Review of Fried Green Tomatoes, directed by Jon Avnet

Not to pat myself on the back too hard here, but something I’ve always admired in myself is how I try to diversify the kinds of books and movies I’m consuming. It has even extended into my theater life, as I spend quite a bit of time bouncing my way around New York City’s theater scene.

It forces me outside of my comfort zone, and I feel like I really get a sense of the diverse perspectives out there in the world. This is how I end up watching movies like Fried Green Tomatoes, too, as I would never watch movies like this randomly if I had never heard of it before.

One day, I was bored and decided to open up Netflix, as I had a month to kill between graduating school and going off to South Korea for an intensive study abroad program. So during this time, I watched a heck of a lot of movies. It’s why my blog lately has popped off with the kinds of content I’m posting.

I stumbled on Fried Green Tomatoes as a movie option when endlessly scrolling on Netflix. I didn’t care much for the synopsis, but pressed play and watched through it anyways.

Here’s my review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction.

After an unfortunate death, two young women find an unlikely friendship with each other.

This movie is split between two different timelines. In the present day, which is the 1980s in the world of the movie, Evelyn lives in Birmingham. Her husband Ed’s aunt is in a nursing home, and while visiting Evelyn befriends Ninny, an older woman also in the nursing home. Ninny launches into a story about the town of Whistle Stop, which no longer exists.

Her story begins with the death of Buddy, who was the brother of a young girl named Idgie. She’s the youngest in her family, and he had his shoe wedged in the tracks when a train hit him; he was unable to get it out in time. His girlfriend, Ruth, was there during the accident, and their screams attract the guests of the wedding they were attending.

Idgie doesn’t handle Buddy’s death well, and retreats from the world. Ruth leaves town, but when she comes back, she wants to help Idgie overcome her grief. The two eventually become friends, despite Idgie resisting her at first, and then Ruth gets married to a wealthy man named Frank and moves to Georgia.

However, when Idgie goes to visit her, she discovers Ruth is being abused, despite becoming pregnant. Ruth has no one to turn to, as her mother died years prior, so Idgie recruits from friends to bring Ruth back to Whistle Stop. She gives birth there, and then Idgie starts a business with some money her father lends her.

She helps out with Ruth and Buddy Jr. the child, and opens up a cafe. She employs the family cook at the case, Sipsey, and her son, and their cafe becomes wildly successful in the area despite the controversy surrounding it. They allow African Americans to eat there, which makes them a target of the KKK.

Frank brings the Klan to the cafe in an attempt to lynch the son, but then the Sheriff stops them before they can go through with it. Not long after, Frank tries to kidnap his son, too, but then goes missing. Buddy Jr. also loses an arm somewhere along the way at this point in a freak accident.

It’s five years later when his truck is found in a river, and an investigation is opened.

Idgie is the first suspect, as she was seen threatening Frank before his death. The cook’s son, Big George, and her are detained by the police, but then a false testimony given by the town’s Reverend frees them during the trial. The judge rules the death as an accident.

Ruth dies shortly after that, as she had terminal cancer. The cafe closes, and Whistle Stop declines as a town. People begin moving away, and Ninny comes to the end of the story. Turns out Sipsey is hte one who killed him, and Idgie and Big George dumped the car in the lake.

They turned his body into BBQ, and they served it to the cop who was looking for him. Evelyn, after hearing all of this, she decides she’s going to change her life and her marriage.

Soon, Ninny is discharged from the nursing home. Turns out she discovered her home was condemned along the way, and Evelyn invites her to live in her home. They visit Ruth’s grave, and we learn that Ninny is Idgie.

Overall Thoughts

This was a classic nineties movie to me, and I’m glad I watched it. The plot was less predictable than I expected—the barbecue body was poetic justice. I cackled when that appeared on the screen.

I think this is also such a pivot when it comes to representation and Southern women. I feel like I’ve consumed a lot of content that depicts them as passive and not agents in their own story, so this was pretty refreshing to see.

I’d say go watch this one if you have not already and want to! It was worth picking up.

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