Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Mirkin
Screenplay by	Robin Schiff
Based on	Ladies Room by Robin Schiff
Produced by	Laurence Mark
Starring	Mira Sorvino Lisa Kudrow Janeane Garofalo
Cinematography	Reynaldo Villalobos
Edited by	David Finfer
Music by	Steve Bartek
Production company	Touchstone Pictures
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release date	April 25, 1997 (1997-04-25)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20 million[1]
Box office	$29.2 million

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion is a 1997 American comedy film directed by David Mirkin and starring Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, and Janeane Garofalo. The plot revolves around two 28-year-old women who appear to have not achieved much success in life, and decide to invent fake careers to impress former classmates at their ten-year high school reunion. The characters are taken from the stage play Ladies Room, which also featured Kudrow.

Plot[]

Romy White and Michele Weinberger (Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow) live together in Venice, Los Angeles, California. Romy works as a cashier in the service department at a Jaguar dealership and Michele is unemployed. They are single, unambitious, and enjoy a casual lifestyle. While working, Romy encounters former high school classmate, Heather Mooney (Janeane Garofalo), who informs Romy about their upcoming ten-year high school reunion in Tucson, Arizona.

As high school students in 1987, they were picked on by the "A-Group", led by cheerleader Christie Masters (Julia Campbell), who humiliates them repeatedly. Finally, at the prom, Christie tricks Romy into believing that her boyfriend Billy Christianson (Vincent Ventresca) was in love with Romy, and had dumped Christie to be with Romy. Romy waits all night to dance with Billy, who had already left with Christie. Michele dances with her instead.

Romy realizes that their lack of achievements will not make a good impression at the reunion. Desperate to impress their former classmates, Romy and Michele make last-ditch attempts to improve themselves, hoping to avoid being bullied again.

Having failed to secure better jobs and boyfriends, Romy and Michele decide to fake success by showing up in an expensive car and business suits. Romy borrows a nice car from her workplace, and Michele makes their outfits. En route to the reunion, they decide to claim that they invented the Post-it Note, believing that no one will know better. They argue over the details of their lie, which escalates into an argument about their friendship. They decide to go their separate ways once they reach the reunion.

At the reunion, Michele hears Romy claiming that she invented Post-its by herself. Michele convinces the A-Group she invented a special kind of glue. Sandy Frink (Alan Cumming), the nerd who had a crush on Michele in high school, has become wealthy and attractive since high school, and hits on Michele after hitting her with his limo. Billy and Romy reunite and hit it off. Both Romy and Michele win awards as the "Most Changed For the Better Since High School" members of their graduating class, but still refuse to speak with each other. Seventy years later, an elderly Michele learns that Romy is on her deathbed, and calls her to make amends. However, they rehash the same argument and Romy dies without resolving their issues.

Michele wakes up alone in the car, realizing that she was dreaming. At the reunion, Romy starts to tell the Post-it story, but Heather blows the lie by revealing the real inventor's name. Christie and her friends taunt Romy, and Michele ineptly defends her. Romy runs out, and Michele chases after her. They reconcile and decide to be themselves instead of trying to impress other people. They change into brightly colored homemade outfits and return to the reunion.

They confront Christie, who makes fun of their clothes. Former A-Group girl Lisa Luder (Elaine Hendrix), now a fashion editor, announces that the outfits are actually "not bad". Christie verbally attacks Lisa, who coolly dismisses her. The other A-Group girls abandon Christie, while everyone else congratulates Romy and Michele. Heather apologizes to Romy and Michele and admits she was miserable in high school because she was in love with Sandy, who was in love with Michele. Romy and Michele comfort her by reminding her that she was always successful at making classmate Toby Walters (Camryn Manheim) miserable.

Sandy, who turns out to be an actual billionaire, arrives via helicopter. He confesses that he still loves Michele and asks her to dance with him. Michele agrees, as long as Romy can dance with them. After their interpretive dance to Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" receives huge applause, Sandy escorts them to his helicopter. On their way out, they encounter Billy. Once a fit and handsome athlete, he is now an overweight alcoholic who is married to Christie, has a dead-end job working for Christie’s father, and is unsure if he is the father of her latest pregnancy. He hits on Romy, who tells him to wait for her in his hotel room. She then leaves the reunion with Michele as the two women join Sandy in his helicopter. The reunion guests watch as the helicopter takes off.

Six months later, back in Los Angeles, Romy and Michele use money loaned to them by Sandy to open a successful fashion boutique.

Cast[]

• Mira Sorvino as Romy White
• Lisa Kudrow as Michele Weinberger
• Janeane Garofalo as Heather Mooney
• Alan Cumming as Sandy Frink
• Julia Campbell as Christie Masters Christianson
• Vincent Ventresca as Billy Christianson
• Camryn Manheim as Toby Walters
• Mia Cottet as Cheryl Quick
• Elaine Hendrix as Lisa Luder
• Kristin Bauer as Kelly Possenger
• Jacob Vargas as Ramon
• Justin Theroux as Clarence the Cowboy
• Tate Taylor as Casey Deegan
• Rick Pasqualone as Mark Black

Reception[]

Critical response[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 73% based on 59 reviews, with an average rating of 6.19/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion has an admittedly slight premise, but it's elevated by ample heart, an infectiously playful spirit, and the buoyant chemistry of Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino."^[2] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.^[4]

Box office[]

The film opened at number two in the North American box office, making $7.4 million in its opening weekend, finishing behind Volcano. It grossed a total of $29 million in North America.^[5]

Television pilot and prequel[]

An earlier incarnation of the Romy and Michele characters appeared in a sitcom pilot called Just Temporary. Based on the stage play Ladies Room, the pilot was written by the play's author, Robin Schiff. Both Lisa Kudrow and Christie Mellor reprised their roles from the play for the pilot. Although the show was not picked up for the fall schedule, NBC did air the pilot on September 1, 1999.

A prequel television film, Romy and Michele: In the Beginning, premiered on ABC Family on May 30, 2005.

A musical adaptation premiered at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington in Summer 2017.

Soundtrack[]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic (first album)	[6]
Allmusic (second album)	[7]
Discogs (first album)	[8]
Discogs (second album)	[9]

Two soundtrack albums featuring music from Romy and Michele's High School Reunion were released in 1997 courtesy of Hollywood Records. The first album, titled "Original Soundtrack", was made available ten days before the official North American film release, while the second album, "More Music From the Motion Picture", was released four months later. Due to copyright issues, several songs which featured in the film, did not appear on either soundtrack album; songs omitted include the film's opening song "Just a Girl" by No Doubt, "Y.M.C.A." by Village People, "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer, "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper, "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" by Sub Sub, featuring Melanie Williams, "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins, "Hello Trouble" by The Desert Rose Band, "Don't Get Me Wrong" by The Pretenders and "Have a Good Time" by Talawah Crew. Both albums were reissued as a 2-CD set as part of the Double Features series.

Original Soundtrack

More Music from the Motion Picture

See also[]

• List of cult films

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

• Romy and Michele's High School Reunion at IMDb
• Romy and Michele's High School Reunion at AllMovie
• Romy and Michele's High School Reunion at Box Office Mojo
• Romy and Michele's High School Reunion at Rotten Tomatoes