Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I have to admit, this has to be my favorite movie of all time. This one of the few movies where you feel really engaged in the story line, almost as if you were in the movie. It always leaves me in tears because it reminds me of a small town I used to visit when I was a young child and how over time they slowly disappear. Soundtrack is perfect as well. Overall very moving and encouraging with some added comedy, a movie that most could resonate with and enjoy!

So many have praised this film. The naysayers don't seem to like women, or feel threatened by the portrayal of the men in this story. Let's face it. Racism and women bashing has been such a part of this world, let's not get carried away by a film that puts women in a positive light as they face off against this threat. This is a story of survival. Survival from an ugly force, founded on physical violence and drunkenness. When the women begin to look out for each other's needs, it's when they become energized. From Kathy Bates, who hears the story, to the final outcome, this gets more and more interesting. Fanny Flagg's book comes to life as Idgie becomes one of literature's and cinema's most wonderful characters. I will never forget the barbecue scene. Of course, reviewers seldom mention the scene in the parking lot. That's worth the price of admission.

Well having now finally seen this, I have to say this isn't the type of movie I'd been imagining over the last 25 years or so; I'd thought it would be some Southern "romantic comedy" with the four leading ladies all in the same household at the same time having various heart-warming hi-jinks; instead it's these two parallel (fairly "serious") stories about 50 years apart. I guess the earlier story was the more personally compelling for me, since it was the one with the luminous Mary-Louise Parker, whom I've been watching in "Weeds" on my cable service and it was fascinating to see this younger version of her doing her native accent (she's from South Carolina). It's fascinating how she mixes passivity with latent ferocity, like an angel carrying a switchblade knife or something. When she casually threatens to kill her abusive husband without raising her soft voice but with a little demented gleam appearing in her eyes, it's scary. It's been said "Acting is reacting," and I don't know a better reactor. She also benefits from a much "fuller" story situation, with all the other characters (I didn't even recognize old Cicely Tyson) and sobering subplots involving the KKK and domestic abuse and a murder trial (although even this veers towards camp) etc. (I've never been a fan of Mary Stuart Masterson, but she seems well cast here.) I did think that Ruth's getting sick and dying felt "rushed" ---"Wait, she has cancer? When did that happen?" ---but the actual death scene with the single camera shot was maybe the best thing in the movie. (That's what happens when people die of "natural causes," it's usually not "dramatic," they just slip away.) The "modern" story, by contrast, was mostly between Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy, who STILL had time to do four more movies after this before finally dying. (I saw her in "Dragonwyck" from 1946 but I forget what she looked like young. I'll have to catch her in something else.) The modern story felt more by-the-numbers, but the amazing Kathy Bates (who completely stole the most recent season of "American Horror Story") can bring even the tritest part (in this case the meek housewife getting "uppity") to life; she and Tandy have some great exchanges about vaginas and hormones. I was a little annoyed at the "mysterious" ending, with the suggestion that Tandy's character was possibly the older version of the Masterson character; it reminds me of a line from "Detective Story" from 1950: "Twelve years ago I threw my radio out the window; you know why? 'Cause I hate mysteries!" But at least Tandy didn't turn out to be a goddamned ghost or something—or so I'm presuming…..Anyway I'm glad I finally got to see it; my only regret is that Ruth's scumbag husband didn't suffer more when he died. Don't even get me started on the topic of abusive males, it just drives me absolutely bat-crap, reflects badly on all us male types… By the way there's a certain plot point that seems borrowed both from "Soylent Green" and "Sweeney Todd," not to mention the "Texas Chainsaw" series, and they all leave me wondering: So how were the inedible bits disposed of?

I just watched this film for the 3rd or 4th time and each time it touches me to the very depth of my heart. It is a perfectly made film, flawlessly acted, brilliantly written and directed. More of the actors, and the director, should have received Oscar nominations. This is a film about life and all of its elements: family, tragedy, loss, racism, physical abuse, emotional abuse, abuse of power, marriage, spirituality, but most of all the spirit of love and deep, abiding friendship that both conflicts and resonates deeply through all of the conjoined characters, their lives, and their purpose. Few films will touch you as deeply as Fried Green Tomatoes, its profound message one you will carry with you every day of your life, with everyone you know. This is one of the best films ever made.