ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION
A film review by Michael Dequina
Copyright 1997 Michael Dequina
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (R) *** (out of ****)
Take arguably the funniest dumb blonde on TV (Lisa Kudrow), pair her with the most memorable dumb blonde in recent film (Mira Sorvino), and you get the irreverent, loopy, and entertaining new comedy Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.
As can be expected, Sorvino, who won an Oscar for her Mighty Aphrodite numskull hooker routine, and Kudrow, Emmy nominee for her work as dullard songstress Phoebe on NBC's hit Friends, perfectly embody Romy White and Michele Weinberger, respectively, a couple of aimless L.A. clubhopping losers attend to their ten-year high school reunion in Tucson, Arizona. These two can play this type of role in their sleep, but there's no question that they play the part well. How well? Having two incredibly idiotic people as the leads in a film has the potential to grow old really fast, but Sorvino and Kudrow keep their characters consistently interesting and likable throughout the film, never losing the audience's rooting interest; they're just a lot of fun to hang around with. The two have a natural rapport, and their best moments come early in the film, as the intelligence-impaired pair attempt to shape up their lives in time to brag to their old enemies at the reunion. Of course, their plan for self-improvement doesn't work, and they instead decide to just pretend to be successful, something much easier said than done. Then again, for these two, everything is much easier said than done.
Sorvino and Kudrow are on pitch-perfect target during the heart of the film, the reunion itself, but the second half of Romy and Michele belongs to neither Romy nor Michele. It is clearly owned by Janeane Garofalo, simply terrific as acid-tongued Heather Mooney, who was even more of a social outcast in high school than Romy and Michele. She has all the best lines in Robin Schiff's amusing script, and her dry, nasty, movie-stealing performance keeps the proceedings from becoming overly saccharine and sweet--which, at times, it threatens to do, especially when the high school snobs (led by a hissably bitchy Julia Campbell) get their expected comeuppance.
First-time helmer David Mirkin, an executive producer on The Simpsons, displays some of that series' witty, irreverent sense of humor in this film, especially in a wildly unexpected plot curve midway through. He brings some refreshing visual flair to the obligatory high school flashback scenes, which are presented as yearbook pictures come to life. The '80s soundtrack is also quite effectively used, not simply as nostalgia but also as background score; for instance, Romy is belittled by people from the "A crowd" as Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" plays in the background, and Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" provides a perfect bubblegum backdrop for our heroines' ultimate triumph. Also, I don't think I'll ever hear Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" in quite the same way after seeing the--for lack of a better term--"unique" dance number it underscores.
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion gets the job done as popcorn entertainment, but in the end I can't say that a whole lot really goes on in its 90something minutes--ditzy Romy and Michele go to their reunion and get their revenge--and the film is just about instantly forgettable. But what isn't forgettable are the characters: the main duo and, most of all, the hilariously prickly Heather. Sorvino and Kudrow have expressed a desire to do a whole Romy and Michele series, but here's hoping they can get Garofalo to join in on a series of Romy, Michele, and Heather flicks.
Michael Dequina mrbrown@ucla.edu | mj23@the18thhole.com mrbrown23@juno.com | mrbrown@iname.com | mst3k@digicron.com Visit Mr. Brown's Movie Site at http://members.tripod.com/~MrBrown/ Personal Page: http://members.tripod.com/~MrBrown/home.html
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