Romy and Michele: In the Beginning

The movie gets four stars for the wonderful interpretation of Lisa Kudrow by Heigl. Immediately at the film's beginning the audience sees how magnificently she does the voice and facial expressions of her predecessor.

Which would have been enough to give the movie ten stars if it wasn't for the small fact Katherine Heigl is supposed to be playing the part of Mira Sorvino. I thought for a moment I had just mixed up the names from my memories of the previous movie, but no: now that I'm checking this site, I see it was the movie's mistake. They either didn't notice it or didn't care. Whichever is unforgivable.

I'd give the whole thing zero if Heigl hadn't been perfect in her portrayal of at least somebody.

Romy and Michele: In the Beginning was shot as the pilot for a TV series, but it stank so bad that networks wisely passed on the show. A prequel to Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), it has none of the wit or charm of the original movie, stars Katherine Heigl and Alexandra Breckenridge totally failing to capture the ditzy delight of the characters established by Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow. Of course, they didn't really have much chance with such a dreadful script, which starts by having the two best friends up sticks from Tucson to Los Angeles and try to make some easy money by becoming prostitutes. I kid you not.

When whoring themselves doesn't work out (don't worry, they don't actually go through with it), Romy and Michele hook up with a transexual called Donna (Alexandra Billings), who asks the pals to cat-sit for her while she goes to London to have surgery. I kid you not.

The rest of the film sees the girls working towards their ultimate goal -- entry into exclusive Hollywood nightclub Ozone -- aided in their ambition by shallow supermodel Linda Fashiobella (Kelly Brook). Along the way, Romy and Michele are reminded of the importance of true friendship. Yadda yadda yadda.

In The Beginning is so desperately unfunny that I might have bailed if it hadn't been for the fact that Heigl is really fit, Breckenridge is incredibly cute, and Brook is a babe. 3/10.

We have Katherine Heigl, playing the role of Romy White. Alex Breckenridge plays the role of Michelle Weinberger. Ms. Hiegl is a tall blond doing a credible Lisa Kudrow impression. Ms. Breckenridge is a somewhat shorter brunette, doing a credible Mira Sorvino impression.

Trouble is, Lisa Kudrow, the tall blond in the original, plays the role of Michelle Weinberger. Mira Sorvino, who is a somewhat shorter brunette (there's a conversation about how great she looks with dark roots), plays the role of Romy White.

Anyone else notice this? I find it odd that so many of the same people were involved, but that the actresses are clearly playing to the wrong character. I taped this off AMC and had to watch for most of the film before realizing what was bothering me.

My theory is that someone had a script for a bad comedy about two girls moving into a big city lying around on his desk and while there was nothing else to do, they simply chose to use the script as it is and borrow a name from a well known movie to attract at least some viewers. This would explain all the anachronisms, mixed up names, the long time period between the movies and the fact that the movie is only very distantly connected to the original Romy and Michele movie.

Even so, the movie is not all bad. I'm not saying it is not bad, because it really is. But it's not all bad. The two lead actresses do a fine job, and so does Kelly Brook. Not really going for an Oscar there, but I've seen a lot worse. As far as for the script goes, there's not even a one tiny drop of originality in it but I guess one can't expect that from this type of comedy. As a whole the movie is a cute little comedy which is not particularly entertaining but does not cause a severe headache either.

I loved the first movie but just couldn't get into this one for one reason. The girl playing Michelle is NOTHING like the original. It's like a whole new character and I just couldn't get past that. But Romy was perfect casting. She did a really good job and I've liked her in many things she's done. This movie could have been so good if only they had a different Michelle. I loved the Paula Abdul cameo at the end. It was a really cute part. And the costumes were also a little over the top. Romy and Michelle did create their own clothes, but they were supposed to be talented at it. The clothes they wore really did not show any talent at all.