferred vehicle of deconstruction being the conventions of various movie genres. He has taken a wrecking ball to everything from the backstage musical to film noir to westerns to sci-fi. Yet he approaches the Capraesque vision of smalltown American with a gentle good humor, refraining from indulging in either parody or satire. COOKIES FORTUNE is probably the only Altman film where the characters are characters, i.e., loopy individuals, not archetypes to be debunked or mocked. I'm an admirer of Altman's films, but I have to admit that I am hard pressed to think of any other instance where I felt actual affection for any of his characters.Alas, Altman's visit to Holly Springs is no doubt a side trip in the director's journey from one "important" film to the next. A chance to stretch his legs a bit before getting back to the serious business of showing how corrupt the world is. That's a shame, because Holly Springs is a right nice little place to visit.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: I can't really put my finger on it..., 31 March 2002 Author: mel-87
Maybe it is the very believable dialogue traded by the sweet southern regard the characters have toward each other. I can't narrow it down, all I can tell you is that I have seen this film numerous times, and each time it is a sucker punch to my ice-encrusted northern heart. Just charming and delightful, Julianne Moore has the best role in the film, the romance between Liv Tyler and Chris O'Donnell is an aw-shucks triumph. Anyone critical of this film needs to sit down and watch it again-and pay attention to the endless little "Easter Eggs" Altman has hidden throughout Holly Springs.
Low-Key Southern Comedy from Robert Altman, 28 May 2009 Author: brocksilvey from United States
In the late 1990s, Robert Altman directed a series of films set in the South, all of them with Southern Gothic elements. "Kansas City" and "The Gingerbread Man" were throwbacks to the crime thriller film noir, while "Cookie's Fortune" was a mostly comic yarn about the suicide of a beloved widow in a small Mississippi town and the efforts of the local police department to solve the "crime" when it's re-staged to look like a murder. The tone of "Cookie's Fortune" is like that of William Faulkner when he was writing books like "The Reivers." If the film seems to have nowhere to go and takes its time getting there, that's not necessarily a criticism. That's part of the Southern tall-tale culture, and if you've ever spent time in that part of the country, you know what it's like to sit on a porch, drinking overly sweetened iced tea, and listen to colorful characters take 20 minutes to tell a story that could be told in 5.The cast includes Patricia Neal (Cookie) and Charles S. Dutton, as the widow and the chief suspect accused in her apparent murder; Glenn Close, in an overwrought performance as a relative of Cookie who wants to cover up Cookie's suicide so as not to tarnish the family name and get her hands on Cookie's fortune in the process; and Julianne Moore as Close's mentally slow sister who ends up not being quite as slow as we thought by the time the movie's over. There are also parts for Liv Tyler, Chris O'Donnell, Ned Beatty and a completely unnecessary Lyle Lovett. The fortune of the film's title is a red herring that would have made Alfred Hitchcock proud, and the investigation itself fades into the background as the characters become the point of interest. As he would show in his all-out murder mystery from two years later, "Gosford Park", Altman isn't nearly as interested in the destination as he is the journey to it.Grade: B+
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