Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

Rating:
Summary: "Blonde Leading the Blonde"--Fun Film with Great 80s Music!
Review: I'm not a fan of movies, normally, but this film just grabbed me and will not let go. It's probably the only film I've seen more than three times (I think I'm up to seven) and I am not even close to tiring of it. It's just hilarious with wonderful acting (Lisa Kudrow in her usual air-head role, Mira Sorvina as the serious and sensible Romy, Janeane Garofalo as the surly, cynical Heather Mooney, Julia Campbell as the stuck-up Christy Masters, Vincent Ventresca as the "dumb jock" Billy Christianson, Alan Cumming as nerd Sandy Frink, etc.). The cliques of the high school class are so typical and help the viewer really relate to this film. Whose class didn't have their "preppy" group, nerd group, jock group, etc.? The early 80s music makes the film even more wonderful; however, the choice of tracks indicates a high school class of '84 rather than of '88. Don't try to analyze this film or search for deeper meaning, just sit back and enjoy again and again. I only wish there was a sequel: "Romy and Michele Go To College"!! Perfect!!

Rating:
Summary: Fun movie with a great soundtrack!
Review: Okay, it doesn't matter that I've seen this movie at least 36 times, I never get tired of plugging it.

Romy and Michele are invited to their 10-year High School Reunion. But when they start filling out their questionnaire ("They want to know what we've been doing for the past ten years.") they realize their lives aren't all that glamorous after all. So they devise a little scheme, making up a story involving the invention (and design!) of Post-It Notes. Thus spawns the great debate: Who's the Mary and who's the Rhoda.

Of course nothing goes according to plan, and the two decide to part ways once they arrive at their reunion back at Sagebrush High in Tucson, Arizona ("This town is, like, so unhip!" "Oh, I know!")

Despite the lengthy dream sequence in the middle of the movie, it made me wonder which group I belonged to in High School. Definitely not the A group. Lisa Kudrow was made to play Michele, the half-wit blonde with a heart of gold. Mira Sorvino was just as convincing as her best friend forever, Romy. The two could only be upstaged by the inimitable Janeane Garofalo. Throw in the perky Toby Walters (played to a "T" by Camryn Manheim) and Alan Cumming as the "pocket-protector" geek who constantly lusts after Michele and you have one cute story.

Of course, no matter how much I like this film, the cheesy dance sequence towards the end always makes me cringe. But it's still cute nevertheless. When I want to reminisce of my own 80's high school days, I'll pop in this video and wax nostalgic.

Rating:
Summary: Lucy and Ethel for the 90s!
Review: One of my favorite screw ball comedies of recent years- hard to believe this is a Vassar grad and a Harvard grad in the leads!
It takes brains to play this dumb.

Rating:
Summary: "I'm the Mary, and you're the Rhoda!"
Review: In 1997, David Mirkin, in his big-screen directorial debut, directed the light-hearted comedy "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion", which was written originally as the play "The Ladies Room" by Robin Schiff (who was also one of the film's executive producers). The story is about two ditzy blondes in their late 20's, Romy White (Mira Sorvino) and Michele Weinberger (Lisa Kudrow), who live together in Southern California and decide to attend their ten-year high school reunion in Tucson, Arizona. Having little cash, the two manage to borrow a car to drive to Tucson, but become concerned about making a big impression on their former high school classmates. They invent a story about them being businesswomen and inventors and reminisce about their high school days. Throughout high school, Romy was infatuated with football star Billy Christianson (Vincent Ventresca), but he was dating the conceited Christy Masters (Julia Campbell). Christy's friends included Cheryl (Mia Cottet), Kelly (Kristin Bauer) and Lisa Luder (Elaine Hendrix), who were otherwise known collectively as the "A-Group". A nerdy guy named Sandy Frank (Alan Cumming) was infatuated with the then-back-brace-wearing Michelle, who wasn't particularly interested in him. Then there were the other assorted high school personalities including the fast-talking & insensitive Heather Mooney (Janeane Garofalo), the maudlin Toby Walters (Camryn Manheim) and the shy nameless cowboy (Justin Theroux).

