Fried Green Tomatoes

Based on Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, the film begins when an undersatisfied, middle-aged Southern woman named Evelyn (Kathy Bates) meets a lively old lady named Ninny (Jessica Tandy) in a nursing home. Evelyn gets hooked on Ninny’s stories about people and adventures years ago in her hometown of Whistle Stop, Alabama. Through Ninny’s stories, Evelyn gets the courage to revolutionize her own life—even unleashing her inner feminist avenger, Towanda, a little bit.

The stories Ninny tells—which form the bulk of the film—center around two extraordinary young women: the tomboyish Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) and the wryly sweet Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker). Ruth comes into Idgie’s wild life at the request of Idgie’s mother, who wants her daughter to settle down and thinks the prim, religious Ruth can tame her. The two end up changing each other, with Ruth drawing Idgie into a community of caring people and Idgie teaching Ruth how to loosen up and have some fun. The women fall in love and, with a few twists and turns, end up building a life together (those of you scratching their heads and not remembering this plot point weren’t paying enough attention—the novel was full of lesbian content which was diluted in the film adaptation). Their story is ostensibly structured around a mystery: who killed Frank Bennett, Ruth’s abusive husband? —DVDverdict.com