The film stars Julia Roberts as Julianne Potter, a glamorous food critic who finds out her best friend, Michael O'Neal (played by Dermot Mulroney) is planning to marry a beautiful woman, Kimmy Wallace (Cameron Diaz) who is about 8 years younger than he is.
Julianne immediately realizes she has been in love with Michael and must break up the impending marriage and win him back. She comes up with various underhanded schemes to break up the happy couple. When things don't work at first she becomes increasingly desperate and she tries even dirtier tricks.

In desperation, Julianne calls her boss, George Downes, (Rupert Everett) for advice. Downes tells her that she must tell Michael the truth, that she loves him and wants him to choose her instead of Kimmy. Instead, she uses George in another scheme to make Michael jealous.

Everett is very charming. He's a smoother, more handsome sidekick along the lines of Hugh Grant. Julia Roberts is excellent in her role of a less-than-sympathetic spoiled brat. This might be the best performance of her career. Cameron Diaz is very effective as a naive romantic and Dermot Mulroney genuinely seems confused by all these feminine machinations, as well he should be.

The story is somewhat reminiscent of "Four Weddings and a Funeral," but is more poignant, less episodic and more focused. One of the things I liked about it was its use of music. It is very nearly a musical with several show-stopping numbers, including Everett's rendition of "I Say a Little Prayer for You."

In a summer of action movies that are all starting to look the same, "My Best Friend's Wedding," along with "Contact," provide some welcome relief. It rates an A.

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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail as roten@lariat.org