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The Rewatchables ·

My Best Friend's Wedding

year 1997decade 90sdirector P. J. Hogangenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Juliet Litmanhost Amanda Dobbins
All 15 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 31:24

The karaoke scene

The host running the category leaves the choice to the other two and lists candidates: the karaoke scene, Rupert Everett singing 'Say a Little Prayer' (a spouse's favorite four minutes of the movie), the 'choose me, marry me' speech, which is both crazy and heartfelt and which the hosts connect to Grey's Anatomy, Notting Hill and 90210's Kelly Taylor 'I choose me', the bathroom fight at Comiskey Park, and the ending with giant cell phones that somehow had service everywhere in 1997.

One more nominee is the boat scene, where she and Dermot Mulroney almost talk about their feelings, then dance while he sings 'The Way You Look Tonight'.

The film

My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)

Directed by P. J. Hogan · Drama

104 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Cast credits have not been imported yet.

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

31:24

Most Rewatchable Scene

The karaoke scene; the 'Say a Little Prayer' lunch

The karaoke scene; the 'Say a Little Prayer' lunch

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:31:24Read transcript
  • The host running the category leaves the choice to the other two and lists candidates: the karaoke scene, Rupert Everett singing 'Say a Little Prayer' (a spouse's favorite four minutes of the movie), the 'choose me, marry me' speech, which is both crazy and heartfelt and which the hosts connect to Grey's Anatomy, Notting Hill and 90210's Kelly Taylor 'I choose me', the bathroom fight at Comiskey Park, and the ending with giant cell phones that somehow had service everywhere in 1997.
  • One more nominee is the boat scene, where she and Dermot Mulroney almost talk about their feelings, then dance while he sings 'The Way You Look Tonight'.
  • The karaoke scene is the pick because it shows the whole range of emotions for everyone involved, and Cam really brings it. — Juliet Litman
  • The 'Say a Little Prayer' lunch is the pick: iconic, a laugh every single time, especially the cutaway to the lobster restaurant where people in lobster mitts wave their hands; it also highlights how 90s rom-coms outside Nora Ephron's used a chirping ensemble like a musical. — Amanda Dobbins
  • Another host's personal favorite is the bathroom fight: the best acting of Cameron Diaz, thirty women in the women's bathroom rolling with the punches and getting mad at Julia Roberts, two famous actresses at the peak of their powers in a showdown; its climax, the 'and a food critic' jab, is parked for what's aged the worst.
  • The recap splits the two deciders between the karaoke scene and the lunch singing scene, both singing scenes; the helium kids appear at the Sunday brunch before the wedding and are high comedy.
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35:36

What’s Aged the Best?

The title; Julia Roberts' and Cameron Diaz's looks; Chicago as a character; the White Sox setting; Cameron Diaz's BMW...

The title; Julia Roberts' and Cameron Diaz's looks; Chicago as a character; the White Sox setting; Cameron Diaz's BMW convertible; Julia sharing the screen with Diaz; the ending; Julia's crop tops and two pairs of sunglasses; someone telling you not to smoke; the backup pact

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:36Read transcript
  • The title has aged best: rom-coms from about 1988 to 1998 had fantastic four-word titles that explained the movie, like When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and While You Were Sleeping.
  • Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz have aged fantastically; Julia has never looked better in a movie and Cameron Diaz probably hasn't either, both at the peak of their powers, though one host found Diaz's hairstyle too frumpy and the shift dresses too many.
  • Chicago is used nicely as a character: a great summer city that is minus nine with a wind chill in December, telegenic with big buildings and cool suburban spaces; it is also a White Sox movie rather than a Cubs movie, which was ahead of its time in picking the cool team, perhaps because the Cubs would not allow it or for money.
  • Cameron Diaz's BMW convertible, seen when she picks Julia up at the airport, is an iconic mid-90s car; the driving scenes are funny, she is a terrible driver, and it is the only point where the movie puts you in Julia Roberts' perspective.
  • Julia being okay battling for screen time with Cameron Diaz has aged really nicely, since most top-tier list actresses would not have been cool with that; the ending where she does not end up with him also holds up.
  • How beautiful Julia Roberts looks, in a style that is current again, is one host's hands-down choice: the half shirt or crop top, the two pairs of sunglasses, outfits Zoe Simmons tries to wear now, and the small sunglasses Kanye told Kim are in; smoking is not in, but having someone tell you not to smoke still is.
  • The concept of the backup pact, if we're not married by a certain age, really started with this movie and is now seen everywhere, having taken on a life of its own. — Amanda Dobbins
  • The pact's age limit of 28 is far too low and seems very early now; if someone did this today it would be more like 38, a point that had been planned for what's aged the worst.
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38:56

