My Best Friend's Wedding (Special Edition)

Rating:
Summary: A funny movie that anyone with a sense of humor will enjoy.
Review: A hilarious, yet touching movie that anyone will enjoy! If you want to have lots of laughs, and fun, and even a few tears, this movie is something you should want to see right away!

Rating:
Summary: Funny!
Review: This movie is a real fun movie to watch! Julia Roberts and the rest of the cast make this movie come alive....but I dont want her to be my best friend...

Rating:
Summary: The only Julia Roberts film I ever liked
Review: I can't stand syrupy, sugar coated romance with sweet toothed cutie-pie actresses, and that's what I expected here. Big mistake. This film is witty, clever, funny, and entertaining. A big surprise, I think this was Julia's best performance to date. (Ya know how hard this was to write? I hated Pretty Woman.) But this film is a nice little gem.

Rating:
Summary: FUN
Review: Great cast, great story, lots of fun to watch. Roberts and Diaz are good and play well together. Rupert Everett is VERY GOOD and moves the story along well a number of times. The relatives are priceless. Although I don't think this will become a classic, it is a movie you can watch and enjoy a number of times. I saw it in the theatre when it first came out and have watched it a couple of times since. A good addition to your home collection.

Rating:
Summary: Sparkling comedy rings poignant bells
Review: Though many of Julianne Potter's (Julia Roberts) efforts to win back an old boyfriend days before his impending nuptials may seem far fetched or even sociopathic, what rescues this movie from the banality of most commericial comedies is the smart writing and the expert performances. Julia Roberts can easily lapse into blandness (see CONSPIRACY THEORY), but she does make Julianne human in spite of her selfish actions. While we may never root for her (there is no doubt that Cameron Diaz is the truly better match for Dermot Mulroney's character), by the end, when Julianne regains her senses, we finally can feel her loss. Roberts plays the love-confession and the poignant farewell scenes so well that we may be thinking back to our own love losses with a tinge of remorse or, at least sentiment. Kudos also to Rupert Everett, unfairly robbed of an Oscar nomination, for his brilliant, unforgettable portrayal of Julianne's surrogate best friend, George. George seems to be th! e only voice of reason left in Julianne's life and if more movie (and real-life) friendships were this open, decent, and genuine, the world would be a better place and there would be no need for the glut of talk show deviates which populate the airwaves. MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING bears up under repeated viewings as well; it's not Shakespeare, but it's miles above the standard Hollywood comedy. Thank the stars. END

Rating:
Summary: Reliable Classic Chick Flick
Review: This film has become a classic in the contempory girl orientated romantic comedy genre we know as the chick flick. I watched it again, for the first time in ages, recently and I genuinley can't remember many movies of its kind that show such honesty. Julia Roberts is brilliant, and I loved seeing her in a character that wasn't oozing charm and lovliness, and whose opinions weren't always correct. Cameron Diaz was breaking slowly into Hollywood around this time, and this film was a clear example of just why she is so succesful. Maybe I'm being a little harsh only rating it as a 3, but to be honest it isn't one of my favourite ever films. However, it is a film that pleases you with its deserved ending and will always be a well known girlie movie.

Rating:
Summary: Like music? Look here...
Review: In 2001 Moulin Rouge brought back the musical, and in 2002 Chicago capped that comeback by taking six Oscars, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. A musical? Best picture?

Before either of these phenomena came P. J. Hogan's My Best Friend's Wedding. While not classified as a traditional musical, it features enough musical numbers that Hogan admitted to being worried that studio executives would think he was making a musical when they saw the early footage. The truth is that My Best Friend's Wedding defies classification-in musical terms, anyway. It's use of music to set mood, develop characters and serve as the main metaphor in the story, as well as to provide the hinge pin for the redemption of the main character in the end, was, and still is, revolutionary.

