An unhappy Alabama housewife is enlightened by her friendship with a story-tellin' oldster in a nursing home and her tales of two disparate gals in the days before World War II. Screenwriter Fannie Flagg, adapting her play, has a very narrow conception of character based solely on exteriors. Her idea of a tough, rebellious young woman is one who smokes, plays poker in a gin mill with rowdies and wears men's clothes (she swears, too, and is unafraid of bees). The point of Flagg's script seems to be that being 'nice' and 'good' doesn't get you anywhere (wasn't that the message behind "Grease" as well?). "Tomatoes" is Southern-stereotypical and trite without an ounce of substance or spontaneity, but audiences responded anyway to the parallel friendships, the feisty ladies of different generations, the homilies and homespun grit. Still, it's rather like a Hallmark special, all dolled-up to please, with caricatures substituting for characters. ** from ****
Review of Fried Green Tomatoes
