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My Best Friend's Wedding More at IMDbPro »

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156 reviews in total

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44 out of 60 people found the following review useful:
The "Wedding" zingers...., 8 May 2000

Author: Mister-6 from United States

For a while, I was getting concerned about the direction Julia Roberts' career was taking, after misfiring in such dismal duds as "Mary Reilly" and "Michael Collins" where she seemed so shell-shocked that her radiant smile was nowhere in sight.

Thank God she rebounded for "My Best Friend's Wedding". This film, while not perfect, is a shining example of what makes Julia so radiant and desirable in the right role. And she sure gets it here.

As Julianne Potter, Julia gives the same sweet, radiant glow she offered us in "Pretty Woman". Seems she's fallen in love with her best friend for ages Michael O'Neal (Dermot Mulroney) - unfortunately, it's on the eve of his wedding to an effervescent, perky girl (Cameron Diaz) who does her darndest to make Julianne her best friend...as well as her maid-of-honor. Of course, Julianne does what any right-thinking young lady would do: everything in her power to break up the wedding of the title.

This is not as melodramatic as it sounds: this is, in fact, one of the brightest, smartest and all-around funniest comedies of the decade. All the lead characters make the absolute most of their parts and revel in the glory of love, double-dealing and flat-out lying. Along with being extremely romantic, this has to be the most cleverly-plotted love story ever: for every plot thought up by Julianne, there's a twist or foul-up that has everything to do with true love and/or blind devotion.

There are great faces in the background, too. Susan Sullivan, Philip Bosco, the great M. Emmet Walsh all lend able support and offer their own fine support. But how can I mention them in the same paragraph without adding Rupert Everett into the fray? As Julianne's gay editor/friend, he adds great color to all his scenes, especially at the dinner with the wedding party at the seafood restaurant (you've seen it, you know what I mean).

I won't spoil anything by saying that true love wins out in the end; face it, would you WANT to see Julia Roberts as a BAD GUY? Maybe you would, but not in a romantic comedy. In fact, the main surprises lie in the twists and turns that lie throughout this film. Every twist makes the story all the more interesting and (incidentally) funny. Of course, the music makes the proceedings all the better (with a heavy assist from Dionne Warwick on two occasions).

So to recap, what else can I say: if you love Julia Roberts, love stories, comedies and weddings, here's your movie.

Ten stars and a copy of "Dionne Warwick's Greatest Hits" on CD for "My Best Friend's Wedding", where true love wins but true friendship comes in a close second.

Keep up the good work, Julia.

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35 out of 50 people found the following review useful:
Say a little prayer for more movies like this one., 31 July 2001

Author: raymond_chandler from Seattle, WA

Julia Roberts gets a great opportunity to showcase her talent here, and she runs with it. Some of her physical comedy bits are reminiscent of Lucille Ball. She plays a character that could come off as a real jerk, but her natural charm and self-deprecating manner are endearing. She displays real acting chops, especially in the scenes on the tourboat and in the gazebo.

Cameron Diaz turns in a real star-making performance as a ditz who becomes a wildcat when threatened. Her acting in the karaoke bar is fearless and really establishes her character's personality.

Rupert Everett, is, well, fantastic. He acts as Roberts' conscience, and delivers some of the funniest lines in the whole film.

This is one of the most uproariously funny mainstream Hollywood movies to come along in a long while. The script is packed with zingers, and the cast makes the most of it. At the same time, it has some genuinely poignant moments. Don't let it pass you by.

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22 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
Unscrupulous maid of honour produces neither comedy nor romance, 27 May 2006

Author: roghache from Canada

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is a popcorn movie, a chick flick, that leaves a lot to be desired all around in the ethics department. Normally I am a huge fan of Julia Roberts but in this woeful tale, she fails to come across as her typical vulnerable and endearing self.

