bbewnylorac
I like the basic plot of this movie: two friends go to their high school reunion. They are confronted with old fears and feelings and decide to lie to their former classmates about their success in life. It's common to go to these events and find out that the geeks are still geeks, and the mean girls are still mean girls, and to reflect on how you wish things had turned out differently. As the leads, Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow are both likeable and their friendship is convincingly portrayed, but I don't know if having them both as blonde ditzy characters works. It makes the movie a little too lightweight and their issues are too similar. As the school rebel, the character Heather, played by Jeneane Garofalo, does have a very interesting character - unlike Romy and Michele she is so non-conforming and so different that you wonder why she bothered to go to the reunion. I guess it's so she can stand at the edge of the event and provide an acidic commentary and counter-point to the sugary, utterly fake festivities. Which she does do, very well. The cowboy character, who would smoke with Heather at high school but never used to utter a word to her, was amusing. At the reunion Heather doesn't seem very sympathetic to his explanation of how he used to behave, but he doesn't seem to mind. Almost ruining the movie, for me, were the three "mean girl" characters. I know this is a light comedy, but they were almost cartoon characters they were so stereotyped. They were too predictable. In the end there are no surprises from the movie. It didn't strive to be anything other than a bubbly soap opera. This was disappointing, because Kudrow, Sorvino and Garofalo are all intelligent women and probably deserved a better movie.
Wuchak
"Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" (1997) is about two Californians, Romy and Michele (Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow), who decide to attend their 10-year reunion in Arizona. Since they were misfits in high school they lie about their success and face the ramifications thereof. Janeane Garofalo is on hand as a no-nonsense fellow high schooler.While this comedy is fairly amusing and many elements of the story ring true, it's told from the protagonists' perspective (naturally) and would therefore appeal more to women. I'm on the fence with Sorvino and Kudrow -- I neither like nor dislike them -- so it's the story and peripheral characters that are going to make or break the film for people like me, but I can't remember that many memorable parts even though I saw the movie two days ago, which isn't a good sign. On the plus side there's no raunch.So it's worth checking out if what I said piques your interest but, for me, meh.The film runs 92 minutes and was shot in the general Los Angeles area.GRADE: C
thesar-2
In a movie where no one and I mean no one is very nice, is it hard to attach onto someone to root for? Why, yes! And it's even enjoyable to finally get to see them shop!I used to describe this movie as the "female Dumb & Dumber," and in reality, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion is, in fact, just that. But, let me assure you: it's 10x funnier and has more originality than the Jim Carrey movie will ever have.I just rewatched this movie for the, I dunno, fifteenth time and even though it's been about a decade since I last saw it, I found myself laughing out loud so many times, I couldn't count. So many memories, so many great characters, so many rude behaviors that would normally make me squeamish, made me burst out this time. Again, I understand hardly anyone is a "good person" in this, but their so-outrageous behavior made this slapstick comedy all the more enjoyable.Further, so many scenes and lines brought back such great recollections that I marveled in the comedic genius behind the screenplay. One that stood out, that made me stood up to watch, was the (Mild-spoiler, sorry) Romy-Tell-Off scene towards the end. I could watch that few-second scene dozens of times and never tire of it.(One more major spoiler, and if you haven't yet seen this, please skip to the next paragraph…) When I first saw this in theatres, I thought this movie was "just okay" and when it came to a scene that one character dreams of what the reunion is going to be like, I rolled my eyes. "Here we go again," I thought, for in many sitcoms, much like The Brady Bunch or movies, one character will dream of events they've never partaken in, but are worried about, and lo, following the dream, the next day, normally, they encounter the exact same scene/set up, even though it was physically impossible for them to predict/dream of what was to come when they've never encountered it. Here, Michele dreams of their pending High School Reunion, but, upon waking, the actual reunion is far different from what she imagined. Now, that's real life. That's exactly what would really happen. It was that moment that I admired and LOVED this film.Romy & Michele reminisce on their high school days of Tucson, Arizona's past once told about their upcoming high school reunion. But tensions rise between the non-gay BFF ditzy blondes of (now) L.A.'s beaches when the truth of who's (a VERY tad bit) smarter than the other right before they get to the reunion. Will they make up? Will the endless and set-up in advance old high school students finally realize who they were meant to be with or avoid?It is a comedy after all.With one of the best soundtracks, after all. And cleverest lines, and deep acting for a slapstick comedy. And fairly good cinematography and overall originality. It's also one of the absolutely funniest movies that still holds up today, for the most part – Flip phones, anyone? – of all time.Revisiting this movie, I now realized it's been far too long between viewings. This movie is amazing. I know I've seen this many times, but I found myself laughing, sometimes for joy, more times that I could count.I say: See it! And she says: Me, too!
