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A Review of Robert Altman's COOKIE'S FORTUNE...
Altman is one of the directors that I always anticipate and look forward to their next project. He isn't 100% for me, but more times than not I've been bowled over by his cinematic takes on life. We heard some positive word from Sundance and now here's a look from a Tree.... Ain't it a Druidic Review? Here ya go...
A non-spoiler review of Robert Altman's latest film, "Cookie's
Fortune," by The Tree.
Dearest Harold,
Living in a down-town loft is tough work. As we boarded the elevator
to go get something to eat Wednesday night, we found a pass for two
on the elevator floor to see a special sneak preview of Robert
Altman's new flick "Cookie's Fortune." Manna from heaven? Maybe,
maybe not. But when the movie gods make an offering like this to
you, you'd better take it. The show was to begin in 30 minutes, and
there was just enough time to make it. We hopped in the car, and
made it to the theatre just in the nick of time (traffic due to
construction on US75 in big 'D' was a bitch...)
For background info on my perspective on Altman films, I'll tell you
that I saw "The Player" in Houston - loved it - and "pret-a-porter"
in Berlin - hated it. In this case, I had heard literally nothing
about this film going in to the screening, so my palette was clear.
So on to the film...
This film is classic Altman, and falls somewhere between "The Player"
and "pret-a-porter" in quality. It's basically an excellent cast of
colorful characters taking their time through the film. How you
respond to the characters will determine whether or not you like this
film. If you allow the characters to grow on you, you will enjoy the
movie. But be warned: this is not an easy task. In fact, my
companion, the 'Lady Tree', wasn't up to the challenge.
The story, set in present-day rural Mississippi, seems loose and
meandering, but as with any Altman film, this is an illusion. The
story is actually wound quite tightly, but takes it's time getting
where it needs to go. This slow pace, the allowing of moments to
unfold on their own, will turn many off. But again, if your patient
enough to allow the characters to work their charms on you, you'll be
entertained.
The characters in the film are all well portrayed, with a few notable
standouts. The first is Willis Richland, played by Charles Dutton.
Harry, I'm not joking: Roc can act. His performance was excellent -
and his getting FIFTH billing is a true injustice. Liv Tyler,
sporting a cropped hairdo (if you've seen her at the awards
ceremonies of late with a crop-top, this film is why), is also
excellent as Emma Duvall. Ned Beatty, as a Sheriff's Deputy was also
great. And last, but certainly not least, is an excellent small role
by Rufus Thomas as Theo, the bar owner. I laughed my ass off every
time he was onscreen. He's a definite scene-stealer. The rest of
the cast, including Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, and Chris O'Donnell
are fine as well.
Also a quick note on the Soundtrack: David A. Ferry's bluesy score
is the perfect mood-music for this film.
In a nutshell: If you enjoy slow-paced character-driven films, go
see "Cookie's Fortune." If you don't enjoy slow-paced character-
driven films, go see "The Matrix" again.
Spoiler-Free from "The Tree"
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It's great to have a new Robert Altman movie out. He's one of my all-time favorite filmmakers, and COOKIE'S FORTUNE looks like his best since SHORT CUTS. If I were to choose my three favorite Altman films, they would have to be MASH, THE LONG GOODBYE, and THE PLAYER. MASH is a hell of a lot better (and funnier) than the TV series that it spawned, while THE LONG GOODBYE is a brilliant updating of the Raymond Chandler novel featuring Elliott Gould as a confused Philip Marlowe. In fact, THE LONG GOODBYE may be my favorite Altman film, period. One of the reasons why this film bombed was because audiences weren't accustomed to seeing "white knight" Philip Marlowe's image tarnished the way it is in this film. While other actors, such as Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, and Robert Mitchum played Marlowe as a savior who could almost do no wrong, Altman, Gould, and screenwriter Leigh Brackett (THE BIG SLEEP) give us a vulnerable, slovenly character with no redeeming qualities. Another reason why this film is my favorite Altman: the score. From the very beginning of the film to the end, we hear endless variations on a song called "The Long Goodbye," co-written and composed by John Williams. Throughout the film we hear a jazz version, a Spanish version, a nightclub version, a pop version, etc. This satirizes the way themes are played endlessly in some movies. It works so brilliantly in this one. My third favorite Altman movie is THE PLAYER. Tim Robbins has never been better, as far as I'm concerned. Much has been written on this one, including the great tracking shot which opens it, so I'm not really going to say anything, except: Damn Good Movie. My three favorite runners-up are: McCABE AND MRS. MILLER, NASHVILLE, and POPEYE (yes, Popeye; I have a soft spot for this one, I must admit).
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Kubrick was great, but Altman's my scarecrow--I'll miss him the most when he's gone. My favorites would have to be "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", "M*A*S*H*", "Short Cuts" (even with Andie MacDowell), "The Player". I love his pacing, his interest in watching characters show their quirks and just BE, and the voyeuristic camera! He's also the only director who ALMOST beat the Grisham formula. "The Gingerbread Man" proved that when you combine great directing with a formulaic John Grisham story, the Grisham ingredient overpowers everything else. It was still an interesting struggle to watch, though. (Side note: Charles S. Dutton has always been able to act--just rent "The Piano Lesson". He's part of a group of black actors--Morgan Freeman, Ving Rhames, Samuel Jackson, Don Cheadle--who repeatedly give the most impassioned, honest, and full of grace performances on film, and yet are relentlessly ignored by the Oscars. Oddly enough, the Emmys clue in where the Oscars don't.)
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Who has the obligatory kit off scene this this Altman film. Altman isn't Altman without the gratuatous nudity? It was Embeth Davidz in The Gingerbread Man, and Julianne Moore in Short Cuts. Does anyone know who those models were at the end of Pret-A-Porter?
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I saw it on Tuesday at a sneak preview too. With Altman, I can go either way. Sometimes he's good and sometimes he's turgidly repetitive.
This time, he's really funny and I didn't find the exposition too long in order to get into the characters.
I agree about Dutton; he's great. I liked most everyone's performance (including Chris O'Donnell - you just had to laugh at that character) possibly with the exception of Patricia Neal.
Best scene by far had to be in the jail. Won't spoil it for anyone. -
Robert Altman is a great filmmaker. He's made films like "M*A*S*H", "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", "The Player" and most importantly, "Nashville": his masterpiece.
Nashville introduced the multiple character filmmaking style; ripped off later on by Tarantino, Kevin Smith, etc.
Nashville: ***** (out of 5)
M*A*S*H: **** 1/2 (out of 5)
The Player: **** 1/2 (out of 5)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller **** 1/2 (out of 5) -
Dammit, I really really really wish that I had seen more than two Altman films (Im still young!). The only two Ive seen are the two you gave exception to: MASH and THE PLAYER and they are two of my favorite movies. These two films, IMHO, are so brilliant that I refuse to believe that the rest of his films are as bad as you say. How you can call him a hack yet thrash me to pieces when I say the same thing about Tony Scott boggles my mind. From the two films Ive seen, this is what I can make of Altman's style: he's one bad-ass motherfucker (he made the first widely known film against the US army, which some, including me, percieved to be the first anti-Vietnam film as well as the only film I can think of that totally bashes studio execs), he weaves dialouge in a way that makes his audiotrack like a quilt of words, his endings (in these two films) wrap up the entire movie onto itself, and (as everyone knows) hes an expert of ensemble acting. These things, especially his rebelious themes, show that he does things his way. THE PLAYER is obviously his film--no studio exec team came up with that one. Tony Scott, on the other hand, takes all his orders from Jerry and the late Don (isnt "the late don" a line from the godfather?). Therefore, he aint nothin more than a puppet--or a HACK as i call it. How can you say that Altman is a hack and not Scott?
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Lane Meyers, if you're reading this: Joe Hallenbeck sends you his love from the Motion Picture Country Home, where he is currently awaiting surgery (a cranio-rectomy to remove his head from his ass). He said he heard you'd been there for the same procedure, but it didn't work. Sorry to hear that!
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One Altman film that I love that hasn't been mentioned is Secret Honor, the 90 minute monologue with Philip Baker Hall as Nixon, though it's true that Altman didn't have that much to do with it. He just took the stage play and filmed it. Philip Baker Hall is so great, especially when he gets full characters to play, like in Nixon in this and Sidney in Hard Eight, but usually he plays things like Chris Tucker's boss in Rush Hour.
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My personal favorite Altman film is one he made for Televison that I think is just brillent but one that a LOT of people overlook. I hold it up there with Nashville MASH and The Player and that's THE DUMB WAITER...John Travolta and Tom Conti are the cast...that's it...2 hitmen sitting around a bsement playing cards and wiating for a note to tell them who the target is...the ending is just so out there and perfect I can't give it away here...L'Auteur if you haven't seen this film you really need to.*****LANE~I have to say that I agree with parts of what you say about Altman though...he does make some pisspoor choices for scripts to direct(I couldn't belive how BAD Gingerbread Man was) and Pret A Porte...what a waste of time, except for Lyle Lovetts scenes...Lyle's cool
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Well, Lane, fogetting all that happened yesterday, etc. I'd have to say that I definitely agree with you here. Fellini is one of the greatest film makers of all time. He and Paosolini are the greatest Italian film makers ever. Although, I'd have to say that "Rome" wasn't Fellini's best work, but he is still a fucking legend. As for Altman, I've got to say that "The Player" was one fantastic flick. It was one of the most unique things I've seen come out of hollywood in a while. I didn't like "Shortcuts" too much, but it wasn't that bad. I admit, Lyle Lovett was good in it, but I liked Chris Penn alot too. The ending was good. Altman has proven he can make a good film when he wants to. I don't know whether "Cookie's Fortune" will be good or not, but Altman is gonna make good films in the future, regardless.
