Review: Romy & Michele's High School Reunion (1997)

People in the Movie:  Lisa Kudrow, Mira Sorvino, Janeane Garofalo

Director:  David Mirkin

Pigeonhole:  Comedy

The Basics: A light comedy involving 2 “airhead’ girls, best friends Romy (Sorvino) and Michele (Kudrow), currently living in Venice Beach, California, who find out it is time for their 10 year high school reunion in Tucson, Arizona.  Realizing that their current lives would not appear impressive to their former classmates, the 2 decide to fabricate appearances for themselves as successful businesswomen.  Hilarity ensues as Romy and Michele attempt interact with some girls who used to bully them, the “A-Group”, as well as various other peers.     

Recommendation:  I really enjoy this film which highlights the comedic talents of the 3 leads, above, with a fun, quick pace.   And really, what better setting for humorous exploits than a high school reunion?  It has a great soundtrack with plenty of 80’s favorites.  ‘R’ rating is for language: minus Garofalo slinging about 3 insults this is easily a PG-13 rating.

My Take:  Romy and Michele’s dialogues are classic back and forths matching any duo’s in a comedy I have watched.  Kudrow looks right at home in this movie as Michele; she very much resembles her character on Friends.  Sorvino was the real surprise playing Romy, as she really carries the movie, in my opinion, with her lovable naivety and almost goofy sounding dialect.  Garofalo rounds out the humor with her now typical cutting sarcasm as Heather Mooney, an ex-classmate of the two.  

**spoiler alert** Through a series of flashbacks the audience sees Romy and Michele in high school being the butt of jokes at the hands of the “A-Group” led by cheerleader Christy Masters (Julia Campbell).  Romy has a crush on Christy’s boyfriend Billy (Vincent Ventresca), the pretty boy quarterback, and Romy’s feelings are later used against her at the senior prom in yet another prank devised by Christy.  We also witness the crush that geek Sandy Frink (Alan Cumming) has on Michele which is otherwise ignored, all the while Heather has a noticeable crush on Sandy, which is equally unnoticed… ahh, the dynamics of high school. 

So Romy and Michele, in an effort to seem more remarkable for their reunion, concoct a story that they invented Post-it notes, dress themselves in sporty looking suits, and buy a cell phone (remember this is 1997).  The Post-it farce quickly crumbles in the middle of the reunion festivities as Heather reports that she personally knew the inventor of the Post-it, Art Fry.  Even in the throws of embarrassment, Romy and Michele rise to the occasion showing their former classmates how they “really” dress and act, as fun, hip California singles.  Lisa Luder (Elaine Hendrix) a former member of the A-Group, and now editor at Vogue magazine, reports to everyone at the reunion that Romy and Michele are, in fact, great clothing designers (Romy and Michele wore self designed clothing throughout the movie).  It is feel good Hollywood ending with the former geeks coming out on top, and with Romy and Michele now running their own clothing boutique.

 

Final Thought/Extras/For Fun:  The Romy and Michele characters originated in stage play called Ladies Room, which Kudrow played Michele…