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 appear to have achieved very little success in life and decide to invent fake careers 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.
Plot
Michele Weinberger (Kudrow) and Romy White (Sorvino) are two airheaded 28-year-old friends living together in Los Angeles, California. They are both single. When the story begins, Romy works as a cashier in a Jaguar car dealership; Michele is unemployed. They live a life of partying and fun and don't take life too seriously. After 10 years of this laid-back lifestyle, Romy encounters former high school classmate Heather Mooney (Janeane Garofalo) at the Jaguar dealer, who informs them of their 10-year high school reunion in their hometown of Tucson, Arizona.
Desperate to make good impressions, Romy and Michele make last-ditch attempts to get boyfriends, get better jobs, and lose weight. 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 their high school prom, where Christie's jock boyfriend, Billy Christiansen (Vincent Ventresca), 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 tearfully all night long.
Failing in their attempts to get jobs and boyfriends, Romy and Michele decide to pretend to be successful by showing up in an expensive car and business suits. Michelle would make the suits while Romy would get the car, but in order to do that; she had to do something for her perverted sex-crazed workmate Ramon - so she pretends to have sex with him and climaxes so he will impress his friends, and he gives her the car. 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 who is cuter (by comparing themselves with Mary Richards and Rhoda Morgenstern) and who would be clever enough to think of the idea of Post-it notes, and their friendship dissolves.
When they arrive at the reunion, Romy finds a grown-up Billy Christiansen, who now seems very happy to see her. She tells him that she invented Post-its all by herself, while Michele looks on in disdain. Michele then discovers that the "A-group" girls that picked on her in high school have stayed in touch. Michele 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. Michele convinces the four girls that she invented a special kind of glue, and Cheryl remarks that she must be the most successful person in their graduating class. Sandy Frink (Alan Cumming), the nerd who had a crush on Michele, turns out to be incredibly wealthy and gorgeous (with the help of cosmetic surgery) and hits on Michele. Soon both Romy and Michele are winning awards as most successful members of their graduating class, though still refusing to speak with each other. They then leave the party 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...that is, until Michele wakes up in the car, parked outside the hotel where the reunion is being held. The entire sequence following the argument was a dream.
Michele enters the reunion. Romy has begun to spread around her story about Post-its; Michele, on the other hand, only talks about her recent falling-out with Romy. Romy encounters Christie Masters and some of the other girls from the A-group, all of whom are pregnant. Right after telling them her lie, Heather Mooney arrives and unknowingly reveals that Romy didn't invent Post-Its. Christie and the other A-group girls mock her.
Humiliated, Romy and Michele resolve their fight and decide to just be themselves and not care about other people's opinions. However, Christie mocks their lie during a presentation in front of everyone. Horrified, they flee the hotel, but once outside they reaffirm their decision to be themselves. They change out of their businesswomen's clothes and into sexy, handmade club outfits, and return. They confront Christie and accuse her of being a "bad person with an ugly heart" for all of the teasing they had to endure in the past and at the reunion. At the climax of the confrontation, Romy tells Christie, "We don't give a flying fuck what you think," shocking everyone in attendance.
Just as Christie attempts to mock their clothes (which Romy and Michele designed and sewed), classmate Lisa Luder (Elaine Hendrix), a former member of the A-Group who has long changed her ways and became an associate fashion editor for Vogue, announces that she likes the outfits. Christie turns on Lisa but Lisa beats her down; Christie is left in the dust and 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 be a billionaire. After an interpretive dance with Michele and Romy, he escorts them to his helicopter so that they can fly off together. On their way they encounter the real Billy Christensen, Romy's former crush; he is drunk, fat, unsuccessful, and unhappily married to Christie. He boorishly propositions Romy for sex; Romy tells him to go up to his hotel room and wait for her with his clothes off. As he excitedly shuffles off, Romy delights in her revenge, telling Michele now he can "see what it feels like to wait." As Sandy, Romy and Michele fly off, they see Heather making out with a mysterious guy who had been too shy to talk to her in high school, while Christie calls out in vain for Billy.
Back in L.A., Romy and Michele use money loaned to them by Sandy to open their own clothing store. The movie ends with the two friends folding scarves and Romy proclaiming to Michele that she's the funnest person she knows, to which Michele replies, "Me too!... With you!"
Reception
The film was positively received by critics, and maintains a 72% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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"), while in Denmark it is simply called Blondiner har det sjovere ("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. The Croatian title is Prijateljice ("Friends") - a reference to the TV show starring Kudrow.
Prequel
A prequel TV movie, Romy and Michele: In the Beginning, premiered May 30, 2005 on ABC Family. It was critically panned and received low viewership.
Television
An even earlier incarnation of the Romy and Michele characters appeared in a sitcom pilot entitled Just Temporary. Based on the stage play Ladies Room, this pilot was written by its author Robin Schiff. Both Lisa Kudrow and Christie Mellor reprised their roles from the play for this pilot. Although the show wasn't picked up for the fall schedule, NBC did air the pilot on September 1, 1989.
External links
Notes