Though the plot and dialog are simple, the combination of the wonderful acting by Lisa Kudrow, Mira Sorvino, Janeane Garofalo and Julia Campbell, as well as the film's fantastic soundtrack, make "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" a very entertaining comedy. Songs in the film's mostly 1980's soundtrack include, but are not limited to, "Just A Girl" (by "No Doubt"), "Y.M.C.A." (by "Village People"), "She Blinded Me With Science" (by Thomas Dolby), "Addicted To Love" (by Robert Palmer), "Whip It" (by "Devo), "Time After Time" (by Cindy Lauper), "Footloose" (by Kenny Loggins) and "Venus" (by Bananarama). Memorable scenes include reminiscing about high school, Michelle at the thrift store, Romy with Ramon (Jacob Vargas), Romy & Michelle driving, the dream, reunion confrontations, the dance, leaving the reunion and the closing scenes. Overall, I rate the light-hearted comedy "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" with 4 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone that grew up in the 1980's.

Rating:
Summary: The Good Kind of Dumb
Review: David Mirkin's Romy and Michele's High School Reunion is a dizzying parody of female objectivity and stereotypes. Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow star as typical dumb blondes, Romy and Michele, who attempt to make themselves appear successful for their high school reunion. The lead blondes place such importance on their appearance that all other aspects of their lives are moot. They hunt for "successful/ well-to-do" boyfriends, executive style clothing, and jobs to complement their fib about being something more than they are. They want to appear as accomplished women, marked by high paying jobs and nice cars, and diligently try to actualize this goal. At the climax, Romy and Michele realize that success isn't based on appearance but rather on personal contentment. The popular girls of their class "look" great but are actually miserable people.
Romy and Michele turn themselves into objects, just as the film does. The camera cuts them into itty-bitty pieces of the female body, shrouded in lacy pink and baby blue. The complete airheadedness of the heroines pokes fun at the blonde, girlie-girl image that is seen in films, media, and daily life. The over exaggerated stereotype of success in the film is a serious blow to society's view of accomplishment. The fact that Romy and Michele, two dumb and clueless girls, can appear successful simply by driving a jaguar, wearing business suits, and attracting even more successful men shows that too great of an importance is placed on monetary things. Ironically, their outlandish personal styles are accepted by their peers only after the "successful" fashion designer says that their clothes "aren't half bad."
Mirkin's film is a fun pun on success, stereotypes, appearance, and best of all itself.

Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Pair
Review: Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion. A light .... ahem ... airy comedy about two social misfits going through their high school years and then making a grand appearance at their high school reunion. You know things never go exactly right until the end in these movies, and the same thing happens here. But hey! It's quiet the entertaining watch.

Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino, awesome pairing. They made Romy & Michelle. This film could have seriously gone off the annoying bend, but it doesn't. It stays on a good track the entire time. A very hilarious track. Kudrow and Sorvino were awesome as the titular characters. They're interaction was great, and Kudrow's present air-headedness role is always a hoot. Janeane Gurafolo is a nice unpleasant character with many humorous lines that she gracefully pulled off. The woman never ceases to entertain. Alan Cummings plays an Alan Cummings role. I always like him in movies.

The DVD isn't something to cheer about. Although the film is great enough, I wish a few more extras could have been spared. But taking note that the movie didn't necessarily come out when DVD hit its prime, it's okay for the lack of extras. What really would be great is an audio commentary from Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino. I say "Special Edition!"

Rating:
Summary: UHUH? YEAH? WASSUP?
Review: Wassup this movie is master genious of the comedy. How can a movie reminisce the 80's without getting to much into cliches, well watch "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" and u will find out how, this movie has it all, fun, great comedy, great jokes, and superb actings by Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino, a classic and a guilty pleasure.