First of all, the incidental music by James Newton Howard (who has done music for about a hundred films, from Pretty Woman to next year's Batman Begins) is absolutely complicit in the storytelling of the film. If you were teaching a course in writing music for the movies, you could not find a better text-book example than Howard's music in My Best Friend's Wedding. It provides a wonderful psychological underpinning to the twists and turns of the plot. It is mischievous, despairing, surprised, scheming, sweet and countless other turns of the emotional wheel throughout the course of the film. The one thing it never is, is intrusive. If you have already watched this film a number of times, watch it once simply for the enjoyment of Howard's score-and, as you're doing so, try to imagine any of those scenes without it.

Now for the "musical numbers."

To the guy who "...hated, hated, hated..." the opening credits number, all I can say is, you just didn't get the joke. There always seems to be someone in the room who doesn't get it. It is exactly three minutes of pinks, pastels, lace and virginal sweetness ending with the angelic bride looking to heaven, the beatific spotlight illuminating her face, the solo riff of soul ascending in the background-all is sweetness and light, heaven on earth. Fadeout. What is the next sound you hear-even before anything appears on the screen? I'll let you check it out yourself. I hate explaining jokes.

Music is a metaphor in this movie. Music is Love. Music is Love with a capital "L". In the epistemological world of the film, the people who have one have both. And the people who don't have one, can't have either. Witness the next musical number: the karaoke bar. Kimmy (Cameron Diaz) "...can't sing a note" and is obviously mortified to find herself in a karaoke establishment. But when the mic is handed to her, despite her fear and protestations, she sings. She gives it everything she has, which isn't much, and, by the time she reaches the bridge, she is into it. The message is, of course, that we may not all be nightingales, but if you have Love, you have music. The fact that Kimmy is singing to her Michael (Durmot Mulroney) is one thing, but almost beside the point in the grand plan of the film's world. Michael tells her, "That was terrible...terrible!" and then throws his arms around her and kisses her. Of even greater significance is the fact that, by the end of Kimmy's number, what had been a hostile crowd when she started, now cheers her as an equal. They recognize she has IT.

The Crab house number is the musical scene most people point out as a favorite for its unabashed joy and exhilaration. It is a musical number almost unique in film. It has the spiritual rapture of a Baptist revival meeting. Everyone in the room sings. Everyone? Actually, no. In the entire room, there are two people with conflicted emotions at the moment. And they cannot sing. It would not be allowed. I should note here that of all the main characters, the only one in the entire film who never sings, who is incapable in the world of the film is Julianne (Julia Roberts). She is the subverter, the mole. She is the only one without the requisite "capital L" in her heart. If this movie were of a different genre, say a thriller, we would be waiting for the scene in which her inability to sing gives her away. We know she had it at one time. She and Michael apparently had one "hot" weekend. And we know they really were in love. How do we know? They had a song.

The next is the most intimate musical number in the film: the boat scene on the Chicago river. Michael has felt the stab of jealousy, seeing Julianne with the man he thought was her fiancé and he is working out the consequent self-doubts about the marriage. He notes that they (he and Julianne) never said they loved each other, never actually spoke the words. And in one beautifully timed moment, as the boat passes under a bridge and the two of them are standing in darkness, a kind of suspended time where the sun (the time-keeper) is out of sight, Julianne is given her opportunity to confess her love, but says nothing. With simple elegance, James Newton Howard's music highlights the poignancy of the moment as the sun reappears. Michael resolves himself to his decision to marry Kimmy and, as he sings their old song, The Way You Look Tonight, he and Julianne dance one last time. Listen carefully to J.N. Howard's accompaniment to Michael's singing. Jerome Kern's song has never sounded more sad. It's almost a dirge. Once again, Julianne can't sing. All she can do is try to wipe the tears away.

By far, the most bizarre musical number occurs on a balloon-filled tennis court. At first, there is no music-there is a crisis. Michael has told Kimmy he is calling off the wedding and now he's agonizing over that decision. How can there be music? Then, under pointed questioning from Michael, Julianne admits, "Of course she loves you. She's crazy about you." He will marry Kimmy. And in one of the strangest moments in the film, three young boys who have been inhaling the helium meant for the balloons, break into one verse of John Denver's "Annie's Song." Simple, straightforward, weird. Another disguised musical number.

