THROWBACK: Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion

Comedic performances are the entree in this businesswoman’s special.

The premise is simple. Two dingbat Los Angelinos travel to Tucson for their ten year high school reunion. It’s right there in the title. But what elevates this basic premise and only mildly funny screenplay to one of the most consistently gut busting comedies in Hollywood history is its hilariously specific performances by its now A-list cast.

This is my favorite movie, my absolute #1, and it’s held that spot since it’s premiere 25 years ago. I saw it several times in the theatre, bringing friends back again and again to bear witness to the hilarity. It’s a staple of my aging DVD collection and to keep up with the times it’s one of few movies in my Purchased section on Prime Video. To view this film is to get a direct look into the makeup, the constitution of my sense of humor.

Dumb humor is so sublimely subversive and its queen is Lisa Kudrow. She is flawless in the movie, transforming pedestrian, slice of life dialogue into comedic gold with every almost every line delivery and unscripted interjection. Michelle is so buoyant, so absolutely nonplussed by life’s little setbacks that you have no choice but to root for her. It is one of the most perfect comedic performances ever caught on film and maintains its charming goofiness even after all these years.

There isn’t a bad performance in the bunch. As Romy Mira Sorvino’s dry as a bone deadpan is a perfect match to Kudrow’s sweet as sugar airhead Michelle, their back and forth revealing a genuine bond and sisterhood between the two. She’s the smarter of the two, which is saying very little if anything at all, and Sorvino is winning as the dumb girl who doesn’t know she’s dumb. Janeane Garofalo burns up the screen like a Lady Fair cigarette as mean goth girl Heather Mooney. Her acerbic, biting wit is an amusing foil to Romy and Michelle’s sunny, clueless outlook on life.

And filling out the familiar high school archetypes there’s ultimate nerd, the Frinkazoid, Sandy Frink played to perfection by Alan Cumming. And in one of her earliest appearances, Camryn Manheim slays as try-too-hard-activities-girl Toby. Julia Campbell turns in one of the most easily hateable performances in film history as A Group Queen Bee Christie Masters. And as it boy and object of Romy’s desire Billy Masters, Vincent Ventresca is on point even if he looks way too old to be believable in the flashback scenes.

If this movie doesn’t make you laugh uncontrollably you should call 911 because you likely don’t have a pulse. Or perhaps your sense of humor is broken. See it immediately if you haven’t and if you have watch it again. There isn’t a film I recommend more.