Cookie's Fortune

A movie by Robert Altman

With Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Patricia Neal, Charles Dutton and others

Christina says:

Jewell May "Cookie" Orcutt (Patricia Neal) lives in the small southern town Holly Springs. She misses her late husband Buck and one day decides to put an end to her life so she can be with him again. Her niece Camille (Glenn Close) finds her, gun still in her hand. But she doesn’t want her aunt’s suicide to be known around town. After all, only crazy people commit suicide. She smashes the glass of the back door, packs a few pieces of jewelry in her bag, throws the gun away in the back yard and urges her sister Cora (Julianne Moore) to tell the police that Aunt Jewell May was killed by a robber. Unfortunately suspicion soon falls on Willis Richland (Charles S. Dutton), a black guy who has worked for the family for ages and was Cookie’s best friend. His prints were on the gun, because he cleaned all guns in the house the night before. Sheriff Lester Boyle (Ned Beatty) is sure that Willis is innocent because they go fishing together. Still, he is forced to arrest him. But Willis is quite comfortable in jail. He plays scrabble with the sheriff and his lawyer Jack Palmer (Donald Moffat), and Cookie’s granddaughter Emma (Liv Tyler), the black sheep of the family, takes up residence in his cell, too.

The alleged murder case can’t throw the tranquil life in Holly Springs off track. Camille packs up her things and her sister Cora and moves into Cookie’s big house, because she will inherit it anyway and rookie cop Jason Brown (Chris O’Donnell) is too stupid to stop them from entering the crime scene. Camille doesn’t miss a beat rehearsing Ocar Wilde’s Salomé with the local theater group. She rewrote the drama so much that she believes she has the right to put her name on the poster as co-author. Emma and Jason stumble into some corner to copulate at every possible opportunity. Emma’s boss Manny (Lyle Lovett), a fish dealer, meanwhile furnishes a railroad car for her because he is secretly in love with her. Detective Otis Tucker (Courtney B. Vance) from Batesville tries to check Willis’ alibi and gets confusing answers, but the investigation doesn’t seem to matter anyway.

Of course all ends well and there is even an unexpected revelation, but the movie goes with the easy flow of the South and the viewer is never likely to jump out of the chair with surprise. Sit back, relax as if you had a fan in your hand and a glass of ice tea by your side and watch the bizarre characters gracing the scene. Close and Moore shine as the weird sisters. The best thing about the movie is that their stellar performances are standing on the solid foundation of an imaginative story and an excellent ensemble cast. The town of Holly Springs itself is also a character in the movie. I’d like to mention Lyle Lovett in his usual Altman-part of taciturn crank, Matt Malloy as Eddie the Crime Scene Expert, who get on everybody’s nerves, Ned Beatty, the stoic sheriff, Donald Moffat, cutting a fine figure even in his biblical costume, and Niecy Nash as police deputy Wanda who forgets her duty while lusting after Detective Tucker. And last, but not least Patricia Neal and Charles S. Dutton as charmingly odd couple that has grown old together. Liv Tyler is the weakest member of the female team at the center of the movie. She wasn’t able to keep up with her brilliant colleagues. I also felt that part of Emma’s story may have ended up on the cutting room floor, or wasn’t shot at all.

Dona Granata’s costumes deserve to be mentioned, especially the 20ies outfit of Glenn Close as the story reaches its dramatic climax. Altman wove all those elements into a harmonic masterpiece, accompanied by a blues score from Dave Stewart of Eurythmics’ fame.

Monika says:

A dead aunt whose embarrasing suicide one tries to cover up, a bigot niece and one who is a little stupid, a spunky grandniece, a family factotum who is accidentally suspected of murder, and lots of dead fish - those are the ingredients for Robert Altman’s latest and very entertaining movie.

The small town idyll of Holly Springs is shattered by an unpredictable event: Jewel Mae Orcutt (Patricia Neal), Cookie for her friends, who lives alone in her big old house, made up her mind to finally join her late husband. She got tired of waiting for death and takes matters into her own hands with one of her husband’s guns. Without further ado she blasts out her brain, and even the pillow she puts on her face doesn’t keep the blood from splattering the wall. That’s how her bigot niece Camille (Glenn Close) finds her when she comes to claim her mother’s fruit salad bowl she needs for her big Easter dinner. Now there won’t be any fruit salad for lack of a vessel to put it in. Unfortunately her sister Cora walks onto the scene as well. They try to make the suicide look like a break-in, and things soon get out of hand.

You need a black sense of humor to enjoy COOKIE’S FORTUNE. Robert Altman’s bizarre ideas make you laugh in the most inappropriate moments. If you liked SHORT CUTS you will probably like this movie as well. Glenn Close isn’t quite as convincing as in her part as arrogant First Lady in MARS ATTACKS!, but still worth watching. Julianne Moore delivers a good performance as thick country girl, a part so very different from the one she played e. g. in THE BIG LEBOWSKI. Compared to those two Liv Tyler as the resolute grandniece decidedly lacks color. Her big moment only comes near the end of the movie. Before that she only has to provide the inevitable love story no movie can do without. If you want to call it a love story. It’s a minor plot line that doesn’t get in the way but neither contributes much to the story. Patricia Neal, the eccentric Cookie, leaves the scene all too soon. But she is one of the funniest corpses in years.

Fish are very important. In Holly Springs everthing seems to revolve around the right time to catch, prepare and eat catfish. The fish - even if they’re dead - create a special atmosphere. The are the pivot and symbol for the suddenly interrupted peace and quiet in the town. COOKIE’S FORTUNE is a brilliantly funny depiction of smalltown life in the South, although the movie may not please a mass audience.

Any comments? Write us:
Monika Hübner
Christina Gross

Last changes: 27/04/03