What can I say about the next musical number except that it is the most sublime of the film. There are a few directors who boldly bring great music into theaters with them but none I know surpasses the minute and thirty second wedding processional in this film. In a film where music functions as a metaphor for Love, what music do you choose for Love's most important ritual-Burt Bacharach? John Denver? Jerome Kern? The processional is choreographed to an entire movement of Serge Rachmaninoff's lengthy (an entire performance takes all evening) a capella choral work, Vespers. It is sung in the original Russian, and the scene opens, not on the church, not on Kimmy, not on Michael, not on Julianne, not on Bree Turner. The first thing you see is-the choir. But of course. The music is drop-dead gorgeous. That this music was chosen instead of, for example, the Mendelssohn or Wagner wedding marches or even the 15,738,522nd wedding performance this season of something like The Wind Under My Wings, is a tribute to the intelligence and clarity of vision of both P.J. Hogan and J.N. Howard.

Finally-what do you do with Julianne? She entered the film without Love of her own. She never was comfortable "...with the yucky love stuff." (The best she can come up with in reviewing what might be to someone else a sensually delicious gourmet entrée is to write it up as "...inventive and confident...") Her avowed mission throughout the film has been the demonic destruction of the love of Michael and Kimmy. She is selfish and deceitful from the beginning. How do you convince an audience of her conversion in the world of the film? True, she has gone off and found Kimmy at White Sox Park, but that was something she had to do by way of making up to Michael for the crimes of the movie. On a deeper level-will she be saved? Julianne's redemption comes in the "toast" scene when she stands up, "confesses" her nightmare, and brings her offering to the married couple-a song. She has taken the first step, anyway.

In a world of disposable television shows, many of which are nothing but long advertisements for the CD's flashed on the screen even before the credits appear at the end, and movies whose soundtracks itemize rock groups rather than composers, it is a real treat to come across a film that treats its audience members as though they were adults.

From a musician's point of view, this film is a classic.

Rating:
Summary: Rupert Everett is the main attraction
Review: He absolutely steals the movie away from under Julia's feet in this! He's outstanding as Julia's best friend. Although he's a cliché (the elegant, intelligent, witty and cultivated gay man), he emerges as a real person and has some of the best lines and definitely the best scene in the restaurant, where they all sing "I say a little prayer for you". (I can watch this scene over and over and not get fed up!) The music is another plus in the movie, really carefully chosen not just to support the scene but take an active part in the story.

There's not much to hate about this movie. It's one of those very cheery movies, that instantly put a smile on your face. However I HATE the opening credits (as one reviewer before me said, if you hate the opening credits, you'll hate the movie - not true) and I hate Cameron Diaz in this. Hate the hair, hate the look, hate the character, hate the fact she's such a pushover. I also hate the fact you see Julia smoking in this movie, I would have thought she had loads more sense than that, lets hope she's given up for the sake of her unborn twins.

The pacing is great with hardly a slowdown in the entire movie. Those times the movie does lessen the pace for a moment are to showcase a tender moment between Julia & Dermot Mulroney. A particularly bittersweet scene is when Julia & Dermot's characters share an afternoon taking a cruise through Chicago's downtown river. They share a song, a hug and look into each other's eyes and we as the audience wait to see if they profess their true love for each other, but the moment passes as they pass under a bridge and into the shadows and we realize that moments are fleeting and love can be fickle.

Some of the extras on this are pretty inventive for once, when it claims across the cover it's a special edition. Sometimes those can be a total let down. The extras include: new documentary: "Unveiled: The Making of My Best Friend's Wedding"; HBO Making-Of: "On the Set"; Wedding Do's and Don'ts - Helpful Hints for the Soon-to-Be Wed (very funny); My Best Friend's Wedding Album: Behind-the-Scenes Facts and Trivia and "Say a Little Prayer" sing-along.

This is a great movie to be seen, particularly for Rupert Everett. I'm now sad enough to say I want to see The Next Best Thing - he plays a similar character in that. Alongside Madonna, but I can ignore her!

Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic, Feel-Good Romantic Comedy!
Review: I have always been a fan of Julia Roberts and the movies she stars in - her smile is infectious, it lights up the screen. In 1997, she made a comeback with a starring role in the romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding. The film went on to become one of the most successful girly movies of the whole decade, and after watching it earlier tonight on TV, it's not hard to see why. It still holds up seven years later. The comedy is fresh, funky and slick. The plot is nothing original, but it holds up brilliantly because of the film's four main stars. You have Julia Roberts, of course, who is no doubt a future Hollywood legend. Then there's Cameron Diaz in one of her best film roles - not quite topping her sexual cameo in The Mask three years earlier, but still bringing much humour to her role. Rupert Everett and Dermot Mulroney are the two main male actors and also do their roles justice.

Julia Roberts plays Julianne Potter, a fast-talking confident Chicago food critic who used to date Michael O'Neal (Dermot Mulroney) in their college days. They since broke up after nine years and moved apart. They made a pact, however, that if by the age of 28 they both were not married, then they would marry each other. When Julianne receives a call from Michael three weeks before that pact deadline, she assumes he is ringing to get back with her. However, Michael is calling to introduce Julianne to his seemingly wonderful, irritatingly perfect fiancee Kimberly Wallace (Cameron Diaz) and announce their wedding which is taking place in just three days. That leaves Julianne three short days to break up the marriage and win back the man she has only just realised she loved all along. She will either win or lose - that's the conclusion. Ronald Bass' perfectly-constructed screenplay keeps the viewer on the edge, forever guessing if she will win her battle. Julianne's gay friend George Downes (Rupert Everett) agrees to help her, but only to a certain extent, and he is a hilarious asset to the comedic intentions put forth by the writers of the film.

The film's plot seems at times far-fetched, and it is, but this is a light-hearted, romantic comedy with many clichés built in for good measure! The comedy is spot-on - there aren't many laugh out loud moments, but more of a continual giggle-fest that will have you smiling for most of the film. Julia Roberts is a certain crowd-puller. People from all over the world will flock to see her movies, and this one was exception. Cameron Diaz was half the superstar in this film that she is today, and her glowing smile and charasmatic confidence shines through in her ditzy role. Rupert Everett reminds me of Hugh Grant in this film, which can be no bad thing!

The film has many memobrable scenes, including Kimberely's hilarious karoke nightclub performance of "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself." The restaurant hilarity of the group's performance of Dianne Warwick's "I Say A Little Prayer" is also perfectly executed, with only professional directors pulling it off - amateurs could have easily messed it up big time. The big city bread truck chase is hilarious, and the film has many touching moments. Julianne's constantly foiled attempts to sabotage the impending wedding are brilliant too: most notably the e-mail/falling off the chair scene. This film is pure comedic brilliance. It could have easily fallen flat on its face, but it didn't because of the right balance between fresh actors and excellent dialogue.

Rating:
Summary: Oh, I do so want you to see this movie!
Review: Let's see, where to begin. First off, the mood for the movie is set by maybe the cutest opening credits I've ever seen. Let me tell you, if you don't like the opening credits, you probably won't like the movie.

I resisted this movie a long time -- when they were promoting it when it was in the theatres, they kept showing two clips on TV --an airport scene, and a scene in a car. Neither one made this seem like such a great movie, IMO.

Recently, I couldn't decide what video to rent (as usual); I knew I wanted a comedy, but I just didn't know which one. For some reason, I decided to give this a shot. Oh, am I glad I did.

This is a smart and funny movie. It is not lightweight fluff. But even more important, there is a scene in a restaurant where a tableful of people break out into song that is absolutely priceless. I was smiling so much I thought my face would break. It's one of those euphoric movie moments that unfortunately come all too infrequently. I watched that scene at least a dozen times, smiling, laughing, and just feeling so darn GOOD!!

The only weak point of the movie is Dermot Mulroney. What a dull actor.

But Julia, ah Julia. She can carry any film. A radiant screen presence, an excellent actress, and the heart and soul of this movie.

Get this movie -- I swear it's worth it just for the restaurant scene alone!