Why So Blu?

Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion: 15th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray Review)

It’s time to kick up your heels and celebrate the 15th anniversary of a hilarious comedy hit starring Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino (Best Supporting Actress, 1995, Mighty Aphrodite) and Emmy Award winner Lisa Kudrow (Outstanding Supporting Actress, Comedy, 1998, “Friends”).  Experience the fun, the laughs and the sizzling soundtrack like never before on Blu-ray with an all-new digital restoration!  Romy and Michele are carefree party girls who reinvent themselves for their 10-year high school reunion.  Their plan is working perfectly until a former classmate (Janeane Garofalo) blabs their real story to everyone.  But Romy and Michele have one more big surprise up their sleeves.  This is one reunion you won’t want to miss.  Join the party on Blu-ray!

Film  

Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michelle (Lisa Kudrow) have been best friends since high school.  Now in their late twenties, they live together in Venice Beach and enjoy clubbing and watching movies in their side by side twin beds.  Romy is the cashier at a Jaguar dealership and she runs into someone she knew from high school, Heather Mooney (Janeane Garofolo), who reminds her their high school reunion is coming up.

Romy and Michelle go through their high school yearbook.  They reminisce about what a big deal it was to have their picture taken together, and the different groups (The A group, drama kids, B Group, etc.)  Michelle had scoliosis and wore a back brace and Romy was a little overweight.  While Romy spent most of her days pining for jock Billy Masterson, Michelle had the heart of nerd Sandy Frink, but was uninterested.  Life in high school was hard for Romy and Michelle that never quite fit in and were often made fun of.  Head of the A Group was Christy Masterson, who once put magnets on Michelle’s back for fun.

When they decide to go to the reunion, the girl’s realize their lives are unimpressive.  Michelle is unemployed and neither has boyfriends.  They try to diet, find boyfriends and a job for Michelle in a few days time and that doesn’t work.  Romy realizes they don’t need to be successful they just need to look and act the part.  She asks Michelle to work on career woman outfits and Romy borrows a jaguar from someone at work.  The two women change clothes, put their hair up and are ready to go.  They make up a story about inventing post its to impress the reunion crowd.

Romy approaches the A group with her post it story and they are less than eager to believe her. Heather joins the group, and knows exactly who invented post its because she read about it in business school. She unintentionally ruins Romy and Michelle’s plans. Once again they are laughing stock of the school. Things turn around in unbelievable ways once Romy and Michelle change into their usual, flashy but unique outfits and they realize that they are happy no matter what their classmates think of them.

Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion is one of my favorite silly comedies.  I honestly can’t figure out why I love this movie so much.  I’m not a big fan of Mira Sorvino or Lisa Kudrow and I usually don’t like stupid humor.  For some reason everything in this movie just works for me and I love it.  It’s one of the few movies I’ve actually quoted, saying “my shoe is filling up with blood” when I need to leave a conversation.  Both Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow are perfectly cast in the main roles, and I couldn’t imagine any one else playing them.  Jeaneane Garofolo plays the grumpy loner perfectly, and Camryn Manheim is the over-eager yearbook chick that existed in every high school.  It’s the same type of silly as Clueless – and most people are either going to love this one or hate it.  Few people probably have lukewarm feelings about it.

Video  

Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion is presented in 1080p high definition with a 1.78:1 ratio.  I’ve seen a few other 15th Anniversary Edition Blu rays recently and the others did not age as well as Romy and Michelle.  Their bright funky clothes are vibrant.  I did not notice the visual noise that I saw with other movies of the same age in bright shots.  In the dark limo interior and other similar lighting the imperfections are certainly obvious, but easy to ignore.

Audio  

Romy and Michelle’s English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is more than adequate for a film of this type and age. Dialogue is clear and at a consistent level throughout the film.  The 1990’s club music has the appropriate bass levels, but overall there is nothing to be heard that truly tests the limits of your sound system.  Spanish and French 2.0 Dolby Digital tracks are also available, as well as English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles.

Special Features  

The special features section is definitely lacking. The featurette is very short and lacks substance. I’m sure it was a fun movie to make and I would have liked to have seen more about that.

• Production Featurette – This featurette has a voice-over that makes it sound more like a preview. Includes brief cast interviews and behind the scenes footage.
• Trailer – the original movie trailer for Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion.

Final Thoughts  

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion. It’s at best silly, and at worst absurd but I love it anyway. I have watched the film three times since receiving my copy to review. The first time I watched it without trying to write the review. The second time, I planned to have it playing in the background while I wrote my review but I got so distracted by the film, I forgot to write about it. The third time it was playing while I finally got around to writing, and I’m still not sick of it.  I also enjoyed picking out all the now well known actors with relatively small parts who appeared in the film.  Kristin Bauer is one of the fun ones, who appears as part of the A Group – a far cry from the vampire she currently plays on “True Blood”.  I was disappointed in the limited special features since it would have been nice to see a current interview with Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow to see what they thought of the film in retrospect.

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