As far as romantic comedies go, one of the strongest movies of this decade was "Pretty Woman," which in 1990 catapulted Julia Roberts into the forefront of A-list actresses.
Unfortunately for Roberts, though, some of her more recent efforts have not exactly been blockbusters -- take a peek at "Mary Reilly" or "I Love Trouble" if you need convincing.
But Roberts' latest effort, the witty and entertaining "My Best Friend's Wedding," is a solid return to form and should re-establish Roberts as one of Hollywood's hot commodities after all those mediocre performances caused her to lose some of her luster.
"My Best Friend's Wedding" starts off like countless other formula romantic comedies, but draws its strength from an inventive plot and creative characters that come as a breath of fresh air to the audience.
Roberts plays Julianne Potter, who is stunned to find out that Mike O'Neal, her best friend in the whole world, is getting married. The groom-to-be, played by Dermot Mulroney, has been best friends with Julianne for nine years -- ever since the two had a brief fling during college.
The problem is, Julianne thinks she's now in love with Mike, and when invited to Chicago to be part of the wedding party, she instead resolves to break up the wedding and win Mike for herself.
If this were a typical romantic comedy, the bride-to-be would be either a total flake or a mean-spirited witch -- either of which clearly would not be a worthy bride -- and the audience would be rooting for the marriage not to occur.
But Mike's fiancee, Kimberly Williams (played by Cameron Diaz), is fun, pretty, caring, and seems like the perfect bride. As a result, the audience is not sure who to root for. Even worse, she instantly tries to befriend Julianne.
So, in one of the more interesting ironies of the movie, Julianne resolves that she has four days "to break up a wedding ... and steal the bride's fella" while Kimberly says she has four days to make Julianne "my new best friend." formance as the "best friend" And as Julianne undertakescheme after scheme to break the couple up, we are left wondering wheter or not she is really doing the right thing. And Diaz gives a decent performance as the bride-to-be who, despite Julianne's best efforts to drive her away from Mike, is not deterred in her love for him.
But the real star of this movie is Rupert Everett, who plays Julianne's gay friend George.
George is the voice of reason to Julianne, advising her that her efforts to break up Mike and Kimberly's wedding will not succeed-- yet he becomes her reluctant helper when he sees how important it is to her.
Everett, perhaps best known for his role as the Prince of Wales in "The Madness of King George," is a tour de force in "My Best Friend's Wedding," and actually one of the movie's weaknesses is that it does not utilize him more.
Virtually all of the movie's most hilarious moments are initiated by Everett's character, and the movie's memorable ending is owed completely to him.
"My Best Friend's Wedding" is slow at times, but director P.J Hogan (who last directed the sleeper hit "Muriel's Wedding") doesn't let the movie and characters get too bogged down that we lose interest. The dialogue is clever, the acting (especially Everett) is good and the plot is smart.
All in all, "My Best Friend's Wedding" is highly recommended. It may not be the best romantic comedy ever to come along, but it could be the best one since 1993's sleeper-hit "Sleepless in Seattle."
