My Best Friends Wedding

My Best Friend's Wedding:

My Best Friend's Wedding is a romantic comedy made in 1997, that was directed by a man named P.J. Hogan. The movie was a global-box office hit that year, and received mainly positive reviews. The movie includes two famous actresses, Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz. This is also widely regarded as one of Julia Robert's most well known movies.

But does this movie pass the Bechdel test? Already we can see there are at least 2 female characters. However, we must see if it can pass the two other standards.

Plot:

My Best Friends Wedding is a movie about a food critic named Julianne Potter who is 27 years old. One day, she receives a call from her best friend Michael O'Neal. Michael and her are very close and promised to each other that when both of them become 29 years old, if they still haven't met someone by then they would marry. Julia expects that he is asking to marry her but is surprised to discover that he is going to marry a girl named Kimmy Wallace. Julia is surprised and instantly realizes that she loves Michael. The whole point Michael called was to ask Julia to be the maid of honor for the wedding. Julia excepts but only because she is determined to ruin the wedding.

So the whole movie is about Julia's attempts at ruining the wedding for her best friend, only for her benefit and possibly Michael's.

Female Characters:

Since there are many female characters in the movie, I am just going to put in the two women that were the most involved in the plot.

Julianne Potter:

Julianne is the main protagonist of the movie. She is very serious about her career and not on her love life. She is first seen being very critical about food and seemed highly respected in her career. She has a friend named George, and a best friend named Michael. When Michael tells Julianne he is getting married, she gets very jealous. She is sarcastic and passive aggressive to Kimberly, the bride to be. Julianne doesn't really like dresses, pink, purple, or makeup very much either. She can also be very persuasive. She doesn't like stereotypical love, and public displays of affection either. During the entire movie she makes bad decisions that greatly affect her relationship between her best friend Michael, his wife Kimmy, and even her other friend George. Overall, she is a very independent minded woman who makes bad decisions that impact her relationships with people.

Kimberly Wallace:

Kimberly "Kimmy" Wallace is a young woman that left college to marry Julianne's best friend, Michael. Her family has a lot of money, which has let Kimmy travel to many places. She went to college to become an architect, but wasn't fully happy with her life. She then met Michael. After a few months of dating, they became engaged. Michael loves Kimmy because of how she let's him kiss and hug her in public, and how she doesn't mind traveling, even to places she's already been before. She is very enthusiastic and hyper. She is the epitome of extrovert. Whatever Julianne is, the exact opposite is Kimmy. To Julianne she is viewed as somewhat of an antagonist, even though Kimmy is excited to become friends with someone that knows Michael well. In a nutshell, Kimmy is a very nice girl that is friendly towards many, and wants to be the best wife she can be for her fiancee Michael.  

How the Main Female Character is Treated:

Julianne:

Julianne throughout the entire movie is mostly treated with respect, and authority. Though many seem to criticize her views on love and marriage. Her editor is her very good friend, George, who likes to crack jokes at her. Kimberly is very nice to Julianne, until she realizes her intentions at the end of the movie. Kimmy likes to hug Julianne which makes her uncomfortable. Michael and her are like how many close friends are. They do a ton of things together and Michael enjoys Julianne's company. By the end of the movie however, he seems a bit cold to Julianne for how she behaved. (Honestly, she deserved it for trying to ruin his wedding because of jealousy.) All of Kimberly's family like to judge the fact that she isn't married yet. They make fun of her views on society and feminism which makes her uncomfortable. You can see that Julianne doesn't really fit in with Kimmy's family very well.

Conclusion:

My best Friends Wedding actually receives a 3 out of 4 Bechdel stars for barely passing the Bechdel test. It has at least two female characters, and two of them speak often. Kimmy and Julianne rarely speak about weddings and their views on marriage. However, because there is that small conversation, the movie does pass the Bechdel test. Personally, I do not like this movie because of how Julianne treats Kimmy, and how Kimmy's family can be a bit rude to Julianne when it comes to talking about marriage. I also did not like the obsession with Michael because he didn't seem like a very great guy. So, My Best Friend's wedding has made a strong 3 out of 4 Bechdel stars even when the movie was focused on relationships between men and women.