My Best Friend's Wedding: How to Crash It
Julianne fell in love with her best friend the day he decided to marry someone else.
When test audiences were presented with this romantic comedy, they instantly liked what they saw in the handsome British actor who played Julia Robert’s gay pal. As a result, more scenes with this guy, none other than Rupert Everett, were included in the film. We should all be grateful for that. Mr. Everett delivers many wonderful lines throughout the movie, but he has also a way of making his thoroughly likeable character look as if he’s never really taking things too seriously—after a while, the screenwriter forces him to do something as unorthodox as pretend that he’s the lead character’s boyfriend, but his reaction goes along the lines of “why not, this whole silly business could be fun for a while”. Very charming. The ending was also changed after that test screening, and the new one is pretty good, now featuring none other than… yes, Mr. Everett.
But there’s more to the film. It is a story about a woman who finds out that her best friend, a man, is about to get married; she decides that she really does love him and must prevent this wedding from ever taking place. Now, Julianne (Julia Roberts) is not an evil woman. It’s just that she and her friend Michael (Dermot Mulroney) made a pact several years ago, agreeing that if they were still single at the age of 28, they would marry each other. And now Michael has the nerve to embark upon an eleventh-hour marriage to another woman! Julianne will simply not stand for it. She is invited to the wedding, meets the bride, Kimmy (Cameron Diaz), and seizes every opportunity to try to ruin the couple’s happiness.
This is not completely unlike those delightful screwball comedies that were made in the ‘30s, and Ms. Roberts’ party-pooper would have made a perfect part for Katharine Hepburn (or Cary Grant if it had starred a man), but I’m not saying that to denigrate Julia Roberts’ performance. Her mission is to come off as someone who is selfish and a tad ruthless, but in a charming way that won’t make audiences dislike her. Ms. Roberts actually finds the right balance, which is something worth admiring. Ms. Diaz is also up to the challenge; the initial impression of her character as someone who’s pretty one-dimensional changes, and both she and writer Ronald Bass understand that audiences must be made to believe that Mr. Mulroney’s character really falls in love with this girl. Why else would Julianne have to fight to make Michael leave Kimmy?
Australian director P.J. Hogan is a guy who likes a good, old-fashioned romance (with a twist). His breakthrough piece was Muriel’s Wedding (1994). When he got the chance to coordinate this other wedding in Hollywood, he brought Rachel Griffiths along from Muriel’s Wedding, but she’s not given a juicy enough part in this film. Parts of Mr. Hogan’s work give the impression that he’s merely following a safe formula, but that isn’t quite true. Yes, there’s a typical (albeit very crowd-pleasing) moment where Mr. Everett’s character makes the entire Wallace clan join in his impromptu rendition of “I Say a Little Prayer”, but there are plenty of other moments where the story takes turns one didn’t expect—and it’s always for the better. Whenever a romantic comedy is smart enough to make the choices this one makes, it deserves your full attention.
The YouTube clip shows the trailer.
My Best Friend’s Wedding 1997-U.S. 105 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Jerry Zucker, Ronald Bass. Directed by P.J. Hogan. Screenplay: Ronald Bass. Music: James Newton Howard. Cast: Julia Roberts (Julianne Potter), Dermot Mulroney (Michael O’Neil), Cameron Diaz (Kimmy Wallace), Rupert Everett, Philip Bosco, M. Emmet Walsh… Harry Shearer, Paul Giamatti.
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