My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)

This film was a pleasant surprise for me after hearing mixed responses from friends and acquaintances. I can see why it wouldn't appeal to some people : Julia Roberts in a romantic comedy could be pretty slushy stuff; but then again if you watch it wanting that sort of thing you're likely to be disappointed. Yes, so it is romantic and even a bit slushy at times, but has a sharp script and fast pace which keep you amused 95% of the time.

One of the things which appealed to me was the way moments of melodrama were defused into comedy - check out the two girls' confrontation with an audience of women (gathered by the call "Catfight!") whose oohs and aahs forestall any emotional reaction we ourselves may have to the scene.

Some of the camerawork is also more interesting than one might expect, with particularly powerful close-ups where one or two faces fill the screen. Julia Roberts' beauty comes through in a long shot which starts to look like a shampoo commercial: long curly hair spills around her head as she lies in despair on the floor (the public safety message being, don't ever sit with your back against a door which an irate ex-lover might wrench open at any minute); nevertheless, the proximity gives us an intimacy with her character we might otherwise miss.

Another effective shot of this kind (two heads on a pillow fill the screen) drives home the theme touched on here of the devastatingly attractive gay man who is made doubly so by his inaccessibility (as more fully explored in "Object of my Affection"). George (Rupert Everett) is a fantastic character whose sense of fun, wisdom, sensitivity and English accent make him every girls' ideal object for unrequited love (or maybe it's just me ).

The disappointing aspect for me was the film's final affirmation of sexist values and a rather superficial and one-sided view of "real" love - but you 'll have to watch it to see if you agree with me on that. Basically in my opinion, some of the ending lacked the self-awareness and sharpness of the rest of the film. However, overall I would recommend it for an amusing and sometimes clever 90 minutes of celluloid.

Fmovies: Everett's performance is great. He makes all others look like pygmies!

Kovacs, whose Hollywood films do not reflect what he had achieved earlier in his Hungarian films, comes up with classic overhead shots of people moving like ants in office lobbies. Kovacs is a delight to watch, even in the winter of his career.

This is one of my favourite films of all time. There are so many occasions that you'll either adore or squirm at, which is why it is a love/hate film.

Diaz doing karaoke is hilarious, an entire restaurant singing Say A Little Prayer is entirely unbelievable, but still one of my favourite bits.

Rupert Everett steals the show for me. Right from when he meets Diaz for the first time in the church, the restaurant scene, & then the ending at the wedding reception, he just makes me smile.

I admit that there are a few moments to cringe at, like the Roberts e-mail incident, but the good bits certainly out-weigh the bad.

Take the movie at face value - it's just entertainment!

My Best Friend's Wedding fmovies. I hated it. I couldn't even focus on the plot, the characters were nauseating. Roberts' is utterly selfish, her boy friend is quite lame, and his fiancée is such a pushover that I wanted to shout at her every time I watched her. Sorry, but I cannot see the fun in an hour and a half of Julia Roberts tripping with almost any object she had near.

I really hope that Hollywood will stop making movies with such awful stereotypical female characters. There are many movies with this male-driven kind of women who seem incapable of having a mind of their own. It would be great to see comedies with female characters that can be funny and smart at the same time.

I can't believe some of the negative comments I read from other contributors reviewing this movie.

I own this movie on video and have seen it many times and have enjoyed it each and every time. I think this is easily one of the best comedies to come out of the 90s and I actually place it on my personal best films ever list.

I can't see what people don't like about this movie.

First of all, these people who question how can they like a movie where the main character is so rotten just cracks me up. First of all, it's a movie people, it's not real life. Second of all, Julia Roberts' character is not a rotten person. Her character simply gets wrapped up in the moment and loses her judgment momentarily (it's a COMEDY people!!).

Near the end of the movie her best friend played by Rupert Everett even asks her if she's sure she's acting out of love or out of some desire to win. I think the movie clearly shows that Julia's character and her long time friend and one time boyfriend played by Dermot Mulroney have had a long and deep friendship and that there are certainly strong feeling between the two. The fact that they made a pact years ago that if both were unmarried by the time they turned 28 they would marry each other underscores this. The movie plays itself out that Julia's character has basically always re-assured herself that if she weren't to find some knight in shining armor she would always have her old boyfriend who she does love (just not in a romantic way anymore, though she takes the length of the movie to realize this) to marry.

The movie is extremely well directed. The blocking (where the actors stand in relation to the camera) and what is shown/revealed either to the audience or to other characters is top notch.

The pacing is great with hardly a slowdown in the entire movie. Those times the movie does lessen the pace for a moment are to showcase a tender moment between Julia & Dermot. A particularly bittersweet scene is when Julia & Dermot share an afternoon taking a cruise through Chicago's downtown river. They share a song, a hug and look into each other's eyes and we as the audience wait to see if they profess their true love for each other, but the moment passes as they pass under a bridge and into the shadows and we realize that moments are fleeting and love can be fickle.

The music is awesome in the movie with so much of it throughout the movie that the movie almost plays like a mini musical with various songs being sung in parts by characters throughout the movie.

Rupert Everett is hysterical as the gay male friend and Dermot Mulroney is totally underrated in his thankless role as the put-upon groom.

Cameron Diaz gives one of her best performances as the cute as a button bride.

This is an outstanding example of what a mainstream, big Hollywood studio movie can be.

Buy this movie. You'll enjoy it over and over for many years to come.

In his role as Julia Roberts' gay friend George, Rupert Everett effortlessly steals the show--he is urbane and witty, wise and caring, and of course uproariously funny and drop-dead gorgeous. In contrast, "leading man" Dermot Mulroney appears crass, callow, and utterly devoid of charm or magnetism. This movie, billed as a comedy, has an element of mystery at its core: Why on earth would two such winners as Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz fight for the affections of such a dolt?! If not for Rupert Everett's performance, this movie would have rated a "1" for me!