After Pretty Woman, Sleeping with the Enemy, and Flatliners, Julia Roberts’ movie career has been less-than-sizzling. Yes, she’s been in some fairly decent movies but, apparently, if a female movie star doesn’t rake in $100 million everytime out, she’s perceived as a failure. My Best Friend’s Wedding has been one of the strongest financial successes of the summer, so it looks like Julia’s back in business. I had to see what all the fuss was about.
Roberts plays Julianne, a food critic who’s had a less-than-successful love life. In college, she had “one hot month” with Michael (Dermot Mulroney), but they broke it off and decided to be best friends instead. They made a pact that if they each weren’t married to someone else by the time they turned 28, they’d marry each other. Well, that time is approaching when a desperate Michael calls to tell Julianne that he’s getting married. Not to Julianne, but to Kimmy (Cameron Diaz), a 20-year-old college student who happens to be the daughter of a billionaire (Philip Bosco).
Julianne is, at first, relieved that Michael hasn’t called to propose to her. But, as she mulls it over, she becomes upset that her friendship with Michael is in danger of being lost forever. She decides she’s in love with him and travels to Chicago to wreck his wedding with Kimmy and get Michael back for herself.
The usual pranks and comic situations are, of course, put through their paces as Julianne schemes to break Michael and Kimmy apart. However, she’s woefully underestimated the love they have for each other. She recruits her gay friend George (Rupert Everett) to help her by trying to make Michael jealous. Luckily, the script anoints the characters with actual wisdom and they don’t blindly follow Julianne’s cartoonish plans.
A smart romantic comedy is always a lot of fun to watch. And, make no mistake, My Best Friend’s Wedding is a lot of fun to watch. However, it lost two stars for one big reason. A romantic comedy’s success depends on the chemistry between the stars. Dermot Mulroney’s Michael is, as my girlfriend so deftly put it, “a dork”. He lacks any charisma whatsoever. Sure, he’s handsome, but he seemed to lack any true affection for Kimmy or Julianne. In only one scene was there evidence of any spark between Michael and Julianne. So, with Michael not seeming to reciprocate any of this attention, it’s hard to get too upset at the thought of things not working out between Julianne and Michael. (Or Michael and Kimmy for that matter.)
Rupert Everett’s George, however, had charisma to burn onscreen. In his scenes — both with Roberts and with the group of Diaz, Roberts and Mulroney — he’s tremendously energetic and funny. He seemed to get along with Julianne much better than Michael ever could have.
Still, My Best Friend’s Wedding does possess a smartness that so many of today’s films lack. It deserves its success on that count alone.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
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