My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

My Review

Julia Roberts plays a New York City food critic who realizes she is in love with her longtime best friend just as he announces his engagement to a younger woman in “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” She immediately flies to Chicago determined to sabotage the wedding over the course of the few days left before the ceremony. Australian director P. J. Hogan did an excellent job at the helm of this romantic comedy, which has become a fan favorite over the years. The movie has great production values, memorable performances, and a marvelous screenplay by Ronald Bass. The liberal use of songs written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David are a famous characteristic of the film, especially the scene where a few people at the rehearsal dinner start sing “I Say a Little Prayer” and the entire restaurant eventually joins in.

The cast includes Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Dermot Mulroney, Rupert Everett, M. Emmet Walsh, Susan Sullivan, Philip Bosco, Christopher Masterson, Paul Giamatti, Harry Shearer, and Rachel Griffiths and Carrie Preston as the singing Newhouse twins. The watchable “My Best Friend’s Wedding” was the eighth highest grossing film of 1997 for producer Jerry Zucker, TriStar Pictures, Zucker Brothers Productions, and Sony Pictures Releasing.

It was primarily filmed in Chicago, Illinois, and was nominated for one Oscar for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (James Newton Howard). The songs employed in the film written by Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal David (lyrics) are “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Wishin’ and Hopin’,” “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself,” “What the World Needs Now is Love,” and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.”