What’s Aged the Worst?

Michael's job at Sport Magazine; a rich 20-year-old dropping out of school for a sports writer; the baseball-and-Spur...

Michael's job at Sport Magazine; a rich 20-year-old dropping out of school for a sports writer; the baseball-and-Spurs confusion; Julia pretending to marry a gay man; the ring-sucking moment; Dermot Mulroney's vacant performance; forging the email; the easy access to a billionaire's email; Julia staying on as maid of honor; the gift-of-the-song speech and the bathroom hug; Michael forgiving her

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:56Read transcript
  • Michael's big job is at Sport Magazine, which even in the late 90s was not a thing any more; one host assumed it was made up or meant to be Sports Illustrated, but it was the biggest magazine of the 50s and 60s, still good in the 70s, dying in the 80s and done by the 90s, and probably the only magazine the film could get the rights to; one host had a subscription in 2000.
  • Rich girl Cameron Diaz drops out of school at 20 to follow a sports writer, which a host who was a sports writer in the mid-90s calls a low-paying job nobody would drop out to follow around crappy Major League Baseball games; the film also shifts confusingly between baseball and the San Antonio Spurs, which should have counted as foreshadowing the San Antonio dynasty under what's aged the best, since they had not yet won a title.
  • Julia pretending she is marrying a gay guy remains the major flaw: it does not age well, anyone believing it is insane, and she would have mentioned an engagement to her alleged best friend.
  • The moment where he sucks the ring off Julia's finger strikes one host as weird, overly sexual and over the top, to the point that the pair might as well have just started kissing; another host says there is sexual chemistry in the movie and that this is the role Dermot Mulroney is supposed to play, and the objector concedes it is fine even if scientifically it may not work.
  • There are inconsistencies in Dermot Mulroney's moral compass, which may be true to life with a hot man; one host says he looks great in The Family Stone and is adorable but a terrible actor whose motivations are never clear, while another says you are not supposed to know, he is confused, and his cute, vacant look is the point and it works.
  • Forging the email the night before the wedding to try to get him fired is an actual evil act that goes too far and makes you hope the character dies alone; it was not okay in 1997 either, but it plays worse now.
  • What has not aged well is how easily she accesses a billionaire's email by wandering into his office, and the idea that he wrote drafts for his assistant to send; it belongs in a video of great moments from 1994 to 1997 when people did not understand the internet, leading to You Got Mail (as transcribed), called the most dated movie of the last 20 years, one that feels like it came out in the 1800s, though a happier, safer time.
  • She remains the maid of honor despite everything, which is beyond a nitpick; one host likes that the film reveals Kimmy is weirded out, sees the threat and is keeping her close to neutralize her, while another says she should not be at the wedding at all and should be escorted off the property.
  • Her wedding speech points out that she got them no gift and then hands them the song that was her special song with the guy, and Cameron Diaz's character is totally cool with it; the real problem is the bathroom fight ending with Cameron Diaz giving her a hug, when a truce for appearances would do, though at the wedding she goes along with it because rich people do not air problems in public.
  • Him forgiving her after she explains she sent an email from his father-in-law's account to get him fired is a deal breaker; you do not come back as friends after that, and if you are Cameron Diaz she has to go, her number deleted, probably immediately after the wedding; the thought is held for later.
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45:31

Casting What-Ifs

Sarah Jessica Parker turned down the Julia Roberts role for Sex and the City; Calista Flockhart reportedly turned dow...

