Samantha Mathis in How to Make an American Quilt (1995)

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Review

American Quilt has nothing even remotely resembling humor, except for the usual stock granny remarks, variations on the old wives' tales and urban legends that appear in every granny film. (What I like to call "men getting lost because they won't ask for directions" humor). I don't think you can call this "humor' so much as "shared female folklore" - sort of a gender bonding thing, similar to men's unyielding belief that women don't drive as well, despite their lower insurance rates.

Compare that humorless approach to Legally Blonde, which is obviously a pink film, but which also made me laugh a few times with a range of humor far beyond the "female folklore" level. To me, subjectively, American Quilt seems like a humorless granny film. It also stars Ellen Burstyn, who is the granny of grannies. She is to Granny flicks what Eastwood is to Spaghetti Westerns. It also stars a whole bunch of additional real grannies, which adds to the silver luster.

I found it completely unwatchable. The female characters are romanticized, and the male characters are cardboard props. To give you the idea, the film is about a women (Winona Ryder) who is about to be married, but her future groom is barely listed in the cast. She visits a bunch of grannies who are quilting her wedding quilt. They spin some homespun wisdom based on flashbacks to their own romantic pasts, and Winona learns to follow her heart, or someone else's heart, or something. I forget now, but I'm sure it was some profound shit.

Nudity Report: Joanna Going shows her breasts and buns in a flashback scene.

Critics Vote: Ebert 2/4. Berardinelli ¾.

IMDB Summary: IMDb voters score it 5.9/10.

DVD Info: Widescreen letterbox, 1.78:1.


Written by: Tuna …courtesy of Scoopy.net