Romy and Michele: In the Beginning (2005) (TV)

Director:

Robin Schiff

Writers (WGA):

Robin Schiff (characters)
Robin Schiff (written by)

Release Date:

30 May 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

This time around it's 1987, and new high school graduates Romy and Michele are desperate to get away from their hometown of Tucson...

Plot Keywords:

Nightclub | Los Angeles | Hollywood | High School Graduate | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Katherine Heigl	...	Romy White
Alexandra Breckenridge	...	Michele Weinberger (as Alex Breckenridge)
Kelly Brook	...	Linda Fashiobella
Scott Vickaryous	...	Taylor Bradley
Nat Faxon	...	Chad
Dania Ramirez	...	Elena
Alexandra Billings	...	Donna
Rhea Seehorn	...	Ashley Schwartz
William Ragsdale	...	Kevin
Paula Abdul	...	Herself
Olivia Allen	...	Snotty Girl #1
Kalimba Bennett	...	Girl at Party
Leigh Curran	...	Doctor
Tamara Feldman	...	Snotty Girl #2
Leslie Intriago	...	Katie, Kevin's Wife

Also Known As:

Romy and Michele: Behind the Velvet Rope (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:120 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:12 | USA:TV-14

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Touchstone Television

Goofs:

Continuity: When the two are driving to the concert at the end of the film, one of Michelle's earrings is missing. When they arrive at the venue it has reappeared.

Quotes:

[Romy and Michele walk down a Los Angeles sidewalk both dressed like Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman"]
Michele Weinberger: No wonder all the stars live here.
Romy White: Oh, I know. It's so exciting. It's like 9:00 and look at all the people in the streets.
Michele Weinberger: And none of them are wearing spurs.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Pretty Woman (1990)

Soundtrack:

The Power

Charming, amusing, "sexy" but not close to the original!

As other recent prequels Romy and Michel: In The Beginning takes the elements that already proved successful in the previous movie and changes the famous cast to a more or less unknown one being Katherine Heigl the only familiar face to the general audience.

Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow are the main reasons why the first movie worked so well and has turned out to be a surprising cult favorite over time. Also taking responsibility for the success was the amazing supporting cast and of course Robin Schiff´s script.

Schiff returns in this prequel taking also the director's chair but unfortunately the writing is miles away from the original and the talented acting is gone.

The jokes fall flat in most occasions and the idea seems anything but fresh. Kind of like in Legally Blonde 2, this has all been done in a much better way and what we're seeing is an unoriginal poor copy made to win a few more dollars.

Another movie to capitalize on the success and `name' of a past hit.

Heigl carries the whole picture taking the spotlight from the first to the last frame. Alex Breckenridge does her best not to fall behind but she's never anything but average. At least she tried to give a more personal look to the part unlike Heigl who played Mira Sorvino instead of Romy White. Not being awful the young and beautiful pair never leave the shadow of the former leading ladies. It was hard for me to accept them and I think I never really did.

The script seems to have no objective. It has the characters but doesn't know what to do with them or where to go. Schiff has the concept, the `idea' but no clue as to develop it and build an interesting story around it as in the original.

We see Romy and Michele leaving Tucson, inspired by Julia Robert's `Pretty Woman' and coming to Hollywood. Without a place to stay or money they end up being helped by a transvestite who asks them to stay at his house and take care of his cat while he travels to Europe for a sex change operation. While alone in the big city the girls make their life objective to gain entrance to the hottest disco in town: The Ozone. The rest of the movie is basically their struggle to succeed. Not very interesting to tell you the truth. There's also a sub-plot with Romy meeting a super-model but then having to choose between Michele and this fake, selfish but also famous friend. There's even some romance between Michele and some guy but it's so bad the audience never cares about.

There are of course some laughs and a few entertaining moments but in total this prequel given a direction with no style, a weak cast and a story with nothing to say is just a sad imitation of the original.

Very good to watch the leading ladies running around with some sexy outfits and a lot of skin showing though. No nudity but very sexy indeed.

Fantastic to the eyes and even a little amusing but not much more.

Stupid and sweet. For the fans? Still worth your time!