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starring: Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Chris O'Donnell, Charles S. Duttondirected by: Robert Altman
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786305537656
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 6305537658
Label: Polygram USA Video
Manufacturer: Polygram USA Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Polygram USA Video
Release Date: March 07, 2000
Running Time: 118 minutes
Sales Rank: 8651
Studio: Polygram USA Video
Theatrical Release Date: April 02, 1999
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Dedicated fans of Robert Altman will want to check out this drowsy Southern comedy, which is shot through with the director's feel for location and his musical sense of storytelling. Non-Altman fanatics might want to tread more carefully. Cookie's Fortune begins beautifully, as handyman Willis (Charles S. Dutton) staggers home from a blues club in the small town of Holly Springs, Mississippi. In the wee hours of a warm night, he has an affectionate chat with elderly matriarch Jewel Mae 'Cookie' Orcutt (the grand Patricia Neal) and the gentle history of their friendship is sketched in a few brief exchanges. Soon enough, Cookie has checked out of this world to join her dear departed husband, prompting her nieces to make the suicide look like a murder---to protect the dubious family name, of course. They are the local drama diva (Glenn Close), a Scarlett O'Hara in her own mind, and her dreamy sister (Julianne Moore), who ain't quite right in the head. Will Willis be blamed for the murder? Will the inheritance go to the nieces? Will Liv Tyler and Chris O'Donnell find a place to express their lust? None of these questions is especially burning, and Altman doesn't seem terribly anxious about the answers. Instead, he aims for a particular kind of laid-back quirky southern comedy, unevenly filtered through his screen of sour irony. Like a jazzman blowing improv, some of this works and some of it doesn't. Speaking of music, the film boasts a nifty R&B soundscape devised by former Eurythmics man David Stewart, with a boost from blues belter Ruby Wilson. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Cookie's Fortune
Great DVD. Watched it a number of times. All the characters are interesting.
Rating: - Altman and a fine ensemble cast make a memorable movie. Charles S. Dutton excels
Says lawyer Jack Palmer to Emma Duval, explaining the fate of her long gone father, a man she was told years ago had died while doing missionary work in Africa after he'd left his family. "He died alright, about four years later, somewhere down in Alabama in a button factory accident. Seems the hole poker machine broke loose and fell on him. They say he had 273 holes in him before they could get it off."
After all that Emma and her friend Willis Richland have experienced in Robert Altman's ... Read More
Rating:  - Coulda been much better
3.5 stars
I like Altman a lot on occasion (Player, Nashville, a few others), and not so much at times, like here. This could have been tighter, and despite nice turns from Close, Tyler et al, it's too stagey, and too close to its theatrical source to be a great movie.
It got boring enough by halfway that I turned it off and watched the rest later.
Altman is trying to be Faulkneresque but never quite gets there. This is the South via Hollywood, and misses the real grit and nastiness ... Read More
Rating:  - Altman's COOKIE: I hated it in 1999, and I still hate it in 2007!
Meandering,lazy loafing screenplays with eccentric characters of which I am given no reason to care about or identify with put COOKIE'S FORTUNE, for my second lifetime viewing since 1999,nearly at the top of my (very small I might add) all-time most disliked films.
I can understand that certain people will like this film-especially those who enjoy small town "crazies" and director Robert Altman devotees.There is nothing wrong with that.I have enjoyed both small town "eccentrics" like in CRIMES ... Read More
Rating: - Southern eccentricity
Southern gothic is a pretty tough genre to tackle, especially in movies.
But Robert Altman gave it his best with "Cookie's Fortune," a little black comedy taking place over the Easter weekend. He crammed it with eccentricity, odd twists and likably atypical characters, but the second half gets a bit carried away by self-consciousness weirdess and melodrama.
It's the day before Easter in the Southern town of Holly Springs. Pushy, self-righteous spinster Camille Dixon (Glenn Close) and ... Read More
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