Fried
Green Tomatoes – Extended Anniversary Edition
Picture: B
Sound: B- Extras:
B Film: B
I was totally won over by Fried Green Tomatoes when I first
saw it theatrically in January of 1992 (it received a
limited release in late December, 1991 to qualify for awards
consideration before going wide in late January, 1992). In
fact, I ended up seeing the film a second time in theaters a few months later
and it ended up in the No. 5 spot on my annual best-10 list.
Universal's new Extended Version on DVD (it runs 7 minutes longer
than the original theatrical cut) enticed me to watch the film again recently
for the first time in more than 14 years. And while there's no doubt it
remains a good film, I came away feeling I might have rated Fried Green Tomatoes a bit too
highly all those years ago. Of course, I'm in my middle
30s now as opposed to my early 20s, and I've obviously grown more jaded
and cynical since then. As a result, Fried Green Tomatoes seemed a little more hokey
and manipulative this time around, even though it's still an immensely likable,
wonderfully-performed film.
The pivotal character in Fried
Green Tomatoes is an unhappy, overweight Southern housewife
named Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates), who's settled into a humdrum, unfulfilling
life with her longtime husband, Ed (Gailard Sartain), who praises her cooking,
but would rather eat it sitting in front of the TV watching sports instead of
sitting at the table and talking to her. Ed's not a bad guy like another
abusive louse we meet in the movie. He's simply inattentive and addicted
to sports -- if this were a crime, half the men in America would be on death
row.
While visiting one of Ed's relatives in a nursing home, Evelyn
meets a spirited nursing-home resident named Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica
Tandy). The elderly Ninny starts telling the repressed Evelyn intriguing
tales of a tomboyish, independent-minded young woman named Idgie (Mary Stuart
Masterson), and her best friend, Ruth (Mary Louise Parker), who together ran
the Whistle Stop Café in a tiny town called Whistle Stop, Alabama
during the Great Depression.
As the film intercuts between Idgie's story in the 1930s and
Evelyn's in the present day, Ninny's tales of Idgie and Ruth help inspire
Evelyn to become more assertive, regain her self-esteem and take more control
of her life.
Based on Fannie Flagg's novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café,
the film's screenplay was co-written by Flagg and Carol
Sobieski (apparently with much uncredited help from director Jon Avnet).
Their collaboration is a warm-hearted, touching and funny ode to female bonding
and the importance of friendship.
Universal's new digitally remastered 117-minute Extended Edition
-- also called the Anniversary Edition -- comes with a very nice 1.85:1 anamorphic
widescreen transfer. The picture is sharp and clear throughout, and
the color is fittingly vivid and bright. The 5.1 Dolby Digital
surround sound is also good, even though I still had to use the subtitles
the catch the occasional line because of the thick Southern accents of the
characters -- a problem more inherent in the film itself than with the DVD
soundtrack.
The special features on this version include a few deleted scenes,
a few outtakes and a newly produced making-of featurette combining on-set
interviews from 1991 with more recently-recorded retrospectives from cast
and crew. There's a feature-length audio commentary with director
Avent, where he repeats a lot of the same information contained in the
making-of documentary. Rounding out the extras are Avnet's director's
notes where he talks about the way he wants to set up scenes; recipes of food
shown in the film; the various poster campaigns considered prior to the
film's release; and production photographs.
- Chuck O'Leary
