Rating: B-
Dir: David Mirkin
Star: Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, Alan Cumming, Janeane Garofolo
In which our two heroines head for the titular get-together, with some trepidation given their lack of progress in life since graduating a decade before. This feels like one of the more successful Saturday Night Live spinoffs, in that the characters are central, with the plot merely a setting in which to exercise them. I get the feeling R&M would be quite comfortable spending a night at the Roxbury, say. Luckily, it has rather more humour, invention and satire, even if the story-line never moves far away from eminently predictable. There’s little doubt the good will be rewarded and the wicked punished, in a manner befitting a fairy tale – albeit one with a groovy 80’s soundtrack.
It’s at its best when really letting rip, one way or another: the presence of Garofolo as a former disgruntled loner, helps a great deal in this regard, since she perpetually wears a expression that can only be described as, “You’re shittin’ me”. Whether it’s an amazing dance number to Cindi Lauper’s Time After Time, or depicting the hell of high school, there are any number of great moments (and lines, too – “Let’s fold scarves!” Ok, you have to see that one…). Being honest, there is also a good bit of filling, not least a lengthy, largely unnecessary dream sequence that is neither funny nor interesting. However, it’s so damn fluffy and eager to please, in a puppy-like way, making it impossible not to forgive the occasional trundle beyond endearing dumbness, into idiocy.