One really has to give credit to the Hollywood makers for coming up with brilliant ideas in almost every film.
A woman having feelings for her friend and not having the courage to tell him and then hating the woman he is to marry is not a rare thing. Most of us must’ve felt that kind of emotion at some point in life. Maybe even more than once.
The first time I watched the film, I hated the guts of the story writer to not let Julia Roberts have the hero in the end. I remember actually walking out of the theatre and missing one of the most enduring scenes of the film, where George (who plays Julia’s friend) comes up to her and asks her to dance with him. A climax scene which reassures you that no matter what happens, life still goes on.
But in retrospect the film couldn’t have had the alternate climax that I was so hoping for.
One cannot win love by the means of jealousy, insecurity, lies, and cheating. They say ’All is fair in love and war’ but it doesn’t apply to real life, most of the times.
So the film is actually quite a true story with a moral. And the moral of the story is: don’t confuse friendship with love and more importantly, don’t stoop to giddy levels to achieve what you think is ’the’ love of your life.
Because if it had to be the love of your life, you really wouldn’t have to be as desperate to snatch him from the clutches of his fiancee that he is very much in love with.
The film scores high on performances and screenplay. Julia is a delight to watch as she enters the skin of each character she has to perform. Julianne in this film.
Also the performances by Dermot Mulroney (as the best friend), Cameron Diaz (as the fiancee) and Rupert Everett (as Julia’s gay friend and boss) are unblemished.
There are lots of moments in the film that make the film worth a second watch.
To state a few: the scene when Rupert comes into town and Julianne introduces her as his fiancee and the scene that leads to the entire family breaking into a song in the restaurant is fantastic.
Yet another scene that deserves applaud is the one where Julia comes looking for Cameroon and they have a brawl in the ladies room.
All in all, My Best Friend’s Wedding isn’t a great film but it definitely is a fun film with lots of emotional strings attached to it.