rated pg-13 starring glenn close , julianne moore , liv tyler , chris o'donnell , charles dutton , patricia neal , ned beatty , courtney b . vance , donald moffat , lyle lovett written by anne rapp directed by robert altman robert altman has earned his reputation as one of america's most distinguished filmmakers . he has made war films ( mash ) , historical dramas ( vincent & theo ) and legal thrillers ( the gingerbread man ) . but this time around , he has directed cookie's fortune , a hilarious and quirky dark comedy that opened 1999's sundance film festival . first time writer anne rapp wrote this kinda-sorta murder mystery that slightly echoes the coen brothers' fargo and david dobkin's clay pigeons . what is kind of ironic about cookie's fortune is that 15 minutes into the movie , we know who commited the murder and how , and during the course of the film we are watching the citizens of a small town called holly springs try to figure out what it going on . willis richland ( charles dutton ) has noticed that cookie ( patricia neal ) , an old lady whom he cares for , has started acting a trifle odd . one day , when he goes out to run a few errands , cookie commits suicide to finally reunite with her dead husband . unfortunately , the first to arrive at her home is camille ( glenn close ) , a quirky relative who has come to fetch a salad bowl . she notices that cookie isn't answering her , so she goes upstairs to find cookie dead , the gun in her hand . camille's dimwitted sister , cora , wanders inside and also sees what has happened . " cookie did not commit suicide , " camille assures her . " only crazy folks commit suicide . " camille , for reasons unknown to anyone except for her , wants to prove that her family isn't crazy , so she tries to pass off cookie's suicide as a murder . she goes through all the steps trying to make it seem like a murder , and then calls the cops . meanwhile , cora's delinquent daughter , emma ( liv tyler ) , is back in town . when the police suspect willis of commiting the crime , and lock him up , she decides to become her cellmate . infact , the jail cell is basically an open room where the cops come in and play scrabble and talk about fishing with the criminals . one of the cops is jason , a very dumb young man who is in love with emma . jason is excited to be coping with the town's first real crime , and camille is trying to cover it up right in front of him . cookie's fortune isn't one of altman's more important films , but it is still a cut above most dark comedies . unlike many directors , altman isn't trying to show off any derivative new style . he just wants the viewer to see the characters in their real life form , which makes the film all the more convincing . i'm surprised to see that the film recieved somewhat lukewarm reception at sundance . perhaps the viewers were hoping for something different . but i , for one , loved this entertaining gem . infact i may have even enjoyed it better than altman's last outing , the john grisham's scripted the gingerbread man , which was also a very good picture . cookie's fortune is a breath of fresh air from other derivative movies made by twentysomething film students . it shows patient , developed filmmaking from a truly knowledgable filmmaker . cookie's fortune is one of the new year's smartest comedies . a review by akiva gottlieb , the teenage movie critic <a href= " mailto : akiva@excite . com " >akiva@excite . com</a> <a href= " http : //www . angelfire . com/mo/film " >http : //www . angelfire . com/mo/film</a> watch me on tbs' " dinner and a movie " may 21 , 8 : 05pm est <hr>get your free , private email at <a href= " http : //mail . excite . com/ " >http : //mail . excite . com/</a> 
