beantownbum

(contains minor spoilers) This may have been a cute little time waster on its own, but as a prequel to Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion, it fails miserably. I was shocked to learn that Robin Schiff penned both the original and this prequel, as this outing seemed so incredibly phony. For example, the original opens with a scene of the girls making fun of the film Pretty Woman, even though its obvious that Michelle secretly enjoys it on some level. However, the prequel film has both Romy and Michelle so openly obsessed with Pretty Woman that they decide to become hookers so they can meet their own Richard Gere. This doesn't really make sense considering their attitude toward PW in the original film (and neither does the fact that the new Romy and Michelle constantly refer to Julia Robert's character in PW as "Pretty Woman" instead of Viv or Julia Roberts).

The disparities between the original and the prequel do not end there. The costumes are hideous, the supporting cast is random and the subplots are uninspired. It isn't a completely terrible movie (by the standards of ABC family films), but if you really enjoyed the first one, don't expect to repeat the experience. The two lead actresses never quite capture what made the original Romy & Michelle so endearing. Instead, they rely on constantly giggling and bad valley girl accents. Even worse, Schiff seems to think that the same audience will enjoy both films if they simply repackaged the old jokes/mannerisms in a new, thinly-developed plot (the comparison another reviewer made to Legally Blonde 2 is quite accurate).

So, if you barely remember the first Romy and Michelle movie and want to pass time with a silly, little comedy, check this one out. However, if you really liked the original and expect this film to do it justice - don't even bother.