Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion is one of the ultimate ’90s cult movies, and over 25 years after it was released, the buddy comedy is as beloved as ever. The film, which follows two stylish slacker BFFs who decide to attend their 10-year high school reunion, features hilarious performances from Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino as the title characters and is filled with quotable lines (who can forget “I invented Post-Its”?) and delightfully over-the-top costumes, plus one of the most memorable dance sequences of the era.
The 1997 film never gets old (in fact, Romy and Michele’s outfits wouldn’t be out of place on TikTok!) and there’s even been recent talk of a sequel. As we eagerly await Romy and Michele’s return, we’ve gathered some fabulous trivia about the comedy. You might even be able to impress people at your own high school reunion with these fun facts!
1. Romy and Michele originated in a 1988 play
The characters of Romy and Michele first appeared in the 1988 play Ladies Room, written by Robin Schiff. Schiff and Lisa Kudrow knew each other through the Groundlings, a comedy troupe that gave many funny folks their start, and years before she was cast on Friends, Kudrow played Michele on the stage.
Schiff then developed Ladies Room into a 1989 sitcom pilot which didn’t get picked up, and in the ’90s, she penned the Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion screenplay. This time around, the stars aligned for Romy and Michele, as studio executives thought the film could be the “female version of Wayne’s World” they’d been looking for. At the same time, Kudrow was becoming famous thanks to Friends, and her name went a long way toward getting the movie made.
2. The director of Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion worked on The Simpsons
Director David Mirkin came to Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion with an excellent comedy background, as he served as showrunner for The Simpsons from 1993 to 1995. Mirkin was known for the surreal humor he brought to The Simpsons, and he remains a producer on the show to this day.
3. There was a TV movie prequel
In 2005, a prequel TV movie, Romy and Michele: In the Beginning, was made for ABC Family. While Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino weren’t in the film, it was written and directed by Robin Schiff, the original writer and creator of the characters. Young Romy and Michele were played by Alexandra Breckinridge and a pre-Knocked Up Katherine Heigl.
4. The costume designer was responsible for another iconic ’90s fashion movie
Fashion is an essential part of Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, as the characters make their own colorful minidresses and the film ends with them opening their own boutique. The costumes were designed by Mona May, who created the iconic ensembles in the teen comedy Clueless two years prior, and both movies are regarded as some of the most fun and fashionable of the ’90s.
5. A big chunk of the budget went to a Cyndi Lauper song
In a climactic scene at the reunion the title characters and their former classmate (Alan Cumming) do an interpretive dance to Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 ballad “Time After Time”. Using the song didn’t come cheap, as licensing it cost $240,000 of the film’s $20 million budget.
6. There’s a Romy and Michele musical
In 2017, a musical adaptation of Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion debuted at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre. The book for the musical was written by Schiff, and the songs, written by the composers for Orange Is the New Black and Weeds, included “Business Woman Special,” “I Invented Post-Its” and “Changing Lives One Outfit at a Time”.
7. Romy and Michele came out the same month as another high school reunion film
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion wasn’t initially expected to be a hit, and its release date was pushed back a few weeks, so as not to compete with another movie about a character attending their 10-year high school reunion, Grosse Pointe Blank starring John Cusack. Both films ended up being well-reviewed and turning a profit at the box office, making April 1997 a banner month for this niche genre.
8. There are a number of Friends connections
While you already know about Kudrow, there are also some surprising Friends connections in Romy and Michele’s High School Reuion’s supporting cast. Julia Campbell and Elaine Hendrix, who played two of the high school mean girls, both appeared on episodes of the show, as did Vincent Ventresca, who played Romy’s high school crush, and E.J. Callahan, who played one of their teachers.
On top of that, Justin Theroux, who in one of his earliest film roles played Romy and Michele’s outcast classmate, went on to be married to none other than Jennifer Aniston from 2015 to 2018.
9. Mira Sorvino got to show off her love of Star Trek
In one of the film’s signature fashion moments, Romy wears a shiny blue minidress that looks just like a Star Trek uniform—it even features the Starfleet insignia from the show. It turns out the sci-fi outfit was inspired by Sorvino’s own fandom. As she described, “I’ve been a die-hard Trekkie since I was a teenager. Romy was a geek, so I suggested we reference that by putting the Federation logo on her dress.”
10. A sequel is in the works
Earlier this year, Sorvino revealed that Schiff, now a writer and producer on Emily in Paris, was working on the screenplay for a Romy and Michele sequel, saying, “Lisa [Kudrow] and I are wrapping up our deals as executive producers on it with the studio. We’re full force ahead.”
Asked what audiences might expect from a sequel, Sorvino said, “I just still want [Romy and Michele] to be as relatable, but also as dumb and lovable as they ever were. Like, I don’t think they’ve learned that much in the time in between, but they still have that unstoppable spirit and that friendship and that idiocy that makes everybody kind of love them. And so, that essential nature of them and the heart that’s at the center of that, that heart has to stay there.” We can’t wait for the sequel to become a reality!