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Thought I'd bring this up... Just saw this 1950s classic. It's the story of a woman's rape and her husbands murder in the woods, except we don't really know the truth because the characters tell different versions of the rape. A medium even supposedly lets the dead husband possess her and tell his side of the story. The music was also incredible. See it. Rent it. You won't be sorry.
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I'm all set to show you bastards up by mentioning the coolest Altman flick of all, the one with Bud Cort set in the Astrodome... AND THE TITLE DROPS RIGHT OUT OF MY HEAD! Some kind fo karmic imbalance is at work here. Anyway, it's a twisted little movie for twisted little souls, go do an imdb search and you'll find it. I agree with the Dreaded Lane that Tolkin is hugely underrated (and the Rapture rocks, Lane, you're not alone. Makes an interesting double bill with Safe, it's secular twin- plus don't forget The New Age too, what a series of films!) and is as much responsible for The Player's brilliance as Altman, but just because a filmmaker makes crap doesn't take away from his genius. If Kubrick had lives in the States (or anywhere accessible) and let the studio hacks talk him into trying a Grisham film you'd be saying the same things about him. They both made good films at about the same rate, (less than Scorsese, more than Malick) it's just that Altman continually tried new things in between while Kubrick kicked back and thought "I'm a bloody genius, I don't need to practice." I'd still rather watch bad Altman than the best film ever made by... oh God what's happening to my memory, the Milk Money guy, Dustin Hoffman wannabe actor before he became a director... someone please plug my brain back in... help... Wait! Brewster McCloud! That's the Altman movie! And bad Altman doesn't include The Long Goodbye, which makes me wretchedly ill. If he wanted to satirize Chandler why couldn't he have picked The Big Sleep or something instead of his bestest book ever? Why, Robert, why? (And Richard Benjamin is the hack in question. Isn't stream-of-consciousness writing fun, boys and girls?)
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That is the accepted way to say a film is good on this site isn't it? Well Cookie's Fortune is the best movie I've seen in a long, long time. It was so good I was giggling as I left the theater. All I knew about it going in was it was an Altman movie and Liv Tyler was in it. The film is impeccable. You get the feeling that every actor in the film loved coming to work every morning. A textbook example of how to use a camera. Superb writing, absolutely assured. All these arrogant young pricks and their regurgitated teen comedy/horror/car crash films should take a look at Cookie's Fortune, but then they might learn something from the masters, and we can't have that now, can we? And also, there are no special effects, no stupid boy crap, and Rodriguez, Williamson, Smith, Tarantino had nothing to do with it, so no one here can possibly like it.
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I have to admit that I've only seen two of Altman's films...but I have the benefit of seeing both of them in the last two weeks. I watched M*A*S*H two weeks ago, and I just finished watching "The Player" (as in the post-film commentary is still going on as I write this), and while I really liked both of them, I guess my biggest complaints would be the endings. They're both virtually the same (although I felt that "The Player" did it much better). The both have that "post-modern" twist, of realizing that it's a film and letting us know it. The pitch for "The Player" at the end of "The Player" is a great ending, but it felt phony after seeing the same gag in "M*A*S*H. It's not much of a complaint though. "The Player" is a great film. I love anti-heroes. -Loki
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Ughhhhhh! What a horrible piece of crap this movie turned out to be. Who wrote this thing, a fifth grader? "Cookie's Fortune" has the most basic plotting since . . .well since I sat through . . .damn I can't think of a movie this bad. Oh wait, yes I can, "The Gingerbread Man." There's a worse movie.
The writing is simplistic, hackneyed and slow. From the very opening sequence I had a queasy feeling in my gut. Ten minutes into this waste of two hours of my life my body was pleading with me to leave. I didn't because the rest of the group people I saw it with seemed okay with the film and I always get yelled at if I leave for another movie. So I stayed (unbeknownst to me, three out of four of us desperately wanted to hightail it during the film) and watched this horrid movie without any surprises or twists or turns or suspense. If the writer had shown us the characters and then fast forwarded to the police's discovery of the body, maybe this could have been engaging. Kooky characters do not make a good film. You have to make the audience care and in this sorry-ass piece of dung i didn't care because I knew from the beginning it would all turn out rosey. Sure enough. 120 minutes after the painstakingly slow start, the movie ground to an unclimactic finish. Who did the screenwriter blow to get this slop sold? Does Altman have some a brain tumor or something? Blech!!!!
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