I'm the Mary!!! (Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion (DVD))

Member Name: drewboy

Product:	Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion (DVD)
Date:	10/05/05 (1300 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious, Nostalgic look at the 80's, Lisa Kudrow

Disadvantages: A bit silly for some, No Extra's

Happily plodding along with her life, Romy is at her work as normal when an old classmate turns up at the counter to pick up her Jaguar after it was in getting repaired. From this chance encounter, Romy finds out that her high school is having a 10 year reunion for her class!

This is big news for Romy and her roommate (and life long friend) Michelle so they set too filling out the forms to register their intent to attend. However, problems arise when they realise that all they have to show for 10 years is that Romy is a cashier, Michelle is unemployed and both of them are still single – surely they can’t go like that!

So, they embark on a few plans to get themselves better jobs, new men and loose weight, but nothing seems to work.

But wait……Romy has a better plan up her sleeve…..



This film is silly. It’s implausible. It’s completely ridiculous but above all, its funny! The basic premise is that the two main characters are ditzy blondes with simple lives are going to their high school reunion but they want to impress everyone and show exactly how much they have changed in the elapsed time. They have of course changed very little, but then that’s what they see as the main problem.

To explain the sudden realisation they have about their time at high school, director David Mirkin takes the two through a series of flashbacks to their final year. While normally I cringe when flashbacks are used in this way, he does this by showing the girls reading through their class year book. This enables the scenes to fit perfectly within the story rather than a side issue thrown in to help explain the story. He also utilises the stereotypical image I think we would all have of an American high school in the late 80’s to great effect, showing us ‘jocks’ on the football field and everyone with their little trays of school meals eaten on benches in the back of the school.

If you have seen clueless, then its that kind of script except a lot more teenage American. “Like ya ha..” and similar is littered all over the dialogue however it is very much in keeping with the spirit of the film. There is plenty of laughs to be had through this and although the humour is simple, it is very effective and the jokes come at you one after the other in quick succession.

The characters in the film have very defined roles and you can’t help but like Romy and Michelle, while you immediately dislike the school bitches. Romy (Mira Sorvino) is supposed to be the cleverer of the two however still has the dumb blonde down to perfection at the same time. The interaction between herself and Michelle (Lisa Kudrow) is played with such hilarity and familiarity that you could swear that the two actresses had known each other for years. Kudrow plays the part like the dumb little sister of Phoeby from friends and you can see that she got the inspiration for the pat from the hit TV show. This really isn’t a bad thing however, as she really has created what could be said as the ultimate blonde character and her impeccable comic timing shines through in this effort. The characters do get a rather nice amount of development as they work through the film to learn to accept who they really are and that it really doesn’t matter what others think of them. Another notable character is Heather Mooney (Janeane Garofalow). She plays the misfit at school who was decidedly unpleasant and she is fantastic at this role! Simply playing it as a mean person, she contrasts against the bitches of the school impressively and it makes her surprisingly likeable as there was no falseness to the character at all. Alan Cummings portrayal of the geeky Sandy Frink was spot on, and his transition for Scottish to American accent never faltered once, and he allowed the character to be made fun of impressively.

This film was not about special effects in the slightest, rather the clothes and costumes. The flashback scenes were chock full of 80’s nostalgia and the Madonna costume at the prom was hilarious! Back in the nineties, the use of colour, boldness and over the top clothes the day to day Romy & Michelle dress in suits the dumb blonde persona perfectly and is reminiscent of the “baby spice” look.

You could not have a film with throwbacks to the 80’s without a cracking good soundtrack to go along with it. Both in the flashback scenes and at the reunion itself, you are treated to such artists as Bananarama, Culture Club, Tears for Fears, Belinda Carlisle and of course, Cyndi Lauper. One scene that has me rolling on the floor everytime is the dance sequence near the end done in a ballet-esque style to ‘Time after Time’, it is the ultimate in cheese but it makes no apologies for it!

Now as a DVD, its got nowt. All you can actually do is choose the chapter or put on subtitles in various different languages. If fact, as it loads up it goes directly into the movie so you really can't even do those things until you press the menu button! A bit dissapointing.

So to conclude, I have to (ashamedly) admit I do love this film. It is in no way an attempt to put out a serious attempt at intelligent humour and as long as you accept this and turn your mind off, you should laugh and laugh. For those of you who were 80’s kids, you will live the music and for those of you who were not, just watch it for the sheer sillyness and barrow full of laughs! I have given the film 4 stars as although I love it, I do concede that it will be just a little TOO silly for some folks out there!


drew

Cast List – imdb.com

Mira Sorvino .... Romy White
Lisa Kudrow .... Michele Weinberger
Janeane Garofalo .... Heather Mooney
Alan Cumming .... Sandy Frink
Julia Campbell .... Christy Masters
Mia Cottet .... Chery
lKristin Bauer .... Kelly
Elaine Hendrix .... Lisa Lude
rVincent Ventresca .... Billy

Summary: