My Best Friend's Wedding

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This article is about the Julia Roberts film. For the Scrubs episode, see My Best Friend's Wedding (Scrubs).
My Best Friend's Wedding
My Best Friends Wedding.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by P.J. Hogan
Produced by Jerry Zucker
Ronald Bass
Gil Netter
Patricia Whitcher
Written by Ronald Bass
Starring Julia Roberts
Dermot Mulroney
Cameron Diaz
Rupert Everett
Philip Bosco
Music by James Newton Howard
Cinematography László Kovács
Editing by Garth Craven
Lisa Fruchtman
Studio Zucker Brothers Productions
Distributed by TriStar Pictures
Release date(s)
  • June 20, 1997 (1997-06-20)
Running time 105 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $38 million
Box office $299,288,605

My Best Friend's Wedding is a 1997 romantic comedy film directed by P.J. Hogan, starring Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Dermot Mulroney, Rupert Everett, and Philip Bosco.

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and is considered to be one of the two most famous of Julia Roberts' films (the other being 1990's Pretty Woman).[1] Commercially, it was a global box-office hit and being one of the highest grossing films of 1997.[2]

The soundtrack song "I Say a Little Prayer (For You)" was covered by singer Diana King and featured heavily in the film, making it a Billboard Top 100 hit. The soundtrack featured a number of Burt Bacharach/Hal David songs.

Contents

Plot [edit]

Julianne Potter (Julia Roberts), a 28-year-old New York restaurant critic, receives a call from her longtime friend Michael O'Neal (Dermot Mulroney). In college, the two made an agreement that if neither of them were married by the time they turned 28, they would marry each other. Three weeks before her 28th birthday, Michael tells her that in four days, he will marry Kimmy Wallace (Cameron Diaz), a 20-year-old University of Chicago student from a wealthy family.

Julianne is upset that Michael will marry someone so wrong for him, and someone he has known for such a short period of time. She realizes that she is in love with Michael, and heads to Chicago, intent on sabotaging his wedding. Soon after arriving she meets Kimmy, who asks her to be the maid of honor. This sets off a comical scenario in which Julianne must pretend to be the dutiful maid of honor while secretly scheming ways to prevent the wedding from happening. She engages in petty sabotage - for example, taking Kimmy and Michael to a karaoke bar after discovering that Kimmy is a terrible singer - and later asks her gay friend George Downes (Rupert Everett) to pretend they are engaged, hoping to make Michael jealous.

When these tactics fail, George persuades Julianne to do the obvious: tell Michael she is in love with him. One morning, Michael gets Julianne alone and tells her that it'll be the last time they ever get to be alone. He expresses some skepticism in marrying Kimmy, explaining that he and Kimmy don't share a special song like he and Julianne do. Michael discreetly gives Julianne the invitation to tell him she's in love with him, but she lets the moment "pass her by." Michael starts singing their song as he grabs Julianne and holds her while they dance one last time. The next morning which happens to be the wedding day, they take a walk and Julianne confesses her love to Michael, asks him to marry her instead, and passionately kisses him. Kimmy witnesses this and runs off, but Michael chases her.

Julianne pursues him but finally realizes Michael loves Kimmy. She apologizes and explains to Kimmy that she kissed Michael unexpectedly, but he didn't kiss her back because he was in love with Kimmy.

After the wedding Julianne tells Michael that he and Kimmy can use their special song until they find one of their own, essentially acting like a true best friend (possibly for the first time). Julianne wishes them well, consoled by George.

Cast [edit]

Release [edit]

Box office [edit]

The film opened at No. 2 at the North American box office making $21,678,377 USD in its opening weekend behind Batman & Robin, stayed on the top 10 weekly U.S. box-office for six consecutive weeks, and eventually earned $127,120,029. The worldwide gross total stand at $299,288,605 (listed as one of the 10 biggest films of 1997 both in domestically and worldwide).[3]

Critical reception [edit]

The film and Roberts's performances has received praise and mostly positive reviews from critics.[4] As of June 2012, My Best Friend's Wedding holds a 71% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus "Thanks to a charming performance from Julia Roberts and a subversive spin on the genre, My Best Friend's Wedding is a refreshingly entertaining romantic comedy."[5]

Total Film praised the film, giving it four stars out of five and quoting " Here she banishes all memories of Mary Reilly and I Love Trouble with a lively, nay sparkling, - performance. Smiling that killer smile, shedding those winning tears, delivering great lines with effortless charm, Roberts is back where she rightly belongs - not in grey period costume, but as the sexy queen of laughs ". The Review also said that "My Best Friend's Wedding is a perfect date movie, and a film that "proves Roberts isn't as crap as we all thought she was."[6]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it "the summer-date-film supreme for pretty women and the gay men they love," despite criticisms of the script. He praises Roberts as "riper, more dexterous with a comic line, slyer with modulation," concluding that "Roberts puts her heart into this one." [7]

Joanna Berry of Radio Times gives it four stars out of five, observing that this "sparkling comedy" proved to be a career-resurrecting movie for Julia Roberts.[8]

CNN movie reviewer Carol Buckland said Roberts "lights up the screen," calling the film "fluffy fun."[9]

Awards and recognition [edit]

American Film Institute recognition:

Soundtrack [edit]

The soundtrack was released on June 17, 1997 with Stage and Screen genre. Since the soundtrack covering a blockbuster hit film, it relies on new covers hip artist of familiar songs. The soundtrack was praised to work "better than it should, since most of the vocalists concentrate on the songs."[11]

  1. "I Say a Little Prayer (For You)" - Diana King
  2. "Wishin' and Hopin'" - Ani DiFranco
  3. "You Don't Know Me" - Jann Arden
  4. "Tell Him" - The Exciters
  5. "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself"- Nicky Holland
  6. "I'll Be Okay" - Amanda Marshall
  7. "The Way You Look Tonight" - Tony Bennett
  8. "What the World Needs Now Is Love" - Jackie Deshannon
  9. "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" - Mary Chapin Carpenter
  10. "Always You" - Sophie Zelmani
  11. "If You Wanna Be Happy" - Jimmy Soul
  12. "I Say a Little Prayer (For You)" - The Cast of My Best Friends Wedding
  13. "Suite From My Best Friends Wedding" - James Newton Howard
Chart positions
Year Chart Position
1997 Australian ARIA Albums Chart 1

References [edit]

  1. ^ Mandell, Zack (2012-05-18). "Julia Roberts' Romantic Comedy Career Flourishes with Time". Yahoo! Voices. 
  2. ^ "1997 Worldwide Grosses". Box Office Mojo. 
  3. ^ My Best Friend's Wedding at Box Office Mojo
  4. ^ "My Best Friend’s Wedding". Tv Tropes. 
  5. ^ My Best Friend's Wedding at Rotten Tomatoes
  6. ^ "My Best Friend’s Wedding". TotalFilm.com. 1997-08-19. 
  7. ^ Travers, Peter (1997-06-20). "My Best Friend’s Wedding". Rolling Stone. 
  8. ^ "My Best Friend’s Wedding". Radio Times. 
  9. ^ Buckland, Carol (1997-06-24). "Rupert Everett in 'Wedding:' Here comes the star". CNN. 
  10. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs Nominees
  11. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "My Best Friend’s Wedding (Original Soundtrack)". AllMusic. 

External links [edit]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: My Best Friend's Wedding
Films directed by P. J. Hogan
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