Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion -

Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion is a monotonous, but funny, comedy. Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michele (Lisa Kudrow) are two dim-witted friends who have been together since they were both ostracized in high school. In the ten years which followed, the pair hasn’t achieved much. Romy is a clerk, and Michele is unemployed…neither has a boyfriend, or much to show for herself. When their 10-year High School reunion rolls around, the two are excited to go, but disappointed that they haven’t made much of themselves. In order to impress those who put them down in high school, Romy and Michele decide to pretend to be successful businesswomen. However, their plans may be ruined by fellow classmate, the class outcast, Heather (Janeane Garofalo), who knows the truth, but, luckily, wouldn’t touch the reunion with a ten-foot pole…or would she… The characters aren’t too deep here (they’re about as complex as a female Dumb and Dumber), but the strength of the film rides on its nostalgia. It’s easy to compare Romy and Michele with this year’s earlier high-school-reunion flick, Grosse Pointe Blank. Both have excellent 80s soundtracks (though Romy probably gets the edge here) and are interested in the humorous side of confronting an awkward past (though Romy and Michele have a much more positive attitude toward the whole reunion thing). Romy and Michele is more consistent in tone, however, but that consistency becomes more of a liability as the film goes on. There’s only so much you can do with stupid blonde jokes, and the film does them all. Luckily, it works, and the film is actually pretty funny. Though the nostalgia factor makes the film particularly apt to those in their late 20s, everyone should easily recognize the cliques and social dysfunction common throughout all high school eras, as well as the social pressures of besting your classmates at a reunion. Romy and Michele may not be all that deep, but they give a few laughs.