Rating:
Summary: Final Germ 241
Review: Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow make a great duo playing the role of Romy and Michelle, respectively, in this mirthful comedy. Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michelle (Lisa Kudrow) have been social misfits throughout high school. All through high school Romy and Michelle were made fun of by the popular group of girls otherwise known as the "A group". They finally have a chance to show they fit in by attending their 10 year high school reunion. Prior to the reunion, Romy and Michelle transform themselves into "successful" women. They wanted to impress their classmates, especially the "A group" and thought the way to do this was to show up in a fancy car as efficacious business women. Romy and Michelle worry about how they are going to be surveyed by their peers so they make up a lifestyle that will astound them. Romy and Michelle also become their own surveyors. At the reunion, Romy and Michelle find their definition of success different from the girls of the "A group". The "A group" girls are married and pregnant which is a typical stereotype of women at their 10 year high school reunion. Romy and Michelle goes against the stereotype of women getting married and bearing babies. Instead they portray a more modern representation of women in today's society. In today's world women are moving more towards a career rather then becoming homemakers. It's interesting how the movie depicts this idea. This movie is definitely a must-see. At the end you realize the problems one encountered in high school are not so significant after all. Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion took me back to "the good old days" minus the 80s music, big hair, and horrific outfits.

Rating:
Summary: Review of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
Review: In this film, both Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino play a set of best friends whom decide to go to their 10 year high school reunion. Although this film is meant to be a comedy, it can also be viewed as a parody for many of today's societal notions of what it means to be successful, as well as what it means to be a woman.
As Romy (Sorvino) and Michele (Kudrow) examine what they have done with themselves for the past 10 years, they realize that in effect, they have done nothing. They decide that in order to go to the reunion, they must remake themselves so that they can impress their old classmates. They get new outfits, and manage to get themselves a jaguar to drive to the reunion. Their efforts make it seem that in society today; in order to be successful one must drive a nice car, and be wearing a typical business suit. They try to exemplify the stereotypical "successful woman", and go so far as to lie about their professions. At first, to Romy and Michele success is defined as having money and looking good. As the film goes on however, these women learn that this image of success is simply false. The women they were trying to impress, although successful, were not happy. Romy and Michele realized that even though they might not be successful under society's rules, they have found their own success because they are happy with each other, and what they have become as women.
This film also stereotypes women as being ditzy, viewed by men as sexualized objects. In order to get her jaguar, Michele must fake having sexual intercourse with a mechanic. Throughout the movie both characters wear outfits that show a lot of skin, making them seem more attractive to men. They are extremely ditzy, and are portrayed as being subordinate to men because of their lack of intelligence. In the end, both women participate in a dance with a smart, rich man, who embraces them because of their personality, and looks. Although this film is meant to be a comedy, it does bring up many important societal issues, and is definitely recommended to people of all ages.

Rating:
Summary: Fun and silly
Review: "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion" is a classic "dumb blonde" comedy about two high school best friends who have spent their whole lives together. When they hear about their ten year high school reunion, they are forced to think about their lives and are surprised to find that they have nothing impressive to share. Because of their new found void, they decided to invent a new exciting life to share with their former classmates. They place themselves in a life of wealth and success to impress everyone at the reunion. When they arrive, all prepared to fake their way to acceptance, they realize that there is one person there who knows their real situation. By creating a fake but "better" life they think that they will be more accepted by their peers than they were in the past. They struggle to keep their old lives a secret and to let their new concocted lives stun the others.
This movie is a classic representation of the blonde stereotype displaying the pairs' hilarious mishaps and brainless actions. They are depicted as having the very typical passions of shopping, club-hopping, and creating their own fashions. They try to throw all of this away and take on the role of the rich and successful business woman but later realize that it is not worth faking because the lives they live are just as good and even better. The movie evolves around the all too common and (very sadly) realistic theme of impressing others by advancing their economic stance and success.
Overall, it is a fun comedy. Lisa Kudrow is perfect in her role and she makes it all the more ridiculous.