Sarah Jessica Parker turned down the Julia Roberts role for Sex and the City; Calista Flockhart reportedly turned down both roles; Drew Barrymore lost out to Cameron Diaz because Julia pushed for Diaz; Ed Burns turned down the Dermot Mulroney role

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:31Read transcript
  • Sarah Jessica Parker turned down the Julia Roberts role because she was about to do Sex and the City; she was the first choice, which speaks to where Julia Roberts was at that moment.
  • Julia's preceding run is read out as Dying Young, Hook, The Player, Pelican Brief, I Love Trouble, Ready to Wear, Something to Talk About, Mary Riley (as transcribed), Michael Collins and Everyone Says I Love You, a seven-year drought; Hook was a phenomenon nobody was happy with, and Pelican Brief is enjoyable but now feels 45 years old and slow, a solid cable movie.
  • Calista Flockhart turning down both roles is read from IMDb trivia and doubted, dated to the peak first-year Ally McBeal era, which has not aged well; the Drew Barrymore item seems true: she lost out to Cameron Diaz because Julia really pushed for Diaz.
  • Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore have never been in a movie together, inviting speculation about an early-90s love triangle nobody knows about; one host has a lot of warmth toward Drew Barrymore.
  • Billed as one of the great casting what-ifs the three have ever done: Ed Burns turned down the Dermot Mulroney lead role; the reaction is that it would be a way better movie, with one host needing a glass of water over Ed Burns and noting a husband's celebrity doppelganger is Ed Burns; he is called very handsome but too serious.
  • Ed Burns would be more believable and an upgrade, clearly smarter than Dermot Mulroney; but if Michael is smart the whole house of cards collapses, since he is supposed to be confused while Julia and Cam carry the show, and Ed Burns would not put up with her and would stop the email; the counter is that every Ed Burns character is a moron, like the dumb cab driver in She's the One.
  • Ed Burns is still married to Christy Tarlington (as transcribed), an iconic, inspiring couple, and it is a shame he skipped this movie because it would have been good for his career; one host is teased as a huge Ed Burns fan for whom he, rather than Michael B., may be the one.
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52:41

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Cameron Diaz's parents: Susan Sullivan and the actor playing her father

Cameron Diaz's parents: Susan Sullivan and the actor playing her father

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:52:41Read transcript
  • The award is for the person whose name you do not know but whom you recognize; the answer is Cameron Diaz's mom, one of those actresses, and her father as well, since the parents are both those people; the dad is in so many 90s movies and got all the roles Robert Lugia (as transcribed) did not get.
  • Rachel Griffiths and Carrie Preston are also in the wedding party, both loved, from Six Feet Under and Brothers and Sisters; the mother's name is looked up and is Susan Sullivan.
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53:38

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Carrie Preston; the three helium kids

Carrie Preston; the three helium kids

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:38Read transcript
  • Rupert Everett is ruled ineligible because he is in too many scenes, and so is Cameron Diaz; one host picks Carrie Preston, who answers the phone at the end and talks about her sister licking the ice sculpture of the David, and calls her a good CBS sitcom and drama actress now on a CBS show transcribed as 'The Good Way'.
  • Paul Giamatti's big scene as the hotel bellhop who has a life talk with Julia is the most empathetic he has ever been on screen, really strong, though the hosts now have too much history with him and half expected him to take her to an S&M parlor.
  • Another host's choice is the three helium kids, a very small amount of screen time but phenomenal; the Carrie Preston voter sticks with Carrie Preston.
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54:37

Half-Assed Internet Research

Dermot Mulroney presented Julia Roberts with a woman of the decade award at the Guys Choice Awards; in 2001 producer ...

Dermot Mulroney presented Julia Roberts with a woman of the decade award at the Guys Choice Awards; in 2001 producer Jerry Zucker discussed a sequel called My Best Friend's Divorce; test audiences found Julia too evil, prompting reshoots that beefed up Rupert Everett; the original ending had Julia meet a John Corbett character; the new ending was shot eight months after wrap with Roberts in a wig over her pixie cut

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:54:37Read transcript
  • Dermot Mulroney and Julia Roberts are still very close; he presented her with the woman of the decade award at the Guys Choice Awards, the joke being that nobody else would go; in 2001 there were talks, per producer Jerry Zucker, about My Best Friend's Divorce, with Kimmy and Michael on the verge of a split, which the hosts find extremely believable.
  • The test audience thought Julia was too evil in the original cut, so reshoots beefed up Rupert Everett's character; in the original ending Julia met a man played by John Corbett with the hope she had found someone, but it did not test well and the audience wanted more of George and more singing.
  • The hosts do not want Aiden brought in to fix the ending either, poor Aiden being the second choice; a new ending was filmed eight months after the film wrapped, with Roberts back on set in an expensive updo wig covering her recent pixie cut, so she wears a wig in the final cell-phone scene with George.
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56:32

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

A straight redo rather than a sequel, since the backup-friend premise is timeless; an eight-episode Netflix series sp...

A straight redo rather than a sequel, since the backup-friend premise is timeless; an eight-episode Netflix series spread over eight days with cell phones, though the hosts would still prefer it as a movie

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:32Read transcript
  • This movie should not get a sequel but could simply be redone, a Netflix reboot, because the conversation about your backup is timeless enough; weddings are one of the great constructs for film and TV, as a Succession conversation with Fantasy (as transcribed) noted, because they put every character in one spot with drinking and bad behavior.
  • Asked whether it could have been an eight-episode Netflix show, which one host says should be a standing category, a version spread over eight days with cell phones that starts when she learns he is getting married might work, and one spouse would watch it, but the hosts would still prefer it as a movie for its time limits.
  • Earlier research surfaced the 2001 talk of a My Best Friend's Divorce sequel with Kimmy and Michael splitting, which the hosts find extremely believable.
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57:35

Apex Mountain

Rupert Everett; Julia Roberts; Dermot Mulroney

Rupert Everett; Julia Roberts; Dermot Mulroney

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:35Read transcript
  • Asked whether this is the Apex Mountain of rom-coms, the first answers are a flat no, twice, before the hosts call it essential to the genre, top five for one, the first to twist the rom-com gimmick and the last place the genre could go; whether it is the apex before the genre went downhill draws only a maybe, a case could be made, and a flat not convinced.
  • The twist and the respect for the rom-com form are liked, since it gets the impulse to see people together before twisting it; Notting Hill in 1999 is raised as a further meta-commentary that is really Julia Roberts' life, with her playing a bad person there too.
  • Rupert Everett is a 100 percent yes, an iconic performance and the breakout element the movie needed alongside the comeback star and the second star; he went on to the Madonna movie, which has not aged well, had James Bond talk about whether he could be the first gay Bond, and this remains his most mainstream and most fun performance beside period pieces like Madness of King George and The Importance of Being Earnest.
  • Cameron Diaz is not at her apex here, though she is really good; her apex is There's Something About Mary, a massive movie that arguably deserved an Oscar nomination and made her a gigantic star, after which she dated Matt Dillon and entered the Us Weekly stream.
  • Her dating history is called rough by one host because it never worked out, and impressive by another: Justin Timberlake, the baseball player known as A Rod, a broken nose surfing; the JT age gap is compared to Sandra Bullock and Ryan Gosling.
  • Julia Roberts is a yes: Pretty Woman blew her up, but this movie re-established her as the most bankable, A plus list actress, set up the next five years and led to her Oscar, so it righted the ship; one voice finds that reasonable, and Ocean's Eleven is floated for her astonishing but not lead role.
  • Chicago as an Apex Mountain is rejected as insulting; Dermot Mulroney is a yes for sure, since it never got better, or worse, for him.
  • An early aside calls 1997 and this film arguably the apex of rom-coms, the top of the crescendo, after which the genre went off a cliff a little.
  • Before the categories, one host previews that Cameron Diaz's Apex Mountain is There's Something About Mary, a role nobody else could have played as likable, funny and slapstick.
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1:03:10

Is This Movie Better With…?

