“My Best Friend’s Wedding”: A Subversive Romantic Comedy Classic Turns 25
In 1997, Julia Roberts solidified her status as a box office powerhouse with this unconventional romantic comedy that defied expectations and featured three award-worthy performances.
It is hard to overstate how much My Best Friend’s Wedding defied expectations.
First, the film completely reversed Julia Roberts’ trajectory in Hollywood. The romantic comedy arrived at a critical juncture in her career when her star appeared to be fading. From 1989 to 1993, she scored two Oscar nominations (Best Supporting Actress for Steel Magnolias and Best Actress for Pretty Woman) and headlined four $100 million+ grossing blockbusters — Pretty Woman, Sleeping with the Enemy, Hook, and The Pelican Brief. But starting in 1994, she had a series of box office disappointments including I Love Trouble, Something to Talk About, Michael Collins, and Mary Reilly. The success of Wedding marked a major resurgence that led to a string of box office smashes like Stepmom, Notting Hill, Runaway Bride, Erin Brockovich (the film that won her the Best Actress Oscar), and Ocean’s Eleven.
The film was not just a box office hit, it was a bona fide smash. It grossed $127 million domestically and a further $172 million internationally for a total just shy of $300 million. That number may seem merely great…
