My Best Friend's Wedding
This being my first ever written movie review, I thought it would be appropriate that I start of with a review that gave me the greatest theatrical enjoyment in my favorite genre of films this year. Please feel free to comment on my style of critique; whether or not you think Siskel and Ebert should be sacrificed in my honor or if you feel that you should get a new phone cord for ever letting such a vile piece of literature flow through your modem. Enjoy ;)
This movie caught my attention from the first time I saw the trailer. Why? Anyone who's ever seen a few romantic comedies will at one point or another talk about a point in a movie that either touched them deeply, could really relate to, or have been through a similar experience and was the cause for loving or hating the movie. On an admittedly personal note, "My Best Friend's Wedding" did the exactly that for me; and that was just the trailer. Having seen the trailer a few more times, plus viewing some commercial, and seeing Julia Roberts back in the type of part that made her famous, plus seeing who was in the cast, I had high expectations for the movie.
I was not disappointed.
The opening credit features a silly-but-cute-so-therefore-enjoyable choreograph of dancing a bride and bridesmaids. They're dressed in the picture- wedding attire but dance around with a rather mischievous look on each of their faces. The movie itself starts off with the Julianne Potter (played by a glowing Julia Roberts) doing what she does for a living, reviewing restaurants. It is there she tells her friend George (lovable lug Rupert Everett) about her best friend Michael, who has left a phone call sounding "desperate" telling Jules "we have to talk". Apparently they shared a brief but heated relationship which ended with him making Julianne commit to a pact that should they still be unwed by the time they reach 28, they'll marry each other. And they've been the best of friends ever since. George points out to Julianne, whom everyone calls "Jules", that she'll be turning 28 in 3 weeks.
Apparently Jules has a problem with dating in that her view of relationships is akin to that of an attention-deficient child during a math lecture. She has better luck keeping guys around as just friends, and as her claims with Michael, even best friends. She doesn't realize until he's unavailable that she granted her belief that Michael had always have a romantic interest in her. Jules finds out about his engagement after finally talking to him on the phone and while the whole time assuming he wants to propose, he drops a revelation that literally knocks her off her feet. Now she has four days to "break up the wedding, steal the groom", and she has no idea how. By the books this movie is not.
The focus of Jules' obsession is sportswriter/best friend Michael O'Neal (expertly played by the handsome Dermont Mulrony). The fiancee is the sweet, young Kimmy Wallace play by Cameron Diaz who incidentally, improves her acting abilities with every role and is hereleaps-and- bounds beyond anything she's done before. More on that later.
Though Julia Roberts is the star of the movie, her co-stars are affectively an integral part of the movie. Scene stealer Rupert Everett is at his best when he flies to Chicago to comfort the self-pitying Jules and unwillingly becomes her new fiancee. His attempts at being a gay man who embarrasses Jules by playing her testosterony-yet-loveable fiancee flying over for a "pre-conjugal" visit are both effective and hilarious. Comic mayhem ensues during a meal at a seafood restaurant where he turns the movie into a mini-musical by leading the family and eventually the entire restaurant in a lively rendition of "I Say a Little Prayer".
Credit also goes to Rachel Griffiths and Carrie Preston who play Samantha and Amanda, Kimmy's two perky, nymphomaniacal bridesmaids. Their parts are brief but the screen time they share are funny. the funniest being a scene of an ice sculpture shown in a manner not quite scene before.
Hats off to Aussie P.J. hogan who does an effective job of keeping the film lively and entertaining even at parts where it starts to run a little thin. His willingness to try the unconventional and an uncanny ability to filter out needless sentiment keeps the movie gleeful and enjoyably lacking in pretense.
Mulroney is effective if boring as the nice but confused groom to be. Diaz throws her body and soul into her role as the rich but unspoiled and highly energetic bride. Keep an eye on her face, not because it's nice to look at (well, ok that too), but her newfound acting skills allows her to act in some parts without saying a word. The perfect example is where Jules takes Michael and Kimmy to a karaoke club, know quite well that Kimmy is frightened to death of karaoke. Diaz's expressions of fear is evident from the moment she first walks in and you can't help but feel sorry for her while at the same time think Jules as incredibly mean for putting her up to this. I found myself almost singing along as if trying to help her get through the song and though most people won't get drawn quite this way, most will be rooting for her to do well. Diaz is here head and shoulders above her lacking performance in "She's the One" and anything else she's done.
One thing lacking where you'd except to find is chemistry between the two main stars. Mulroney and Roberts is believable as best friends, but the chemistry between him and Diaz is lukewarm at best. Here again Everett steals the movie by meshing well with Roberts as the friend trying to help a friend in need and also a sane voice of reason to Robert's mild "psychotic jealousy". Even the scenes where the two of them converse over the phone involve lively and meaningful dialogue.
I've heard critics say the movie isn't worth watching due to their inability to believe that a boy and a girl can still be best friends after a breakup or that the pact in itself was preposterous. As the voice of experience, I can say with confidence that it can happen. This isn't the first movie involving a pact between two friends. "If Lucy Fell" if you remember (you probably won't) involved a couple saying that if both of them were still single when they turned 30, they'd jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. "My Best Friend's Wedding" succeeds where "Lucy" fell (pun intended), least of which the terms of the pact is not nearly as morbid. "Wedding" has a lot going for it with Hogan's expert directing, Robert's bright smile returning to form in what his probably her best type of role, and the believable and entertaining performance of her costars. At the end of the movie, Jules won't be the only with an ear-to-ear grin.
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