#MUFFlisted: 10 Lady Life Lessons from Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
(image courtesy of Buena Vista)
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)
dir. David Mirkin
Writer: Robin Schiff
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion is one of those movies that never fails to give me warm lady-feelings and remind me how great the women in my life are. Women, in general, are great. In fact, women are fucking badass and amazing and we should all love each other. (Except for jerks. You shouldn’t love jerks of any gender.)
As a lady, I can tell you that it’s not always easy to love other ladies. From the time we are small wee babes, we are influenced to suspect women as our enemies. We are told that we need to be “better” than other women, that we need to compete against each other and knock each other down. Am I guilty of sometimes feeling this way? Yes. But, do I know this to be wrong? Yes. And do I actively put effort into truly loving, embracing, and supporting other women in my life and in general? Absolutely, yes.
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion is one of those movies I always use to look back at and say, "Yep, I'm definitely supposed to be friends with ladies." With its strong female characters and positive female relationships, Romy and Michele is one of the films of my childhood that really influenced my early views on women and friendship. So, not only should writer Robin Schiff be credited for my warm feelings of lady-love (as she is responsible for the story, the characters, and the play they both originated from), but also for creating something that helped set the foundation of my feminist attitude at a young age.
Oh, and if you couldn’t tell from the script, Schiff is also funny as heck! In the documentary Why We Laugh: Funny Women, she responds to the claim that women aren’t funny with, "One of the reasons I think women aren't funny is because we're so busy thinking about when we can give our next blowjob, it's like our brains are so crowded up with that, we don't have time to think of funny things to say." BEST.
Anyway, here are 10 Lady Life Lessons I Took Away From Romy and Michele:
1. Best friends are important. Surround yourself with people who support you and like who you. We are all the Mary, and we are all the Rhoda.
2. Don’t forget about your dreams. Don’t forget about paying your rent either.
3. Sing, even if you don’t know the rest of the words.
4. You don’t need to make someone else’s life Hell to make yours better.
5. Always see if you can get specials at diners. If you can’t, at least you know you tried. I’m still holding out hope that my burrito tattoo will get me at least ONE free burrito before I die.
6. Who cares if you didn’t invent Post-Its—you have your own skills! It could be fashion design, it could be film directing, it could be accounting, or it could be making dinosaur noises like that kid from the What’s Your Thing PSA of my childhood. Be proud of your thing!
7. “Cool” is a relative term. You can think whatever the fuck you want is cool.
8. There are other, better guys.
9. “I cut my foot before and my shoe is filling up with blood” is a great way to get out of a conversation. But if the person you say it to understands the reference then maybe you should reconsider your departure.
10. Always dance to "Time After Time."
(image courtesy of Buena Vista)
One final note: I want Janeane Garofalo to be my wife. One time I watched her do stand-up in Toronto and she kept sitting on the floor every time she remembered how good Game of Thrones is. She is amazing in everything, but her character in Romy and Michele holds a special place in my heart. Although Romy and Michele are the stars, Heather Mooney will always be the most relatable character for me. Or possibly tied with Toby Walters.
(image courtesy of Buena Vista)
Have a Romy and Michele day!
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