Richard von Schweissguth So few movies have the ability to work the human magic that this film does. From the beginning you cringe, celebrate, heal, mourn, and realistically become a part of the lives of these people (I won't say characters, but people as they become people and no longer actors / characters). Hating and loving the people, there is no way to watch Fried Green Tomatoes and not have it impact you. That is unless your heart is scarred and become calloused to the point where you don't let anything in anymore.The ins and outs, ups and downs... and oh yes.. the BBQ! It shape shifts you and draws you in. And for a moment of your life you are no longer you, but one of them. Just watch it. And if you would like to escape for 2 hours this is how you do it.So Hollywood! Why won't you, can't you, make movies like this anymore? Its budget was 11 million and it grossed 13 times that much. I am sure it's not the money that stops you. I am not sure you have the talent to make a movie with the magic and the power of FGT.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Fried Green Tomatoes is one of those films that presents two narratives, simultaneously woven together and unbound by the laws of past and present. A character from the present tells tales of the past, and the film jumps ever back and forth between the two, until a connection emerges. You've seen it in stuff like The Notebook, where it works beautifully, and both stories support each other. That's the issue with this film: One of the narratives is lovely and works quite well. The other? Mmm…not so much. Kathy Bates plays a hospice worker in a retirement home who is charmed by stories of life, freedom, injustice and romance from long ago, all told with wit and passion by an excellent Jessica Tandy. She tells of life growing up during the early 1900's in the American southwest, of free spirited tomboy Idgie (a fierce and emotional Mary Stuart Masterson), the girl she loves (Mary Louise Parker, radiant) and the whirlwind of trouble and conflict going on around them. Idgie lost her brother and best friend (a short lived and very young looking Chris O 'Donnell) to a horrible accident, and sort of has a lost pup complex, holding on to Parker for dear life and trying her best to extricate her from an abusive relationship with her monster of a husband (Nick Searcy is evil incarnate). It's whimsical, touching and flavored with just the right touches of sadness and danger. Now, the story with Bates in the present just feels aloof and silly. The scenes with her and Tandy fare better than glimpses of her home life and attempts to empower and change her for the better. Don't get me wrong, I love that idea, the notion of inspiration transcending time and the ability to help others simply with the spoken word and the wisdom of the past, but it just didn't work in this case. As for the scenes in the past, I fell hard for them. Masterson is a terrific actress who usually gets saddled with light, fluffy roles, but here gets a chance to let some raw emotion out. Parker is more reigned in but every bit as soulful, as the girl in a situation no one should have to endure, her soul practically screaming out through those beautiful brown eyes. I suppose you could say that it's half of a great film, that couldn't quite pull off it's own narrative flow.

bbewnylorac Sure it's a tiny bit corny, but Fried Green Tomatoes is a gem of a movie. It's amazing, in the era of beautiful people and fast paced stories, that it got made at all, but I guess it helped that its stars Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy had both recently won Oscars for other movies. This film doesn't insult its audience. I like how it tells the tale in a roundabout way through the miserable, modern day housewife (Bates) befriending a sparky elderly woman (Tandy) she meets while visiting another resident at a nursing home. It turns out the elderly lady played merely a bit part and was a young girl, an observer, in the real life juicy tale she starts to tell about rural southern life in the old days, but it tells us a lot about the close ties of a large family and friends in a more innocent time. And she's a great story teller, and Bates's character is taken out of her depression and gains a good friend who suggests ways she can get out more and get over her problems. A simple tale, but a lovely one, with lots of wicked humour and a touch of the macabre.

Wadejohnson1970 As a young man growing up in the Country of my home town of Hawkinsville Pulaski County Georgia, I had saw the movie in rental stores, however I was just never quite interested in watching a movie called Fried Green Tomatoes!!! However one night while watching TV with my family I was flicking through the Chanel's and came upon this very net resting movie that just so,happens to be..yes you guessed it...Fried Green Tomatoes!!! Well right here in the middle of my review I get a knock on my door, some guy tells me that he had just hit a little black dog out in front of my home, we live on a dirt road and people drive on it as if it were a damn Interstate Highway!!!! Sure enough it is my late fathers dog Buster!!! One of the last things my Daddy said was son look out for my dog!!! Now I feel really bad!!! He is not dead yet, he has his wits about him, just a bit loopy, but catching one of those full size Chevy Silverado's ain't good for a 4 pound dog!!! Anyway please pray for Buster!!!! Now back to the Movie review... As I began to watch this movie I just got more and more intertwined into the story!!! I couldn't tell who was more intrigued by Iggies story, me or Evelyne Couch. The story about Frank Bennett was so interesting!!! Heck there wasn't anything about the entire movie that Wasn't interesting!!!! The most interesting part of the entire movie was the fact that Frank Bennett's body was never found!!! And even more the reason WHY IT EAS NEVER FOUND!!!! Big George Put him on the grill and made BBQ out of him and they fed him to the guy from Georgia that was so stern to Iggies that he WAS THE LAW!!!! And you can't beat the law!!!! So to sum it up in a few words!!!! Fried Green Tomatoes is by far one of the best movies I ever saw, most important I. Was working with Georgia Power and happened upon this little Cafe out in Julliett Ga. And before I knew it I was sitting right in the middle of where one of my favorite movies was made..The Whistle Stop Cafe!!!!! You can't imagine my excitement and couldn't wait to tell my wife that I had sat and eat right there where the story played out!!! Now I'm gonna take my wife there to have some of those world famous FRIED GREEN TOMATOES!!!! And if you never watched this MASTERPIECE PLEASE DO!!!