Steve Buscemi

Steve Buscemi

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:10Read transcript
  • Steve Buscemi for sure: he could have had the Paul Giamatti part or played the wedding caterer, since there are a lot of small roles for him to pop up in.
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1:03:25

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

No overacting identified; only underacting from Dermot Mulroney

No overacting identified; only underacting from Dermot Mulroney

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:25Read transcript
  • Nobody saw any overacting in this movie, just underacting from Dermot Mulroney, which prompts the joke that there should be a Dermot Mulroney underacting award; if you look like that, you do not have to try.
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1:03:41

Picking Nits

What kind of sports writer Michael is; a $39,000 salary against billionaire spending; a 20-year-old dropping out to m...

What kind of sports writer Michael is; a $39,000 salary against billionaire spending; a 20-year-old dropping out to marry after a month or two; a best friend given three to five days' notice; a four-day wedding ending Sunday night in a church; the Sunday pre-wedding brunch; a drop-dead-gorgeous New York food critic with a book at 28; Kimmy having no maid of honor; the ugly purple bridesmaid dress; 'you're the only person I trust'; the welcoming billionaire family

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:41Read transcript
  • What kind of sports writer was Michael: a generalist, a gamer, maybe regional, since all the references are Texas, San Antonio and College Station; making about $39,000 a year in 1997 while she gives up everything to follow him, except they are spending billionaire money and hitting up dad.
  • The entire relationship timeline makes no sense: a month or two and they are getting married, she is 20 and dropping out of college, the parents would have stopped it and never thrown a wedding; a sub-nitpick is billionaires being this nice.
  • Julianne gets Michael's call the Wednesday night before his wedding, giving his supposed best friend three to five days' notice; a real best friend would have been told earlier and told when he met someone, and the pact needed caveats built in; the film half-covers it with her not checking her phone machine while on a book tour as a food critic.
  • The wedding itself is a four-day affair starting Thursday with a Sunday night church wedding, which makes no sense: they are not Jewish, and billionaires could have gotten the Saturday church spot; a Catholic explanation about a 6 p.m. Sunday slot after the holy window is offered and dismissed.
  • A brunch the Sunday morning before the wedding asks too much of guests, though one host likes being fed and prefers a pre-wedding brunch where attendance is required to the annoying post-wedding one; another's stepmother insisted on a 9 a.m. Sunday brunch where everyone was hungover and kids ran around.
  • The food critic nitpick: a New York food critic at 28 who has already written a book is ridiculous, the opening scene gets criticism backwards by having the waiter present the plate to the critic rather than her dining incognito, her 'inventive and confident' verdict is terrible criticism, and a drop-dead gorgeous 28-year-old critic is not a real thing, since the job takes 20 years to get.
  • Every choice about the food critic job was 100 percent wrong; the climactic jab that she is a loser food critic treats having a job as a bad thing from someone dropping out of college at 20, and the plate presentation is as absurd as a sports writer interviewing batters at home plate between pitches; when a critic comes in, the restaurant pretends she is not there.
  • Cameron Diaz has no maid of honor because hers broke her pelvis line dancing in Abilene and there is no backup; one host likes it as a strategic move revealing she does not trust Julia Roberts and is neutralizing her by cutting off her recourse, while another cannot invest in someone with no backup friend and thinks she should have demanded more for her own wedding.
  • TV and movies always skip the fact that the person getting married has no friends, as when Dylan McKay marries Tony (as transcribed) on 90210 with bridesmaids he met two weeks earlier, or the unseen bridesmaids on Succession in seafoam green like Julia Roberts' non-wedding to Kiefer Sutherland, a detail that teaches you she is a bad person.
  • The purple bridesmaid dress has the ugliest possible color and sparkles on the halter; and when Kimmy tells Julia Roberts she is the only person she trusts, that is not true, which the defender calls smart; how close could the friends have been if he waited until three days before the wedding.
  • Her whole family being billionaires who run Chicago yet are nice and welcoming to a sports writer does not hold, though the dad does have an intimidating conversation about how much he makes; being 20 and dropping out of the best schools is the one nit a host cannot get past, a waste of money if you never graduate.
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1:13:14

