Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
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| Romy and Michele's High School Reunion | |
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| Directed by | David Mirkin |
| Written by | Robin Schiff (play and screenplay) |
| Starring | Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 25, 1997 (USA) |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion is a 1997 comedy film starring Lisa Kudrow, Mira Sorvino, Janeane Garofalo, Camryn Manheim, and Alan Cumming. The plot revolves around two 28-year old women who have achieved very little in life success and must invent fake identities to impress former classmates at their 10 year high school reunion. The characters are taken from the stage play "Ladies' Room," which also featured Kudrow.
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[edit] Plot
Michele Weinberger (Kudrow) and Romy White (Sorvino), are two 28-year old friends living together in Los Angeles, California. They are both single. Occasionally employed, when the story begins Romy works at a car dealership while Michele is unemployed. They live a life of partying and fun and don't seem to really take life too seriously. After ten years of this laid-back lifestyle, they receive the invitation to their high school reunion in their hometown of Tucson, Arizona. Desperate to make good impressions, they make last ditch attempts to get boyfriends and better jobs. This is interspersed with clips showing the social torture they endured during their high school days, mostly at the hands of the "A-group", headed by cheerleader Christie Masters (Julia Campbell). The torture comes to a head at the end of high school prom, where Christie's jock boyfriend tells Romy that he'll dance with her, if she'll just wait for a few minutes. In reality, he and Christie ride off on his motorbike, leaving Romy waiting all night.
Failing that, they borrow an expensive car and decide to attend the reunion with made up stories about their lives. Coming up with what they think is a highly impressive story, they decide to claim that they are very successful businesswomen who invented Post-It Notes. However, during their drive, they get into an argument about semantics (Romy claims people will only believe Michele is smart enough to have come up with making the notes yellow) and their friendship dissolves.
When they arrive at the reunion they discover that the "A-group" girls have stayed in touch after ten years. Romy remarks that Christie wanted Jane Pauley's job in high school, and she asks her if she is a big news anchorwoman now. Christie says that she is a weathergirl. Romy tells her that she invented Post-It Notes. Cheryl remarks that she must be the most successful person in their graduating class.
The football jock is gorgeous as ever and hits on Romy. Sandy Frink (Cumming), the nerd who had a crush on Michele, turns out to be incredibly wealthy and gorgeous and hits on Michele. Soon they are both winning awards as most successful members of their graduating class, and the Romy and Michele part ways with their respective new lovers.
Cut forward 70 years and Romy is on her death bed. Michele calls her up to make amends only to rehash the same argument they had in the car those many years ago. Romy dies, as Michele puts it, "an old hag on her death bed," and they never get a chance to resolve their issues...
...until Michele wakes up in the car, parked outside of the hotel where the reunion is being held. The entire sequence following the argument was a dream. Michele enters the conference and begins to spread around her story about Post-Its. Unfortunately, Romy and Michele's lie is found out when alum Heather Mooney (Garofalo) exposes that in business school she learned that Arthur Fry from the 3M Company invented Post-Its.
Humiliated, Romy and Michele resolve their fight and decide to just be themselves and not care about other people's opinions. However, Christie Masters mocks their lie during a presentation over microphone. Horrified, they flee the hotel. Outside, though, they reaffirm their decision to be themselves. They change out of their "businesswoman outfits" into sexy, funky club clothes, and return. They confront Christy and accuse her of being a "bad person with an ugly heart" for all of the teasing they had to endure, both then and at the reunion. At the climax of the confrontation, Romy tells Christie, "We don't give a flying fuck what you think," which shocks everyone in attendance.
Just as Christy attempts to mock their clothes (which Romy and Michele designed and sewed), classmate Lisa Luder (Elaine Hendrix), an associate fashion editor for Vogue, announces that she thinks they have nice lines and a fun, frisky use of color. Christy is left in the dust as everyone congratulates Romy and Michele on their great designs. Then, in a fairly ironic parallel of Michele's dream, Sandy Frink arrives and turns out to actually have become a millionaire. After a ridiculous interpretive dance with Michele and Romy (poking fun at the convention in high-school movies for an entire prom to go quiet while the lead characters dance and resolve a lot of the film's issues), he escorts them to his helicopter so that they can fly off together. On they way they encounter Romy's former football crush; he is drunk, unsuccessful and fat. Romy sends him up to his hotel room with the promise of sex, but abandons him, saying that now he can "see what it feels like to wait." As they fly off, they see Heather making out with a cigerette guy, and Christie is calling for Billy, who is in the hotel room naked, waiting for sex with Romy.
Back in L.A., Romy and Michele use money loaned to them by Sandy to open their own clothing store.
[edit] Foreign titles
In Germany the film was known as Romy und Michele: Alle Macht den Blonden ("Romy and Michele: All Power to the Blonde"), while in France the film was called Romy et Michelle: 10 Ans Aprés ("Romy and Michelle (sic): 10 Years Later"). The Swedish title was Romy & Michele: Blondiner har roligare ("Romy & Michele: Blondes have more fun"). In Norway it was known as Blond og Blondere ("Blonde and Blonder"), a conscious nod to the 1994 film Dumb and Dumber.
[edit] Legacy
A prequel TV movie, Romy & Michelle: In The Beginning, premiered May 30, 2005 on ABC Family. It was critically panned and received low viewership.
