`WEDDING' A SCREWBALL JOY TO BEHOLD.Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Film Critic Julia Roberts is a movie star who thrives on the old-fashioned. P.J. Hogan is a film director who thrives on the outrageous. Put the two approaches together, as they've done in ``My Best Friend's Wedding,'' and you've got a genre reborn for a new generation, a screwball screw·ball n. 1. Baseball A pitched ball that curves in the direction opposite to that of a normal curve ball. 2. Slang An eccentric, impulsively whimsical, or irrational person. adj. romantic comedy given an irreverent, effervescent ef·fer·vesce intr.v. ef·fer·vesced, ef·fer·vesc·ing, ef·fer·vesc·es 1. To emit small bubbles of gas, as a carbonated or fermenting liquid. 2. To escape from a liquid as bubbles; bubble up. 3. contemporary update. In ``Wedding,'' Roberts plays Julianne, a career girl whose high-style world goes topsy-turvy when she learns that a longtime admirer of hers, Michael (Dermot Mulroney Dermot Mulroney (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor. Biography Early life Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia to Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova ), is engaged to marry someone else. Suddenly in a panic that she's about to lose the best thing that never quite happened to her, she sets out to put the brakes on his impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. wedding. Like many a highly motivated resident of the Planet Me, she's convinced that no cause could be more urgent and noble than her own, nor anyone's charms superior. The complication, of course, is that Kimmy (Cameron Diaz), Michael's fiancee, is quite real, quite likable and quite vulnerable, or at least she seems so. In the dastardly das·tard·ly adj. Cowardly and malicious; base. das  tard·li·ness n. tradition of screwball heroines from those played
by Katharine Hepburn to Lucy Ricardo, Julianne proceeds with her selfish
schemes regardless, making a fine mess of everything and everybody along
the way.
The trick is for Roberts to act despicable and still remain pretty likable. She manages, and quite dazzlingly, drawing on that appealing combination of bumbling radiance and wary, fawnlike fragility that moviegoers have been waiting to see again ever since ``Pretty Woman'' and ``Steel Magnolias.'' After all, how can you hate someone who constantly confesses her own wretchedness? And screenwriter Ron Bass reads the sympathies of a mass audience astutely, pandering when necessary and having it both ways whenever possible. A few people are confusing ``Wedding'' with a sophisticated romantic comedy, but it's sophisticated only when Rupert Everett makes an appearance as Julianne's editor and confidante con·fi·dante n. 1. A woman to whom secrets or private matters are disclosed. 2. A woman character in a drama or fiction, such as a trusted friend or servant, who serves as a device for revealing the inner thoughts or intentions , a gay man who does not take kindly to being asked to pose as her fiance. Mostly, it's just good, splashy splash·y adj. splash·i·er, splash·i·est 1. Making or likely to make splashes. 2. Covered with splashes of color. 3. Showy; ostentatious. See Synonyms at showy. mainstream fun with a few surprises. Hogan (the Australian director of the independent comedy ``Muriel's Wedding'') goes giddily overboard with his major-budget resources, making every standard event into a choreographed ``big moment,'' but also livens things up with a subversive streak that owes more to transvestite trans·ves·tite n. One who practices transvestism. transvestite Sexology A person with a compulsion to dress as a member of the other sex, which may be essential to maintaining an erection and achieving orgasm. See Transsexual. comedies like ``The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'' and ``To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar'' than it does to ``Bringing Up Baby Bringing Up Baby, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, is a 1938 screwball comedy telling the story of a scientist winding up in various predicaments involving a woman with a unique sense of logic and a leopard named Baby. .'' Everyone will be talking about a scene where the wedding party, seated at a restaurant, breaks into a sing-along of ``I Say a Little Prayer.'' It's a bizarre, surreal moment - you can't quite believe it's working, but it is. These are the kind of cartoonish, left-field flourishes that are also reviving the action genre for audiences this summer. It's not exactly classic, but it's what's happening now, and ticket buyers will be lining up. THE FACTS The film: ``My Best Friend's Wedding'' (PG-13; mild adult humor). The stars: Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, Rupert Everett. Behind the scenes: Directed by P.J. Hogan. Written by Ronald Bass
Ronald Jay Bass (born March 26, 1942), sometimes credited as Ron Bass, is an American screenwriter. . Produced by Bass and Jerry Zucker. Running time: One hour, 45 minutes. Playing: Citywide. Our rating: Three Stars. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Rupert Everett plays Julia Roberts' editor and confidante in ``My Best Friend's Wedding.'' |
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