Themes: Eccentric Families, Miscarriage of Justice, Estrangement
Main Cast: Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Chris O'Donnell, Charles S. Dutton
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 118 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Robert Altman directed this bittersweet ensemble piece about an eccentric and entangled group of family and friends living in the Deep South. Jewel Mae "Cookie" Orcutt (Patricia Neal) is the widowed matriarch of a small-town Mississippi family, which includes her nieces Camille (Glenn Close), a pretentious would-be artist staging an amateur production of Salome at a local church, and Cora Julianne Moore), her less than enthusiastic leading lady. Willis (Charles S. Dutton), the caretaker of Cookie's rambling mansion, tries to persuade her sweet but aimless grand-niece, Emma (Liv Tyler), to move in with her, but she's more interested in her on-again, off-again romance with local cop Jason (Chris O'Donnell). Typical of Altman's work, Cookie's Fortune weaves together a number of different plot lines with relaxed grace, and features an impressive cast, including Ned Beatty, Lyle Lovett, and Courtney B. Vance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
A lonely widow kills herself with her friend's gun, and her daughter arranges the scene to look like a murder in order to avoid the disgracing stigma of suicide. On the surface, Cookie's Fortune sounds like pretty morose stuff, but in the hands of Robert Altman, who sets the film with the same pace as a muggy Southern afternoon, it all plays out in a leisurely, lighthearted manner. In traditional Altman style, the film is brimming with engaging characters, and the script by Anne Rapp finds humor in its Southerners without looking down on them. But because the film relies so heavily on dialogue and characterization, the plot ends up playing an unusual role. It's clear that Altman really isn't concerned with the suicide/murder case, so while the story is kept to a minimum, that's strangely still too much. In the end, Cookie's Fortune is lightweight amusement buoyed by some heavyweight performances: Dutton, Tyler, and Moore are excellent, with Close walking the line between greatness and over-the-top hysteria. It's telling that Altman would choose a film like this as a follow-up to the soggy The Gingerbread Man, which was based on a John Grisham script. It's almost like an Altman apology. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
Patricia Neal - Jewel Mae "Cookie" Orcutt; Ned Beatty - Lester Boyle; Courtney Vance - Otis Tucker; Donald Moffat - Jack Palmer; Lyle Lovett - Manny Hood; Danny Darst - Billy Cox; Matt Malloy - Eddie "The Expert" Pitts; Randle Mell - Patrick Freeman; Niecy Nash - Wanda Carter; Rufus Thomas - Theo Johnson; Ruby L. Wilson - Josie Martin; Preston Strobel - Ronnie Freeman
Credit
Richard Johnson - Art Director, Pam Dixon - Casting, David Levy - Co-producer, James Mclindon - Co-producer, Dona Granata - Costume Designer, Tommy Thompson - First Assistant Director, Robert Altman - Director, Stephen Altman - Second Unit Director, Abraham Lim - Editor, Willi Baer - Executive Producer, Dave Stewart - Composer (Music Score), Stephen Altman - Production Designer, Toyomichi Kurita - Cinematographer, Robert Altman - Producer, Etchie Stroh - Producer, Mark Weingarten - Sound/Sound Designer, Anne Rapp - Screenwriter, Robert Reed Altman - Second Unit Director Of Photography
When a small Mississippi town's wealthy dowager Jewel-Mae "Cookie" Orcutt tires of her widowed life, she decides to take one of her late husband Buck's pistols from the gun cabinet and kill herself. She is discovered by her pretentious playwright niece, Camille (Glenn Close), and Camille's eccentrically odd and adorably shy younger sister, Cora (played by Julianne Moore), who plot to set the suicide up as a murder to preserve the family's reputation and ensconce themselves in the family mansion. The family of eccentrics is rounded out by Cora's wayward outlaw of a daughter, Emma (Liv Tyler). Chris O'Donnell plays Emma's love interest and erstwile jailer, Jason. The key suspect is Willis (Charles S. Dutton), Cookie's handyman, who happens to have cleaned the guns the night before Cookie's death. What follows is a very interesting tale of how a shocking incident casts a ripple among a group of small-town oddballs. The ensemble cast includes Ned Beatty, Courtney B. Vance, and Lyle Lovett.
Location
The film was shot on location in the small rural town of Holly Springs, Mississippi. Many of the homes from the film are still present, including Cookie's home.
