{"id":20955,"date":"2016-04-22T11:05:39","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T18:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/franklycurious.com\/wp\/?p=20955"},"modified":"2016-04-30T23:53:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-01T06:53:52","slug":"romy-michele-s-high-school-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/franklycurious.com\/wp\/2016\/04\/22\/romy-michele-s-high-school-reunion\/","title":{"rendered":"Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Romy<\/a>I watched Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion<\/a><\/em> last night for the first time since it was out — almost two decades ago. My response to it this time was exactly as it was the first time I saw it. It’s an incredibly funny and charming film. At the same time, it’s a structural mess. About 50 minutes in, the film inserts a ten minute long dream sequence. That’s a little strange, but it’s followed by a non-dream sequence that is, if anything, more unbelievable. I remember when first watching it thinking that it too was a dream sequence.<\/p>\n

This is all unfortunate, because the screenplay does an admirable job of tying up loose ends. I think the problem is that the second act depends upon Romy and Michele having a fight, and it is hard to imagine the two of them staying mad at each other. Hence: a dream sequence! In the reality of the film, the two only manage to stay mad at each other during the end of the drive to the reunion. The moment that Romy finds herself in an embarrassing situation, Michele runs to her assistance. And that is<\/em> the heart of the film: the strength of these two women’s friendship.<\/p>\n

Although both Romy and Michele are airheads, they are also classic nerds. As many of you know, my definition of a nerd is someone who is so interested in whatever they do that they don’t realize how uncool they are. All the two of them are aware of is that they are not<\/em> part of “the A group,” but it doesn’t occur to them that they uncool. And that’s good, because they are<\/em> cool. They are having a good time doing what they enjoy. For me, the high point of the film is when Michele (the more clueless of the two) tells Romy:<\/p>\n

I never knew that we weren’t that great in high school. I mean, we always had so much fun together. I thought high school was a blast! And until you told me that our lives weren’t good enough, I thought everything since<\/em> high school was a blast.<\/div>\n

And in addition to everything else, they are very creative. For 12 years and probably more, they’ve been designing and sewing their own clothes. That’s where the nerd factor really comes in because that is an activity that is unusual, but which seems to them like fish to water: of course they would make their own clothes. It doesn’t matter to me, but being a movie, they must get social acceptance for it, so the Vogue<\/em> editor compliments them, “They have nice lines. A fun, frisky use of color.”<\/p>\n