The improbable plot revolves around a food critic, Julianne, who learns just days before the wedding that her long time best friend (and former lover), Michael, is about to be married to a lovely rich, blonde girl named Kimberly. In fact Michael invites Jules to be...no, not his best man...but the maid of honour. Jules flies from her home in New York to Chicago for the wedding, not to wish the newlyweds well, but instead to steal Michael away from Kimmy and make sure the wedding never comes off at all. She has four days in which to convince the unsuspecting groom that she herself, not Kimmy, is the bride for him.

My first of many problems with this unlikely tale is that former lovers do not tend to make ideal best friends for all the reasons revealed in this movie, namely lingering passionate feelings and issues of jealousy. Furthermore, Jules's second best friend (as it were) is also a man...her editor, George, who conveniently happens to be gay. Does this girl not have any female friends at all, like most young women?

Actually, George comes off as the character in the movie with probably the most integrity, which isn't saying a lot in this tale of immoral fluff. He's a true friend to Julianne, flying from afar to be with her and offer comfort. He indeed gives Jules sound advice, namely to just tell the guy she loves him, and later when it's obviously not working out, to graciously let Michael go. However, George is cast as the stereotypical homosexual friend, which has all been done to death by Hollywood. Jules pretends to be engaged to George in order to elicit jealousy from Michael (just one of her countless lies), but this fabrication doesn't seem to go anywhere. They never really officially undo the ruse. By the way, I love Dionne Warwick's singing but found the entire singalong at the rehearsal dinner just too silly.

Jules is a stellar example of the old expression...With friends like her, who needs enemies? She's no friend at all to Michael (much less a BEST one), having no concern whatsoever for HIS happiness, until possibly the very end. Instead she's essentially nothing more than a jealous ex lover who lies, manipulates, and connives. Jules uses every trick in the book to split up Michael and his fiancée, including attempting to get Michael fired, allegedly at the behest of Kimmy and her dad. True, she repents of this horrendous deed, but it's hard to cheer for a "heroine" this unscrupulous. She doesn't get Michael in the end, nor does she deserve him. One gets the impression that this is not true love, but more a case of wanting what she cannot have. For some reason, Scarlett O'Hara came to mind while I was watching this.

Michael is indeed handsome, but the description that comes to mind here is "jerk". Frankly, Kimmy can have him! I wouldn't want to marry a man that reminisced ad nauseum about old memories with a former girlfriend right in front of me four days before our wedding. Is he too clueless here to perceive how left out and potentially jealous Kimmy feels? I was practically waiting for him to bring up past sexual escapades with Jules and expect Kimmy to politely listen! Michael is surely one of the most insensitive grooms ever to grace the big screen. Also, he sort of leads Jules on, dancing rather romantically with her while they recall their old song. Not to mention jocular references to her about having seen her naked in the past. Not my idea of a nice platonic friendship for a man about to marry another woman.

Personally, I was cheering for the loving bride to be, played to perfection by Cameron Diaz. Except that it's a little hard to buy her passive tolerance of her fiancé's rather unusual close friendship with his ex girlfriend or her colossal stupidity in not seeing through Jules's motivations from the start. Otherwise, she's definitely the sympathetic character of the piece, as when Jules sets out to humiliate her rival by insisting Kimmy sing at the karaoke bar, despite her vehement protests. Of course poor Kimmy is made to look like a female needing liberation when she announces that she's quitting college in the interests of her future husband and his career. Oh dear me no, it would never do for anyone entering a marriage to contemplate any sort of personal sacrifice! I found the whole ladies washroom scene near the end tasteless and ridiculous, when all the women are cheering on the potential verbal cat fight between Jules and Kimmy. Surely the screenwriters could have come up with better than this.

Just an aside, what is the point of the pathetic ice sculpture joke other than to be crude? I normally love the romantic comedy genre, but the quality seems to be sadly deteriorating these days. This isn't the absolute worst movie I've ever seen but really, it isn't that amusing a comedy nor is it much of a romance. Hopefully Jules experiences a bit of personal growth, but that's about all that can be said for this story.

