Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

There is something about the movie Romy and Michele's High School Reunion that just immediately clicked for me. Granted, I was still in High School when it was first released back in 1997 but, the themes of the film still really struck a chord. It is certainly one that quickly became a favorite and I have only grown in my appreciation of it as the years have gone by. 

Romy White (played by Mira Sorvino) and Michele Weinberger (played by Lisa Kudrow) are two lifelong friends who share a loft apartment in Venice Beach, CA and have always been the closest of friends. Everything seems fine with their lives until they receive an invitation to their 10 year High School Reunion. They start reflecting on their time in High School, both the highs and lows in their encounters with assorted classmates as the acerbic Heather Mooney (played by Janene Garofalo), the nerdy Sandy Frink (played by Alan Cumming), Queen Bee Christie Masters (played by Julia Campbell) and her boyfriend Billy Christensen (played by Vincent Ventresca). When they start filling out the enclosed questionnaire inquiring what they have been up to for the last ten years, they start to question how their lives have turned out. Determined to be more impressive in time for the reunion, they set out to find new jobs and new boyfriends. However, when this plan leads to very little success, they realize they don't actually have to have more successful jobs, they can just lie and say they do. They settle on telling everyone they invented Post-Its since most people don't know who actually invented them. To back up the lie, they  But as they arrive at the reunion, they realize not as much has changed in the last ten years.    

The film was directed by David Mirkin from a script by Robin Schiff. They manage to craft a unique and engaging comedy centered around two very close friends. The way the film unfolds is interesting with the first act centering on Romy and Michele trying to get ready for the reunion, the second act is them traveling to the reunion along with an extended dream sequence when Michele falls asleep in the car with an alternate version of the reunion until we get to the real event. There is plenty of humor to be mined, both from the flashbacks and present day sections not only from the title characters but from their respective classmates as well. The separation they create between the dream reunion and the actual reunion is also a lot of fun, as the dream reunion takes on a far more surreal quality to it that separates it from the rest of the film, while also being quite funny. Yet, the film also perfectly nails those high school feelings, with Romy and Michele being more social outcasts as a closely knit duo constantly picked on by the A-Group, led by Christie. As someone who wasn't really part of the popular kids group, I always related strongly to Romy and Michele and the delight they take in just being themselves as well as being there for each other. All of this is buoyed by a fantastic soundtrack largely comprised of 80's hits, including excellent use of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" at two different spots in the movie. This film likewise also spawned two bestselling soundtrack albums (much like Grosse Pointe Blank there were too many to fit on one disc). 

The cast of the film sparkles throughout the film, led by Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow as the titular Romy and Michele. The two actresses play off each other so well and it's easy to believe they have been lifelong friends. It would be easy to write them off as ditzy blondes, but the characters are more nuanced than that. Up until they took the questionnaire, they were content with just being themselves, creating their own clothes, going to clubs and spending time together.  There is a certain freedom to the characters that both Sorvino and Kudrow portray wonderfully as well as their bond and the fact that the characters both have each other's backs no matter what. It gives a lot of heart to the film and also enrichens the characters. Janene Garofalo as Heather Mooney makes a great counterpoint to Romy and Michele as her character is far more cynical and sarcastic, adding another layer of comedy to the film. Alan Cumming has a lot of fun with his role as Sandy Frink, playing both the awkward and nerdy high school version of his character as well as more assured and sophisticated version we meet at the reunion, as well as the idealized dream version of Sandy we see in Michele's dream. He is clearly getting a kick out of playing all three different versions of the same character. Julia Campbell is memorably nasty as Romy and Michele's lead tormentor Christie Masters, who is just as loathsome ten years later at the reunion. 

Overall, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion makes for an interesting counterpoint to the similarly themed Grosse Pointe Blank, which came out two weeks before this one did. This one is far more light and sweet, but just as funny. It succeeds in a large part because of the performances of the two leads, giving them a lot of charm and elevating them beyond being just two ditzy blonde girls. There is something so endearing about the two of them and their story arc as they come out the other end of their adventure learning it's best and more rewarding to just be yourselves. Therefore, it remains just as entertaining and enjoyable all these years later as it did when I first saw it in 1997.