Review of My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) by Daniel K — 07 Aug 2009

3: You show me a heterosexual male that wouldn't want to marry the girl in the opening credits and I'll show you a liar. Even if she isn't your ideal woman, the sequence is shot, performed, and scored so effectively that it makes one long for nothing more than to have her.

This is a remarkable effective opening to a romantic comedy. I'm fairly sure there are a helluva lot of guys out there that secretly long for the kind of Hollywood relationships depicted in the 1950/60s films this is meant to recall.

The singer/actress/model is impossible to look away from. Her counterparts/bridesmaids are very attractive and alluring all by their lonesome, but they are so eclipsed by the bride they appear almost ridiculous and dreary.

Spectacular. The scene still affects me to the same extent it did when I was a child watching my sister's VHS copy. It reminds me of Douglas Sirk, Mad Men, Rock Hudson/Doris Day comedies, Mulholland Drive, etc.

It has made my pretty short list of all-time favorite scenes, which is saying something. It would be a 4.5 or 5 all my itself. The rest of the film is pretty standard though. Roberts definitely works well in this kind of film though.

The most interesting part about the film at large has to be that she doesn't actually end up with the guy. The guy ends up with the other girl, which is definitely not what usually happens in a typical Hollywood romantic comedy.

So this turns out to be typical, but with a twist. Roberts character ends up seeming pretty happy just being herself and enjoying the company of her homosexual friend (Rupert Everett in a very strong performance).

In this respect, it turns the romantic comedy genre on its head; Roberts character in some ways doesn't need a man to be happy. Quality picture.