ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION
A film review by Tim Voon
Copyright 1997 Tim Voon
Starring: Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, Janeane Garofolo, Alan Cumming, Julia Campbell. Screenplay: Robin Schiff. Director: David Mirkin.
Who hasn't dreamed of returning to their high school reunion to show that they have made something of their lives. It is especially difficult to face up to the past when you were the odd kid on the block and nobody liked you; and it takes even more courage to go as you are.
Romy and Michelle (Sorvino and Kudrow), are invited to return to their high school reunion, Class of 87, Sagebrush High. They haven't made much of their opportunities in the last ten years since high school (one is unemployed and the other is a receptionist). They feel that they need to upgrade their profile in order to be liked, so they pretend to be successful business women who discovered 'post-its' and the self adhesive glue that binds it. After much ridicule from the 'brat pack' at the reunion, they finally realise that they need to be themselves. Shedding their disguises they face the past, the pack, and their problems on their own level and terms.
This pleasant, mindless excursion into comedy is both charming and flawed. It skims over issues of coming to terms with one's past fears of rejection and lost hopes, with enough light hearted ditziness to give a cow vertigo. Not everyone will leave their high school reunion, transformed from a duckling to a swan, in the arms of a millionaire in his private helicopter. I can guarantee that most of us will not.
The final dance sequence was so embarrassing I wanted to hide. Sorvino and Kudrow play 'blondes' to a tee, with enough 80's music to wallow with nostalgia.
Comment: One big, overdrawn blonde joke.
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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