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie

"I am a dangerous criminal person. I do bad things to honest people"; "it's so against God's plan"; "You're never gon...

"I am a dangerous criminal person. I do bad things to honest people"; "it's so against God's plan"; "You're never gonna be Jell-O"; "Choose me, marry me"

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:14Read transcript
  • The first nominees are 'I am a dangerous criminal person. I do bad things to honest people' and Rupert Everett's excited 'it's so against God's plan' when everyone thinks he is her fiance; he is really good in this.
  • At the brunch Julia Roberts plays go-between with the creme brulee metaphor: he wants Jell-O, Cameron Diaz's character offers to be Jell-O, and Julia's reply that she is never going to be Jell-O is a line one host thinks about a lot.
  • The 'choose me, marry me' speech is defended as great and quite emotional, even though the later 'just a girl standing in front of a boy' line became the iconic Julia Roberts speech; Meredith Gray (as transcribed) says almost exactly this to Derek and perfects it.
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1:14:17

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Was she the worst maid of honor of all time? Does every woman want a perfect gay best friend? When did Cameron Diaz c...

Was she the worst maid of honor of all time? Does every woman want a perfect gay best friend? When did Cameron Diaz cut Julia Roberts out of their lives? Do Kimmy and Michael stay married? Does Julianne die alone, and how many marriages does she have?

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:17Read transcript
  • Was she the worst maid of honor of all time: she could only have been worse by killing the bride, injuring someone or actually stealing the husband; against Anne Hathaway in Rachel's Getting Married (as transcribed), Hathaway has the excuse of being a family member fresh out of rehab, so Julia Roberts, a stranger parachuting in to ruin a wedding, is worse, and Rosemary DeWitt (as transcribed) would be a better sister than anyone here.
  • Does every woman want a perfect gay best friend like Rupert Everett: definitely, he seems like the dream, though one host already has a great one; a spouse's old idea for a Friendster-style service matching married women with gay best friends spawns a rom-com pitch about a man who pretends to be gay to join it and must later confess he is in love, which the hosts claim for The Ringer.
  • When did Cameron Diaz officially cut Julia Roberts out: one guess is on the honeymoon; another thinks the savvier Kimmy phases her out over a couple of months, playing hurt rather than confrontational; a third imagines one super-awkward dinner when Julianne is in town tasting plates, after which they never see her again.
  • Julianne is probably not in love with Michael; the point is that she is a narcissist who gets infatuated, and the story is about letting go, so she goes home ashamed, pissed that she lost and missing her friend rather than heartbroken for a year.
  • Do they stay married: no; Kimmy drops out of school at 20 to follow a sports writer, within a couple of years he takes the job at her father's company she and her dad discussed, lives in Chicago near the parents, is miserable, they fight and it falls apart.
  • Does Julianne die alone and does she ever marry: the over-under on marriages is two, a panic marriage within 18 months and a quick divorce, a second marriage with a kid that ends by 40 after therapy and some emotional growth, then a cohabiting partner as an AARP member.
  • The missing career chapter: around 2008 or 2009 the food movement takes off and the gorgeous unicorn food critic becomes a star with her own travel show rivaling Tony Bourdain's, 'On the road with Julianne', a Netflix series that could be the sequel.
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1:21:12

Who Won the Movie?

