COOKIE'S FORTUNE a Robert Altman film
 

COOKIE'S FORTUNE

If you every wanted to rent a film with tones of great actors and an origanal story Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune is your best bet. Altman mixes in the right amount of farce and camp and gets the right amount of ingredaints This is a film that you can tell is going to hold-up because the characters are played way over the top and it's always nice to see good actors taking over the top roles and putting a new spin on things as for the directing it's superb Altman puts his noticible touch of greatness mixing in fluid audio and blatent imagery I.E.Glenn Close getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar and underlining themes that don't have alot to do with the main story but give the film real characterI thing it's a real treat to see film's like this still being made today it's like the Grand Hotel for the 21 century. I wouldn't say it was as great as some of the stuff Altman has done but considering some of the stuff that is made to day I'd say it was pretty tight.

Not among the ranks of Bob Altman's very best or the ground-breaking work of the '70s, but Cookie's Fortune is defintiely the finest film he's made since Short Cuts in '93. The new release Gosford Park may soon take over that title, but Cookie is a very fun and well made little movie. As usual for an Altman film, the ensemble cast is nearly perfect. The standouts this time are Charles 'Roc' Dutton, Julianne Moore, Ned Beatty and Courtney B. Vance, but everyone is uniformly good.

I thought you might diss me on this one I've been holding back on it I'm glad that you dig. it's not my fav of his but I like it also do you know when his new one Gosford Park is coming out and have you heard anything about it that might be intresting thanks.

There's already a thread, HERE, devoted to Gosford Park.

I don't know too much about it, other than the incredible cast and that it's a drawing room murder mystery set in England, and I'm purposefully keeping myself in the dark. It opens in New York & L.A. December 26th, and slowly through the rest of the country in January.

If you're interested, the official site, including a brief synopsis of the plot, is HERE.

I read the first link thanks Mr. Pike also I have to thank you for defending one of my favorite little movies Clue and what was the guy think about martin mull kicks butt

Col. Mustard: Are you trying to make me look stupid in front of the other guests?
Wadsworth: You don't need any help from me, sir.
Col. Mustard: That's right!

Mr. Green: So it was you. I was going to expose you.
Wadsworth: I know. So I choose to expose myself.
Colonel Mustard: Please, there are ladies present!

(just before a chandelier falls and misses him by a couple of feet)
I can't take anymore scares

Anyone who only knows Martn Mull from "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" or the Whoopi Goldberg "Hollywood Squares" is missing a whole important chunk of his career. In the late '70s he had a spin-off from the nighttime soap/satire "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" called "Fernwood 2-Night". A precusor to "The Larry Sanders Show", it was a satire of late night talk shows, starring Mull as Barth Gimble and Fred Willard as his witless sidekick Jerry Hubbard. Much of it was unscripted, and it was often brilliant. Alas, it was too far ahead of its time.

Before that even, Mull had a successful career as a stand-up. He was never a super star of the circuit, more of a comedian's comedian. He had a fall-down hysterical mini-series he did for cable TV called "The History of White People in America". It starred Mull, Willard, Mary Kay Place, and Harry Shearer. A bit dated now, but still good stuff at its core.

Martin Mull is a very funny man. Clue, Mr. Mom and the '70s cult classic FM are the best roles he's had in feature films, and I think he's very good in all three. He doesn't have a whole lot of range, and he hasn't been offered too many good projects since the mid-'80s (though I loved him as Leon on "Roseanne"), but the guy is funny....in my book anyway.


Anywho....

Thanks again man you just told me a bunch of stuff I didn't know about the guy I also Love the part in Clue were he open the cupbroad and the ironing table smokes him dead smack in the forehead HA ! that rocked. I was looking at his filmography at IMDB and I own The Boss' Wife (1986) but haven't seen it is it any good Mr. Pike.

No, The Bosses Wife isn't good. Very TV-movie quality, but with a dash of nudity as I recall. It was a cable TV mainstay back in the late '80s, the kind of thing you always ran into at 3:00am. It's a pretty bad little movie, a dull and stupid comedy, but luckily almost totally forgettable too.

It's all good I bought it for 2 bucks so it's not a big thing yeah and it didn't look so great on the box as you said TV movie style oh well. thanks again

Cookie's Fortune 8/10
 

A personal fave of mine and IMO one of Altmans most entertaining works post 70's. (Also adore THE PLAYER & SHORT CUTS)

Altman is always capturing actors at there best an this film is no exception. There is an air of sponaety about everyones performance. As usual its a stellar cast and the cinematography perfectly compliments the script.

This is a gentle comedy that almost seems effortless if it werent for the issues being discussed. Every scene furthers the story and goes deeper into layering the charecters.

Amusing and inspiring this is a polished work from one of the great American directors.