Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Anne Rapp
Starring Glenn Close, Charles Dutton, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Ned Beatty
My Advice: Wait and Rent It.
Cookie (Patricia Neal) is a woman nearing the end of her life, spending her time with her friend and assistant Willis (Dutton) and missing her late husband, Buck. When Cookie dies unexpectedly, it makes the entire town crazy, especially her relative, Jane Hudson (Close). What follows is a murder mystery lite that pits family members and fishing buddies against one another.
The problem with this film is that it takes too long for the old lady to die. Altman's pacing in this first part and in others is just plain wrong. It's a bad sign when you wish the old lady would croak so you could get on with it. For that pre-Cookie-mortem part, the film is also amazingly unfunny. Post-Cookie-mortem it's funny as hell, with Ned Beatty's fishing-based intuition, Matt Malloy's inept police officer, and Lyle Lovett's pathetic fish cleaner who's smitten with Emma (Tyler). Great acting turns are delivered by Dutton and Close. Close's bourgeois Southern belle from hell is perfect, except for when she slides off into Alex Forrest territory and ends with a blatant and unnecessary Oscar Moment (TM) at the end.
Also, as stated above, there really is no mystery and barely a murder. There are no real surprises and the twists that Altman throws us seem cooked up at the last minute and wind up uninteresting. Like many films recently, when it's funny and charming, it works wonderfully. However, it's painfully uneven and therefore those moments shine briefly then flicker and die while we're waiting for the next interesting bit. Rent it and enjoy it from the comfort of your couch.
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