Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997)
VERDICT:
6/10 Valley Girl Vindications
Cute fun. That about does it.
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion is about two ditsy best friends living in L.A. with no boyfriends or husbands and a jones for fashion that isn’t doing a whole lot of favors for their career aspirations, but they don’t mind none, who needs a career when you’ve got your best friend by your side? Right? So right. Then one day they get an invite to their 10-year High School reunion (oh, word?), so they book it on down to their old stomping grounds in Arizona to see how everyone’s changed and hopefully impress the pants off them.
Something tells me I didn’t even need to write that synopsis, but just in case the poster didn’t give it away in a split nanosecond, there ya go. So, yeah, not the deepest movie out there and the story line isn’t gonna throw you any curveballs, but at the same time, this is one of those movies that knows its limits and plays to its strengths accordingly. Last thing this movie needs is to be reaching for an Oscar.
Now, I’ve only been around long enough to get invited to my five-year reunion – which I missed to go see a Cold War Kids concert – so I’m thinking that for those of you out there who’ve already reached the 10-year milestone or are coming up on it, this might have more of a draw to it than it did for me. But then again, we’ve all been to High School, we all know what clique we belonged to, we’ve all seen The Breakfast Club, and in that regard this movie is pretty universal.
Hate it or love it, High School’s a hard four years to forget.
Lisa Kudrow is more or less Phoebe all over again as Michele, but that’s cool, she was the funniest gal Friends had going for it. But the real surprise was Mira Sorvino turning in the more memorable performance of the two as Romy, who’s essentially a hotter version of Michele, only she has the voice of Ted Theodore Logan. They’re a fun pair to watch and also pretty relatable as High Schoolers, at least for all us wallflowers out there.
Also has Alan Cumming and Janeane Garofalo in it and they’re both quite amusing as the nerds-turned-success stories of the bunch.
The writing’s not so bad either and it can be pretty funny, but it does feature the longest dream sequence I’ve ever seen in a movie and that was a pretty bizarre move. I guess there’s only so many ways you can draw out a premise like this for an hour and a half and it is fun to watch these two fantasize about how they’re gonna show up their former peers, but dream sequences generally lead to eye rolls and, unfortunately, such is the case here by the time Michele finally wakes the hell up. Well, at least the whole damn movie wasn’t a dream.
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion is just a sweet movie with a fun imagination and a good sense of humor. Simple idea, nothing too fancy and pretty well-executed, can’t say I didn’t enjoy myself. Good stuff.
And honestly, who isn’t interested to see how everyone in High School turns out ten years down the road?
Cut The Crap Movie Reviews 
Kudrow was almost always funny even when Freinds was over. Something I can’t say that Jennifer Aniston, or David Schwimmer have been doing.
Very true, but Schwimmer did kick ass in Band of Brothers.
I wonder if this movie is just more for girls. I feel exactly the same way about it but my wife and her friends LOOOOVE this movie. It’s got some classic lines though:
1. I invented post-its.
2. If anybody needs to make a call I’ve got a phone.
3. Will you excuse me? I cut my foot earlier and my shoe is filling up with blood.
That’s just funny stuff!
P.S. As someone getting ready to get the 15 year reunion invitation, well… UGH!!!
Haha, the phone line was good.
1997 — the year the FRC gradumacated from his California Public School — so when me and a bunch of me’s meatheaded friends went to see this flick we were all “Whoa! Look how old we’ll be in 10 years, but it’ll be aweosme getting together again.”
10 years later I skipped my reunion for lack of an open bar (*snoogens*)
I remember the soundtrack pretty much kicked azz and a year later, The Wedding Singer picked up where it left off. For soem reaosn, i thought that the Culture Club sucked, and then kicked ass by the R&M’s release, and now I think they suckagain.
But Joy Division will always roool
Hahaha, not sure how Joy Division got thrown in there, but they do indeed rule. And for an ’80s soundtrack, Wedding Singer ain’t too shabby.
I honestly do not have to see anyone from high school again. I still hang out with most of my friends anyway.
It’s fluff. Enjoyable fluff.
My sentiments exactly.
It was a pointless movie, but charming as hell. It’s not like it took itself seriously, and wasn’t stupid enough to insult it’s viewers, just stupid enough to make us laugh. I totally dig this one.
In college my roommate and I were addicted to this movie (like Heather said, it’s “charming as hell”) and found reasons to quote it: insulting girls we didn’t like by saying we hoped their babies looked like monkies, and I once whipped out with “go f*** a sheep, or your sister, or yourself.”
This movie depends on how well Mira and Lisa can play dumb blondes, and they play them very well. And adding Janeane Garofalo to the mix never hurts.
Loved this movie. I’ve watched it about a dozen times, it’s light, entertaining and very funny. Actually, now that I’ve read this post, feel like watching it again!
I just realised since I just recently turned 25 , this year will be 10 years since high school for me! Oh believe me, I would be very interested to see where all those a**holes are at in their lives now. More than likely, left single with a dozen or so kids to support lol. Karma does come around eventually (even though its a shame its not instant) but when it does it is so goood
It is a groovy, fun movie. I have it on tape, recorded it on tv years ago. I need to buy it on dvd.