I watched My Best Friend's Wedding last night. I was in the mood for a romantic comedy, but that's not really what the film is. The movie takes a traditional romantic comedy setup — trying to keep a past love from marrying someone else — and unmasks that act as selfish and detestable. Whereas Cary Grant stays pretty damn charming throughout the entirety of The Philadelphia Story, Julia Roberts is largely unlikeable throughout the entirety of My Best Friend's Wedding, save for perhaps three well-executed pratfalls. It's a brave approach to this kind of story, but it didn't really work for me at all (perhaps just because it wasn't what I went in wanting). When Rupert Everett takes over the film for about ten minutes in the middle, relegating Julia to a supporting role, the movie gets pretty fantastic. I can only imagine the editor putting together that footage and shaking his head at the screenwriter for sending Rupert's character away after that. Clearly somebody should remake this film and make the gay-friend-pretending-to-be-the-girl's-boyfriend a central part of the story. Grade: C+
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