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32 out of 54 people found the following review useful:
Great Movie!, 7 January 2004

Author: pinksimone_08

This is one of my favorite movies. 2 of the highest paid actress are Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz and they are both in this same film. As usual, Julia Roberts' acting was great. Cameron Diaz was charismatic. The story is funny and its something that you can relate to and learn from, like to learn how to let go of someone. This is a romantic comedy and if you are not into this kind of movies then don't watch this. I really think that this movie is great because it is realistic. Try to put yourself in Julianne Potter's shoes and see if you can handle it. I recommend this movie to Julia Roberts fans!! This is probably one of her best films!!

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12 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Excuse me, I didn't get the joke., 12 April 1999

Author: Steinar from Reykjavík, Iceland

Well it happened again. I didn't get the joke, but everyone else seemed to get it. Is this movie funny? I didn't think so. I didn't think so at all. Then again I must have awful taste in films. EVERYONE else liked it, at least a little. I didn't even smile when Julia Roberts fell on the butt, although everyone else did. Where did they come up with a script like that. But the most amazing thing was that she fell again, and again. Then there were some kids that sang a song after breathing in helium. I didn't find that very funny either, but the other in the cinema seemed to be having a good time. I admit that this is the only place I dare to talk about this. Else I would probably have no friends, at least they would find me a bore.

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30 out of 52 people found the following review useful:
One of the best comedies of the 90s.., 24 February 2004

Author: Christopher (mrcaw1@hotmail.com) from New York

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.

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10 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
A surprisingly amusing and interesting romcom, 9 September 1998

Author: Kathy Balaam from Stratford-upon-Avon, England

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.

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12 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Enchanting, 10 December 2005

Author: folkpoet80 from USA

This was one of those movies, which had everything in it. Drama, tears, outstanding humor, you name it. I almost didn't watch it after everyone I spoke with, labeled it as a "chick-flick". Forget about it. This is a grand movie. Probably one of the best from the 90s. If you enjoy movies that are made from the heart, you'll love it. I've seen some great movies like Somewhere in Time, Love Story and this one easily falls in the same league, at least for me. The guy with the British accent gave a great performance and did his humor outstandingly. Julia Roberts acted superb. Cameron Diaz, who I'd never see act before fulfilled her part decently. I can't digest a rating of 6.3 on IMDb. Leads me to believe how biased IMDb's ratings can be sometime. Forget about what any one says. If you like great movies with a message, Then see this one today!!

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20 out of 35 people found the following review useful:
cute romantic comedy, 23 April 1999

Author: helpless_dancer from Broken Bow, Oklahoma

I loved this show. The acting was flawless, and the story was funny, believable, and lovable. A woman goes after an old boyfriend who is about to be married. She didn't want him before the engagement, but went to all kinds of troubles to win him back before the marriage could take place. With every shananagan she pulled, she dug herself into a deeper and deeper hole. Finally, her antics were found out causing bitter feelings. The movie remained light hearted all the way through, giving me great bursts of hilarious guffaws. Diaz and Roberts were perfect together, great comedic actresses. See this one.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Plot is despicable, no matter how much you like the "charming" players, 1 February 2009

Author: NCarolinaGirl from Greensboro, NC

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I didn't like this film. The whole premise of a woman setting out to sabotage and destroy her best friend's wedding. Okay, so Julia Roberts plays the conniving woman - I guess that is supposed to make us fall in love with her and forget all the havoc she is wreaking. I for one didn't find it funny. In fact, most of the film annoyed me. Including, and especially, the stupid sing-along songs and those idiot twins.

Okay, so they try to redeem the bad plot by having Julia not be successful in the end and we are all supposed to forgive her for being so ruthless - right? Wrong - it just didn't work for me. Not funny.

Not funny.

Still not funny...

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