Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

1997 "The blonde leading the blonde."
6.3| 1h32m| R| en
Details

Two not-too-bright party girls reinvent themselves for their high school reunion. Armed with a borrowed Jaguar, new clothes and the story of their success as the inventors of Post-It notes, Romy and Michele descend on their alma mater, but their façade crumbles quickly.

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See
Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
RavenGlamDVDCollector What fun it promises to be. Phoebe of FRIENDS. Look at the DVD box cover, aren't they just cute? And yet, hoo boy, is this it?It's not that I don't like it, it's that I'm exasperated by the lack of what could have been. Here I can see exactly what the problem is. First impressions count, and when the duo first appears, they are as dull as ditch-water. I'm used to crazy goof Phoebe in FRIENDS, zany and lovable. Seems that is a fluke, Lisa, or that you need a very strong director to coax the best out of you, because here you really drop the ball, almost entirely through most of the movie. Fortunately, there are places where you do well, notably when Michele goes a whole lot Phoebe (FRIENDS fans will understand). Amounts to an uneven performance then.Mira Sorvino is a very big disappointment, I'm sorry to say. There in the beginning, she delivers that line about her poor dietary habits absolutely deadpan to no effect at all. So I'm quick to write her off early on. Especially the first part of the movie should have been re-shot, these two act like there are lots of zeroes missing from their paychecks.I still give it a 7. I like the premise, the great soundtrack (one of the very best ever, ranging from Bananarama with VENUS and CRUEL SUMMER to The Go-Gos with OUR LIPS ARE SEALED and an especially rousing TIME AFTER TIME by Cyndi Lauper, wow, and Belinda Carlisle HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH too) and there are some great moments, but to all those of you poised to vote against me here, hey, look at this again, there is so much room for improvement. Lisa can do 10 times better, the movie had great potential, it was a wonderful part for her, but she putters through it airily, like she at times doesn't really want to be there. A much stricter director was needed, because dammit, couldn't the lackluster performances been redone? Anybody who knows how I normally cheer on actresses would understand that I do not like being so critical here BUT I EXPECTED SO MUCH MORE FROM THIS!Seems to me it's just like Sarah Michelle Gellar can only really be super fantastic in that one show, Lisa Kudrow is quite the same. It's a pity, look at her, she's a very pretty girl.Don't get me wrong, the movie isn't bad at all. But with more spirited performances, it might have been a truly zany comedy worthy of a 10.
rinterrante-1 Don't get me wrong. I love the 2 leads. Lisa was the only reason I watched Friends when it first aired and I tune in any movie Mira appears in just to see her. There were a few things wrong with this movie.First it is difficult to see these two as losers. They are both very attractive and their jobs are not all that bad. It's not like they are plain Janes that work as clerks in the 7-Eleven.Second I did not find their old classmates all that offensive or uppity. It was just difficult to imagine the two as underdogs being degraded or the subjects of snobbery. These were the ingredients needed to make this movie work.And last I did not find the material very funny. It was nothing more than typical sit com stuff.
mark.waltz Most everybody remembers their high school years with mixed affection, even those in the "A" group had their share of torture, whether it be someone they were dating, teachers that hated them, parents that didn't understand them, etc. Those of us who attend at least one class reunion can all identify with "So what do you do now?" We can't say, "I'm the President of the United States" or "I'm a big movie star", but we can dream of coming up with something to impress that makes us seem better than who we really are. In the case of Romy and Michelle, they want to get past the memories of being mistreated by the "A" group at their Tucson Arizona high school, boys who either didn't know who the heck they were or got excited just by being near them, and come back to their Venice Beach California home with some sort of dignity.So what do these cool fun women who make great party outfits do? They come up with a whopper of a lie and claim to have invented that item that everybody knows about but whom nobody seems to know who invented it: Post-Its! One invented the glue, the other chose the color. Cool, right? It all seems to work until a former rival who ran into one of them at their uncool job at a car rental shop shows up and threatens to spill the beans.A great mix of dumb blonde comedy, fun 80's music, bad 80's hair and the slobs versus the