Runaway Bride (1999)

I found "Pretty Woman" charming, and I suppose I still do, but in one respect its storyline is contrived. (In ONE respect? I hear you ask. Well, maybe more than one, but only one that worries me.) This much of the standard formula a light love story MUST follow: (a) boy falls in love with girl, (b) girl falls in love with boy, (c) obstacle, (d) union. Timing is surprisingly unimportant. It doesn't matter when (c) is established - it can be before the curtain rises, or half an hour before it falls - nor does it matter if (a) and (b) are simultaneous, or over an hour apart. (And obviously it doesn't matter which one comes first. Even the order c-b-d-a is acceptable.) The trouble with "Pretty Woman" is (c). So she's a prostitute. So what? It's a pity that twentieth-century writers have somehow acquired the idea that external obstacles are less interesting than internal ones: it isn't true, and in any event, internal obstacles are harder to draw convincingly.

Which is why (FINALLY, I get to the point) "Runaway Bride" is a more pleasant confection than "Pretty Woman". Believe me, you don't know how surprised I am to find myself writing this. Before I saw the movie I was all but certain it would be deathly stale. The premise - love blossoms between an insulting newspaper columnist and a serial jilter he writes about - screamed, "This will spend two hours going nowhere" at me ... and the curious thing is, now that I've seen the film, I can't even remember why I found the idea so unpromising. Maybe I was unduly swayed by the last Julia Roberts romantic comedy I saw, "I Love Trouble", which was at once thin, bloated, and flat.

"Runaway Bride" is none of these things. It's over two hours, but none of this is bloat: it takes its time because it NEEDS this time, given obstacle (c), to convincingly establish (a) and (b). The film doesn't waste our time any more than it wastes our own. I was never bored; very often I was even basking in the glow. Tastes in romantic comedy are hard to justify or defend, so I'll leave it at that.

Fmovies: I absolutely loved this movie! I would consider this a true "romantic comedy". There were wonderful, well written characters and laughs all the way through. It was quite a treat to see Richard Gere play such a comedic role and do so well at it. I found this movie a joy to watch, not just because of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, but the fantastic supporting cast and the picturesque town in which the movie takes place. It was altogether a wonderful experience. I can't express how refreshing it is to see a movie with no sex, no nudity, and no cursing. Hats off to Gary Marshall for putting a movie out there that's just good, clean fun!

"Runaway Bride" is one of those films that probably looked good on paper - bankable stars like Julia Roberts and Richard Gere trying to rework their "Pretty Woman" magic in a similar plot - but is so horribly mishandled it became painful to watch.

I rented it because my wife wanted to see it, and besides it was only an extra $1.00 with another 5-day rental at the local video store. How bad could it be for a dollar?

Let's put it this way - paying $1.00 to see this film was a rip-off. I shut off the movie after 30 minutes. My wife, who likes romantic comedies, stopped watching after an hour. The only reason I think she lasted that long was she was on allergy medication and lacked the strength to push the "Stop" button. The last movie I can recall her refusing to finish was "10 Violent Women" (we were in B-Movie/MST3K mode when we rented that one). As you have already determined, lumping "10 Violent Women" and "Runaway Bride" together is a huge red flag for the discriminating moviegoer.

First of all, Richard Gere's character is at best confused, but he is also conniving and mean. He's piggish yet suave - a great combination for a modern romance, I guess. He writes for USA Today, but is surprised when he's fired for not checking the 'facts' of his story. He tries to vindicate himself by getting the real story on Julia Robert's character, but he annoyingly turns up everywhere prying into every last detail of her life - and even though he just skewered her in a nationwide newspaper, everyone including Julia's fiance accepts and loves him. He's not a journalist - he's a stalker.

Julia Roberts is her usual cutesy self. At best, she gets by on charm, and if that's all you require I guess you'll like this film.

Most scenes are predictable and/or require the use of Roger Ebert's infamous "idiot plot." For example - in the first scene in the beauty shop, where I shut off the videotape. I won't give it away for those who want to see this film, but just watch and think about it for one second - would a big-city reporter fall for the towel gag? Why on earth would we buy this as a plot twist?

I found it impossible to identify with or care about any of the characters. Since both main characters and the plot are thin and uninteresting, the smaller aspects of the film might as well be problematic too. Some scenes and dialog, especially those of the minor characters like Julia's family and the ladies at the salon, would be better left on the cutting room floor. Most of the actors either seem uneasy with their dialog or are sleepwalking through stereotypical roles. The first 30 minutes seemed like a continuous product placement ad for USA Today and Z28's. The soundtrack songs are unimaginative - "Maneater" for crying out loud? I felt like I was watching a UPN sitcom instead of a movie.

I wish I could find something positive about this film, but it is only a transparent attempt to sequel "Pretty Woman" and make a bundle. My advice is short: don't see this film. Save yourself the time and money, even if it's only a dollar.

My Rating: 1 out of a possible 10

Runaway Bride fmovies. I am a fan of Pretty Woman and so I was anticipating the release of this film, expecting to find it just as enjoyable. Boy was I wrong! I wanted to leave the theater halfway through the movie, but chose to sit it out, purely on hope that it would improve. It didn't.

I actually think the plot had potential but the script was terrible, and the characters were all so one-dimensional. I felt like this talented cast struggled from beginning to end. I like Richard Gere but he was so stale in this film! Roberts was her usual cutesy-pie self. I just don't understand why someone with her potential talent wastes her time on some of these C- (if not lower) movies. Does she read the scripts??

My main problem with this film is the cheesy, cornball dialogue. Give me a break!! As if all the bad one-liners and jokes aren't enough, we're forced to sit through silly, random scenes like Maggie swinging the church bell; the whole scene where the girls dye Ike's hair; the duck-billed platypus imitation; I could go on and on!

My advice to you is not to pay money to see this movie. Only watch it if it comes on TV and you have a couple hours of your life you'd like to throw away.

If you have seen the Simpsons Episode mocking it, you know why this is the worst movie ever. You know the rich snob will lose, and Gere and Roberts will get together. This is a tired story, with no suprises. Julia and Gere have done better together, apart and in their sleeps. Avoid this movie at all costs, runaway from all showings of this movie or suffer the pain of a horrible movie!

I am really becoming tired of coming across some 'generic' users' comments about movies such as: 'With a bigger budget, this film would certainly have been better'Runaway Bride, in my opinion, perfectly belies this too many heard statement: I wonder how many millions of dollars have been USELESSLY WASTED to make this stupid, boring and absolutely not funny movie: it is overwhelmed by clichés and extremely stupid dialogs with a thousand times overused storyline. Moreover, I also wonder how many millions Richard Gere and Julia Roberts 'earned' for their BAD ACTING. But, of course, many people will unfortunately still give some credit to this piece of garbage, for the only reason that the director Gary Marshall had directed 'Pretty Woman' nine years before and that he cast Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. However, here I say: STOP! What is more important than money and will always be in order to make a good movie is THE BRAIN and I fear that this time Mr Marshall lost his. I also sympathize with probable thousands of hundreds of people who walked out of the theaters feeling robbed of their money and with others who will buy the DVD (Moreover, with this awful NTSC standard) Fortunately, I am extremely glad I didn't have to pay a single cent for it, because I saw it on TV. but I still feel that they STOLE TWO HOURS OF MY LIFE, which is infuriating me enough. So I sharply encourage people who think like me to give a 1 to this so-called movie to send it to where, despite its big budget and misbegotten pretension, it belongs: THIS IS A PERFECT CANDIDATE FOR THE IMDb BOTTOM 100!!!