note : some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers . be forewarned . the teaser trailers for my best friend's wedding scarsely gave reason for hope - it looked like the sort of goofy , light-hearted comedy than might put julia roberts back in the limelight , but little more ; i'd frankly rarely seen a trailer place such an emphasis on people falling over for laughs so often . it was then to both my surprise and my delight to find that my best friend's wedding was such a success - a strong , bouyant romantic-comedy with some decidedly unconventionally quirky comic aspects , featuring a triumphant performance from ms . roberts . the heroine of my best friend's wedding is julianne potter ( julia roberts ) , a successful new york restaurant critic , and we open the film with a whimsical revelation to her editor george downes ( rupert everett ) that years ago , she had made a pact with her dear best friend and ex-lover michael o'neal ( dermot mulroney ) , a sports writer , that if they both hadn't married by the time they reached 28 , they had promised to marry each other . both julianne and michael are both single , of course , and when george inquires about michael's age , julianne realizes that he's mere weeks away from his 28th birthday , and is quite distressed when she receives a phone call from michael later that day . however , she finds herself even more distraught when michael's call is in regards to his impending marriage to heiress kimmy wallace ( cameron diaz ) , and when he asks julianne to fly down to chicago for the wedding , julianne suddenly realizes that she loves michael , and resolves to break up the wedding and steal the groom by any means necessary . the setup for my best friend's wedding , then , is a fairly conventional one , and in many ways the film's storyline is formulaic - but only to a certain extent : the film was directed by p . j . hogan , whose first feature , muriel's wedding , had quite an offbeat tone for a traditional uplifting ugly-duckling story , and the same holds true for my best friend's wedding , which confidently combines traditional romantic-comedy elements with a really eccentric sense of humour . the film is innundated with sly mischievousness which seems clearly the influence of mr . hogan . for example , there's a heartfelt , emotional exchange between julianne and michael late in the film - with a trio of teenagers , inhaling helium and sounding every bit like alvin and the chipmunks , harmonizing in the background . my best friend's wedding opens with an inspired opening credit sequence which sets the tone for the film , and there are scenes where actors spontaneously burst into song to good comic effect - it could almost be argued that this film is nearly as much of a musical as woody allen's everyone says i love you ; i'd even assert it's a more successful one . my best friend's wedding keeps breaking conventionality with its characters as well . in a typical romantic-comedy , kimmy would be portrayed as a snooty , conniving ice queen , and the audience would be cheering for julianne to rescue michael from her grasps ; this film is smarter than that - here , kimmy is sweet , sincere , and innocent ; julianne even admits at one point that had she not resolved to utterly destroy kimmy's life , she'd actually like her too . the george character is almost a staple of recent film - the homosexual male friend of the heroine who acts as a confidant and provides the guiding voice of reason - but in my best friend's wedding , he gets to have a playful , mischievous and charming personality . throughout the film , the formulaisms one often sees is romantic-comedy are given little twists , and the result is a film which is compelling all the way to its somewhat unorthodox conclusion . there is a lot of smart writing in the well-paced screenplay by ronald bass ; we're given four interesting , vivid , and likeable characters , with some good dialogue and some genuinely charming and touching moments . my best friend's wedding marks a strong career rebound for julia roberts , who turns in a top-notch , confident and reassured performance as julianne . this isn't the sort of role one usually associates with ms . roberts - the julianne character's neurotic , fumbling characteristics are more in line with a meg ryan role - but ms . roberts works wonderfully in the film and demonstrates her aptitude at comedy here , remaining compelling and empathetic to the audience , if not entirely sympathetic , even when her deeds done to destroy the wedding plans of her best friend are less than honourable . even better than ms . roberts though is cameron diaz , who turns in a shining performance in my best friend's weddding . with a smile which lights up the screen , she effectively conveys kimmy's insecurity and utter sweetness in an endearing manner , and never hits a false note in the film . she even sings - i won't soon forget her charming serenade of " i just don't know what to do with myself " . rupert everett is given a very juicy role as george , and he makes the most of it with a hilarious turn which makes his character perhaps the most vivid and most memorable in the film . his george is a bit of a devilish rogue , entirely affable , and mr . everett's performance is a delight to watch ; he's clearly having fun , and his joy is infectuous . dermot mulroney is adequate in a thankless role - unlike the other characters in the film , he's not given a lot to do , but there is a genuine onscreen chemistry between ms . roberts and mr . mulroney , and consequently the longstanding friendship between his michael character and the julianne character always seemed completely authentic . when julia roberts' lustre began to fade , and she was usurped from her title as " america's sweetheart " by sandra bullock , i thought it was a canny career move on her part to take supporting roles in prestige projects like michael collins and everyone says i love you to raise her profile . while that didn't quite work out , it's near-certain that her successful return to the genre which made her a big star back in 1990 , the romantic-comedy , will once again raise her ante in the hollywood game . my best friend's wedding marks a return to form for ms . roberts , and cements p . j . hogan's reputation as a skilled director of comedy . 