Rupert Everett; Julia Roberts

Rupert Everett; Julia Roberts

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:12Read transcript
  • The first answer is Rupert Everett, a lasting, scene-stealing performance, illustrated with his 'maybe there won't be marriage, maybe there won't be sex, but by God there'll be dancing' clip.
  • The counter-pick is Julia: a case exists for all three, and the film establishes Cameron Diaz as someone who can go toe-to-toe with the top actress of her generation, but this is Julia's comeback A plus list movie that sets up the run to America's sweetheart and her Oscar; the others agree a case can be made for the other two.
  • Cam is great and rules; no other actress went toe-to-toe with Julia in her extended prime, and in Ocean's Eleven and Ocean's 12 she does not interact with any women, as if she learned from Cameron Diaz; Stepmom with Susan Sarandon is remembered as a weird 1998 movie she loses and should not have taken.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Rupert Everett
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Julia Roberts
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More from the conversation

The film is a top-10 rom-com for one host and arguably the 1997 apex of the genre; it opened to $21.7 million, topping Sleepless in Seattle's rom-com record, made $127 million domestic and nearly $300 million worldwide, and reignited Julia Roberts' career after a six-year drought that was deader than the hosts remembered.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:20Read transcript
Julia's drought was personal too: a 1999 Ned Zeman Vanity Fair piece and People archives show she dated most of her leading men from about 1990 until marrying Lyle Lovett, feuded with Spielberg and Nick Nolte, and the hosts caveat that actresses are often unfairly discussed but say this coverage was well documented; the run is recited from Liam Neeson in 1988 through Kiefer Sutherland, Dylan McDermott and Jason Patrick (as transcribed).
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:24Read transcript
A People Magazine article on the cancelled 1991 Roberts-Sutherland wedding is read aloud: 150 guests on a garden-dressed Fox soundstage 14, which the hosts call tacky and cheap, bridesmaids who included two of her agents, $425 Manolo Blahniks dyed seafoam green, an $8,000 gown whose jacket converted to a mini dress, and a turkey-shaped bachelor-party cake; People used to be a real, well-reported gossip magazine, and judging someone by their bridesmaids is a rule.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:41Read transcript
The wedding was cancelled because best man Jason Patrick, her Lost Boys friend, ran off with her; one account has them meeting on a flight to Canyon Ranch in Arizona, where a girls' weekend became a Julia and Jason weekend before they left for Ireland; the hosts weigh being generous about a 23-year-old with only yes-people around her versus the Leo comparison, and note how rare such a high-profile woman was outside Elizabeth Taylor.
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:03Read transcript
Pretty Woman took her from unknown to the biggest star in the world, like Stallone with Rocky, when rom-coms beyond When Harry Met Sally had barely existed; it started an eight-year run culminating here, the first rom-com where the lead actress does not get the guy.
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:23Read transcript
No earlier rom-com had its queen fail to get the guy; the leads always got them.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:34Read transcript
The 90s rom-com heroine grew crazier until this flat-out evil character, as one host's wife noticed an hour in; nobody roots for her, partly because Cameron Diaz is so charming in one host's favorite Diaz performance, with real depth and the bathroom scene to shine in; Julia Roberts gets kudos for sharing the screen with a threatening younger star, and Julia nonetheless looks amazingly hot in crop tops throughout.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:49Read transcript
The first half works because Dermot Mulroney, confused as he looks, is weighing two kinds of relationship; a host defends his adorable, swoon-worthy Northwestern grad; then a 2004 synopsis is read calling it a career-ending Mulroney performance and summarizing four days of sabotage before she backs off and dances with her gay best friend, judged accurate.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:49Read transcript
Whether she is a genuinely bad person or just behaving badly: she is a narcissist with little empathy until forced against a wall, and the film also reads as a fascinating comment on her total discomfort with intimacy, unusual for rom-com women who usually just want a husband.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:30Read transcript