snobs, "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion" is a comedy of stupidity that works in a very subtle intelligence level. The two friends are obviously devoted to each other, and as played by Oscar Winner Mira Sorvino and TV's Lisa Kudrow, they seem as perfect a couple as Lucy and Ethel, Mary and Rhoda, Laverne and Shirley, Patsy and Edina, well, you get the drift. "I'm the Mary, You're the Rhoda!" one yells at the other during a sudden argument, and this threatens to split them apart. "You're the Jewish one!", the Mary wanna-be tells the other. But once they see the nasty girls who are still just as nasty, loyalty is not only tested but things are revealed about the "A" group that many of us can attest to from high school reunions we've gone to.Jeanene Garafalo is hysterical as the class freak, a goth-girl/genius who has invented the quick-burning cigarette. Broadway vet Alan Cumming goes through several different looks as a nerdy geek who becomes a multi-millionaire, and Julia Campbell perfectly spoofs the spunky cheerleader type who manipulates her friends (all but one) and is obviously overly self-obsessed. It takes a while for the film to get going, mostly vignettes of Romy and Michelle's life together, trying to find a good job, find a decent boyfriend and dealing with the sexy Latin lothario that the one works with at the car rental place. But even though there's a long-time of set-up, it is all done in fun, and when meshed together (even with a fantasy sequence that threatens to slow down the film but really doesn't) the result is a future film classic that late baby boomers can particularly relate to (like me) and younger audiences will see some of the build-up to what has become now their generation. So have a ball, pull out your Cindy Lauper records, Madonna outfits, and just enjoy.
thesar-2 In a movie where no one and I mean no one is very nice, is it hard to attach onto someone to root for? Why, yes! And it's even enjoyable to finally get to see them shop!I used to describe this movie as the "female Dumb & Dumber," and in reality, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion is, in fact, just that. But, let me assure you: it's 10x funnier and has more originality than the Jim Carrey movie will ever have.I just rewatched this movie for the, I dunno, fifteenth time and even though it's been about a decade since I last saw it, I found myself laughing out loud so many times, I couldn't count. So many memories, so many great characters, so many rude behaviors that would normally make me squeamish, made me burst out this time. Again, I understand hardly anyone is a "good person" in this, but their so-outrageous behavior made this slapstick comedy all the more enjoyable.Further, so many scenes and lines brought back such great recollections that I marveled in the comedic genius behind the screenplay. One that stood out, that made me stood up to watch, was the (Mild-spoiler, sorry) Romy-Tell-Off scene towards the end. I could watch that few-second scene dozens of times and never tire of it.(One more major spoiler, and if you haven't yet seen this, please skip to the next paragraph…) When I first saw this in theatres, I thought this movie was "just okay" and when it came to a scene that one character dreams of what the reunion is going to be like, I rolled my eyes. "Here we go again," I thought, for in many sitcoms, much like The Brady Bunch or movies, one character will dream of events they've never partaken in, but are worried about, and lo, following the dream, the next day, normally, they encounter the exact same scene/set up, even though it was physically impossible for them to predict/dream of what was to come when they've never encountered it. Here, Michele dreams of their pending High School Reunion, but, upon waking, the actual reunion is far different from what she imagined. Now, that's real life. That's exactly what would really happen. It was that moment that I admired and LOVED this film.Romy & Michele reminisce on their high school days of Tucson, Arizona's past once told about their upcoming high school reunion. But tensions rise between the non-gay BFF ditzy blondes of (now) L.A.'s beaches when the truth of who's (a VERY tad bit) smarter than the other right before they get to the reunion. Will they make up? Will the endless and set-up in advance old high school students finally realize who they were meant to be with or avoid?It is a comedy after all.With one of the best soundtracks, after all. And cleverest lines, and deep acting for a slapstick comedy. And fairly good cinematography and overall originality. It's also one of the absolutely funniest movies that still holds up today, for the most part – Flip phones, anyone? – of all time.Revisiting this movie, I now realized it's been far too long between viewings. This movie is amazing. I know I've seen this many times, but I found myself laughing, sometimes for joy, more times that I could count.I say: See it! And she says: Me, too!