My Best Friend's Wedding Directed by P J Hogan - Movie Review Example

MOVIE REACTION PAPER Inserts His/her Inserts Grade Inserts 14/10 MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING Synopsis: Julianne Potter is a self assertive and a successful food critic who realizes that she is in love with her best friend. Unromantic Julianne had made a pact with Michael O’Neal that if they both remain single at 28, they would marry each other. Weeks before they turn 28, Michael invites her to his wedding to Kimmy, a sweet and pretty college student. A stunned Julianne goes with the intention of winning over Michael, only to learn that Kimmy and Michael are perfect together. Not willing to give up without a fight, she employs some underhanded methods to break them up with the help of her gay friend and editor George Downes. On the wedding day, she finally confesses her love to Michael but in vain. After realizing that all her dirty tactics have failed, she helps Kimmy and Michael take the final step towards marriage. Main Characters: Julianne is a clever, confident and successful career woman. She is a woman who has not invested herself in emotional relationships. She is career oriented and disinterested in the concept of love and marriage until she realizes she’s in love with her best friend. She is not affectionate and comes across as tough and independent. She is aggressive and competitive and wants to win at all costs. Her selfishness overshadows her guilt and she doesn’t consider the consequences of her actions on others. Throughout the movie, her conscience surfaces at times but she believes she is doing the right thing for herself and everyone else. This shows a high level of self-obsession. She doesn’t come across as a person with no morals, but as someone who has gotten caught up in the situation. She is passive aggressive at times, manipulating at times and has even misled others by a false façade of honesty. She is secretively self-enhancing and tries to make Kimmy look like the villain so she can win Michael. Michael is an all round nice guy. He knows he loves Kimmy but seems confused about his past with Julianne. He has an idealistic view of Julianne which makes him blind to her faults. He is insensitive and selfish at times especially with regards to Kimmy. He expects her to give up college and travel with him while he covers sports. He is an optimist, who only sees the good in people and expects things to work out. He is independent and wants to make something of himself on his terms; which is why he is against working for Kimmy’s dad. Kimmy is the perfect girl; she is sweet, nice, beautiful and rich. She is giving, trusting and loving. She is honest and open about everything and tries to do the right thing for everyone. She is portrayed to be the opposite of Julianne. She is open about her feelings, is responsive and genuine whereas Julianne is dishonest and cunning. Kimmy is bubbly, cheerful and a little airheaded. She is not dumb and silly and smart enough to have doubts about Julianne. George is the cheerful one. . He is Julianne’s editor and close friend. He is the voice of reason and encourages her to do the right thing while still playing along with her tactics. He is loud and dramatic. He is the objective observer who grasps the situation and tries to help Julianne without interfering directly. He is her support system throughout. Inter-personal concepts in the movie: Self awareness and self esteem make up a person’s self concept. Julianne sees herself as emotionally detached and self sufficient. Her self-concept changes when she finds out that her best friend is getting married. She was under the impression that she wanted companionship and marriage with Michael. But her self esteem takes a blow when she meets Kimmy who is ‘irritatingly perfect’. Her self-concept also changes when she uses underhanded tactics to break up Michael and Kimmy. She claims to be ‘the bad guy’ and ‘lower than pond scum’ in the end, which shows how much her self- concept changed from the beginning of the movie. The types of love that are presented in the movie are Eros and storage. Eros is the type of love that Kimmy and Michael have. It measures passionate love as well as intimacy and commitment. Eros gives fully, intensely, and takes risks in love; it requires substantial ego strength. Whereas the love Julianne has for Michael is storage, which merges friendship and love. Julianne believes Michael loves her, and so she does not perceive the love and intimacy between Michael and Kimmy. But when Michael compliments her, she perceives it as a sign of interest. It represents a simple case of selective perception. She believes she will be saving the couple from future heartbreak by stealing Michael before the wedding takes place. Michael and Julianne have been friends for years and their friendship is at the stabilized stage but they have been out of touch for months. Self disclosure takes place when he shares his feelings for Kimmy with her. But Julianne does not disclose her feelings and he has no idea that she is planning to stop his wedding. There are various degrees of self disclosure in this movie. Between George and Julianne there is total self disclosure as she tells him of all her schemes. Michael and Julianne’s relationship is less open, and the need for self disclosure is apparent from the beginning. If Julianne would have shared her feelings instead of behaving dishonorably, her friendship would have been preserved and she could have saved the pain she caused others. There is also an element of self disclosure required in Kimmy and Michael’s relationship. Kimmy wants to complete college and stay at home; Michael has no idea about this. This creates a communication gap which Julianne easily exploits. Julianne’s self disclosure to Kimmy towards the end helps them create a bond and get over the past. When it comes to the new relationship of Kimmy and Julianne, it is obvious that Kimmy views Julianne as a threat. Both of them use different ways to learn about the other. Julianne uses the passive approach by observing Kimmy in her own surroundings and then using her observations against her. Kimmy uses a more active and interactive approach. She makes Julianne her maid of honor, talks to her openly, and includes her in situations. Between Kimmy and Michael the relational dialectic of connectedness-separateness comes into play. Every relationship needs some sacrifice of individual autonomy but excessive connection destroys the relationship as individual identities are lost. After the wedding, Kimmy was going to quit college and travel with Michael on his reporting commitments which showed that the connectedness in the relationship was unusually high. Kimmy was giving up on her dreams and her life to be with Michael. Julianne’s interference brings this issue to light and actually helps the relationship get a new balance when Kimmy explains her ideas and opinions on the matter. In the long run this would have caused resentment and conflict. Julianne tries to convince Michael that the perfection of the relationship would be boring. The relational dialect of certainty and uncertainty comes into play, as a relationship needs mystery and spontaneity. An absence of variety renders the relationship dull and predictable. Julianne’s actions put a strain on her relationship with Michael as well as the couple’s relationship. This shows the need for open communication between friends as well as partners. Personal experience: Friendship and love are an integral part of life. Everyone experiences different forms of friendship but the friendship of George and Julianne is rare. He knows her motives and her schemes, tries to guide her and supports her as well. Another aspect is the friendship between men and women. The history of Julianne and Michael’s friendship is loaded with sexual tension. In reality, friendship between a man and a woman sometimes starts due to attraction, and when that fades so does the friendship. But in many cases these friendships turn into lasting bonds. Most people in a situation such as Julianne would not resort to such extreme measures such as emailing Michael’s boss, but would try to embarrass their competition and create misunderstandings between the couple. Jealousy is a strong emotion but actions that aim to undermine others do not lead to good results. Critics’ views: Some critics found the movie refreshing and funny. They found Julianne to be oddly charming in spite of being clever and dishonest and George’s humor as the gay friend added spontaneity and energy. On the other hand, many critics found Julianne to be selfish and self absorbed. Her actions were found to be highly disagreeable and many viewers were rooting for her to fail. Michael’s character was under developed and one could not see why two fine women were in love with him. Overall the movie received good ratings. Evaluation: The movie comes across as a romantic comedy with no happy ending for the lead. It was witty and clever, and depicted relationships astutely. Some of Julianne’s tactics seemed immature and Michael’s character had no depth but the movie was well executed. Although the concept of best friends was used loosely, the movie portrays conflicts that arise when close friends change and grow distant intelligently. Bibliography My Best Friends wedding. 1997. 15 Oct 2010 . Read More