Is the opposite-sex backup friend real: one host says it is created by movies, perhaps this one; another saw the film at 13 with friend Jim Hobart, who was in fact the backup, now happily married with a daughter; a third joked to friend Jen that the film mirrored their future and was called back a week later by an angry Jen; one host's one-who-got-away is Michael B. Jordan, in play until Creed and ended by Black Panther.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:55Read transcript
Cameron Diaz's run of The Mask, She's the One, this and There's Something About Mary is one of the great actress runs; she never got Julia's PR or the America's sweetheart treatment, being steered to gross-out comedy more popular with men, though one host came around through The Holiday and Charlie's Angels; she quietly stopped acting after 2014 and arguably has the better, more consistent IMDb page.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:46Read transcript
Julia's IMDb is shockingly bad for her stardom despite the turn-of-the-century run of Notting Hill, Runaway Bride, Erin Brockovich (a Soderbergh household keeps it on), The Mexican (bad), Ocean's 11, and Mona Lisa Smile and Closer, which one host calls good while others say Mona Lisa Smile is not a good movie; Danny Motor (as transcribed) was married when they met on one of her films, which one host's mother has never forgiven.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:53Read transcript
Cameron Diaz's later filmography is run through: Very Bad Things, Any Given Sunday (terrific as the owner), Being John Malkovich, Charlie's Angels (no guns, a Drew Barrymore decision), Shrek, Vanilla Sky (creepy and good), The Sweetest Thing, Gangs of New York, In Her Shoes with Tony Collat (as transcribed) and The Holiday, which one host calls their favorite Nancy Meyers movie, to another's insistence that it is not the best Nancy Meyers, with Jude Law's hot London book editor and an Arclight sighting; She's the One is important for 90s guys for its cast of Jennifer Aniston, Amanda Peet, Leslie Mann and Maxine Baines (as transcribed).
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:56Read transcript
Mary Riley (as transcribed) is called a self-sabotaging choice; the hosts are surprised Julia was never tied to a drug or alcohol narrative despite People hinting and her denials; the lesson is to play the hits every few years, a rom-com or a danger movie like Sleeping with the Enemy, and she told theater owners her hair was red, long and curly just like they like it; Cruise similarly lost his way with Far and Away and Interview with the Vampire before Mission Impossible and Jerry Maguire.
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:20Read transcript
The podcast's takeaway is that one host does not like Julia Roberts as a human, while another likes mean people and would want to join a two-week magazine profile with her, like one celebrity journalist Zach Barron might do; her current era of photos with international soccer players is explained as a parent impressing a soccer-fan kid, though the kids are not in the pictures.
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:50Read transcript
A take the others are warned they will hate: one host does not like the ending and wants a rom-com where the girl gets the guy, finding it unsatisfying to invest in Julia Roberts and watch her lose, even though bad people should not win; another says it ends with Cameron Diaz getting the guy, and a third is described as mad and wanting to move on.
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:59Read transcript
George Clooney was the only co-star Julia simply became friends with, a testament to his power, though one host suspects an undiscussed night around Ocean's 12.
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:22Read transcript
The wedding-day tangent: only Jewish people marry on Sundays, there is a special place in hell for July 4th weekend weddings, Memorial Day and Labor Day are big asks, one host married on Memorial Day and felt stress about it, another attended four Memorial Day weddings in a row, Christmas Eve is the worst, New Year's Eve rules, and a recent Sunday 11 a.m. wedding was tough.
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:30Read transcript
Conspiracy Theory is called unwatchable now because of the Mel Gibson baggage; Stepmom is a never-good movie one host watches specifically to cry; the best cry movies are Terms of Endearment, the OG, and Steel Magnolias, with Mark Green dying on ER the biggest tear-jerker, now available on Hulu.
Approx. transcript time · 01:22:57Read transcript
The film is on Starz and Encore on demand, as is Notting Hill, which one host calls the all-time airplane movie and wants as a future episode while another is out on it; a London trip for the Olympics was the happiest Simmons family month, prompting jokes about a Ringer London office heavy on Premier League and Wimbledon; rom-coms already covered include You've Got Mail, Devil Wears Prada, Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You, with When Harry Met Sally still to do.
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:03Read transcript