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Director: Robert Altman Screenplay: Anne Rapp Starring: Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Charles Dutton, Patricia Neal, Chris O'Donnell, Ned Beatty, Coutney B. Vance Running Time: 118 minutes Studio: October Films MPAA Rating: PG-13 |
Robert Altman returns to the American South with Cookie's Fortune, the tale of a small-town matriarch's death, Oscar Wilde's Salome, and fishing. This story resembles Flannery O'Connor's South, rich with eccentric characters and rife with family secrets, more than John Grisham's -- which Altman dealt with in his 1998 film, The Gingerbread Man, based on a Grisham story.
The wonderful cast includes Patricia Neal as matriarch Jewel Mae "Cookie" Ducott; Glenn Close as her daughter, Camille, a matriarch diva-in-training who directs religious pagaents for the First Presbyterian Church (and has the audacity to "improve" on Oscar Wilde); Charles S. Dutton as Cookie's caretaker, Willis Richland... and her best friend; Altman perennial Julianne Moore as the ethereally loopy Cora Duvall, Camille's sister; and Liv Tyler as Emma Duvall, Cora's daughter, the only sane one of the family, who has just returned to Holly Springs after being turned out by Camille.
Cookie's death comes after a leisurely forty minute introduction to Holly Springs' most interesting citizens (Chris O'Donnell and Courtney B. Vance have fun supporting roles portraying the opposite extremes of investigative efficiency). Altman lets the story unfold at its own pace; some critics may carp at the first half-hour, but the insights we're given into Willis, Cookie, and Emma's friendship are necessary, and provide dramatic weight for the latter half of the movie. Willis is charged with Cookie's murder ("We're just going to hold you for a while" the sheriff tells him) because his prints are on the gun.
Meanwhile, Camille and Cora are busy violating the crime scene, preparing to move into "their" house, Vance is busy questioning the town's businessmen, and Lyle Lovett (another Altman perennial), Emma's employer, comes close to portraying a stalker in disguise. There's a lot of unspoken story here, with a couple of satisfying twists toward the end, and Close in a scenery-chewing performance that's as fun as anything she's done.
This is Altman at his most playful since The Player (1992), and nearly at his most satisfying.
RATING: ***1/2
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