Julia's bit of fluff (Runaway Bride (DVD))

Member Name: calypte

Product:	Runaway Bride (DVD)
Date:	14/10/01 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: charming enough, Julia Roberts

Disadvantages: predictable, nothing outstanding

I haven’t been in the best of health for the last while, but I am getting better. Still, I do tend to have a lot of days when I just don’t feel I have the energy to be cheerful, if that makes sense. Today is one of those days, when, for no real reason, all I really want to do is go huddle in a corner somewhere – once I’ve made it out of bed, of course. Good grief, it sounds like I’m having a second attempt at being a teenager!

Nice, cheery start to an op on a romantic comedy, eh?!

Anyway, the point of telling you all that is that this morning I started flicking through the hundreds of channels to find something to distract myself for ten minutes while I ate my Rice Krispies. Not my usual breakfast, I’d like to point out, but I bought a box in a fit of nostalgia before remember how bland and unsatisfying they really are. Oops, no offence Mr Kellogg – the trademark ‘snapcrackleandpop’ is still mildly amusing!

So, what did I manage to find on my TV screen this morning? Very little, as usual (grief, I am in a right mood this morning, aren’t I?) – even the cartoons (yup, that kind of Sunday morning!) were substandard. Not like when I was a kid, of course!! So I ended up flicking over to the film just about to start, which I’d seen before and knew was light fluff guaranteed not to offend my fuzzy brain.

And so on to the film.

Runaway Bride was released in 1999, and carried with it a cloud of hype. After almost ten years, the stars (Julia Roberts and Richard Gere) and director (Garry Marshall) of Pretty Woman were to make another (romantic comedy) film together. Oh, and just ‘cos I find this sort of trivia quite interesting, note that this time round, Julia got top billing over Richard. Tells a story or two, doesn’t it?!

First point to notice is that this is not – repeat NOT – a sequel to Pretty Woman, that oh so saccharine t
ale of a man falling in love with a prostitute with a heart of gold. Don’t get me wrong – if I’m in the right mood, I really quite enjoy Pretty Woman; it’s just the whole issue of prostitution seems a little out of step with the romantic comedy genre.

Actually, it’s only fair to you to point out that this is far from being my preferred genre of movie. In fact, usually I would run a mile rather than sit and watch anything billed as ‘romantic’ (the only thing that would get me moving faster would be Angela’s Ashes or similar). Two things made me sit and watch this the first time (and even then, it was on TV and not something I paid to see): the cast, (well, Julia Roberts), and sheer morbid curiosity – after all, by this stage so much had been written attacking this film, I just had to see how bad it really was.

So I really went into this film expecting it to be dire. Probably not a bad frame of mind to go into it, actually, as then you can only be proved right – or pleasantly surprised. As I’ve already told you this was my second (full) viewing (I tend to watch snippets of films I’ve already seen now and again – the downfall of having satellite), and you’ve seen my rating, you already know I fell into the latter category this time.

Runaway Bride starts off by showing us just that: Julia Roberts, in full wedding outfit, running – or rather riding – away from her groom. It turns out that this is the third man she’s left at the altar, but that still hasn’t put her off: number four is about to chance his luck. With another actress, you might have been left wondering why anyone would take the risk, but Julia is really lovely, and I’m sure if I was a guy I could be drooling a little. As it is, I just wouldn’t mind looking a little more like that myself!

Moving from small town to big city, we find Richard Gere is a journa
list – Ike Graham – with a daily column in a New York newspaper run by his ex-wife. His life is also far from perfect: for a start, his column has started to become tired and repetitive, and he struggles at the last minute to find ideas. More often than not, he falls back to ranting about women, and today he finds the perfect subject for an attack as a drunken man in bar starts to tell him about Maggie Carpenter, the Runaway Bride.

Unfortunately for Ike, Maggie is furious with the less than accurate picture he paints of her, and her letter to the newspaper results in Ike being fired. Seeing only one hope to save his career, Ike sets off to the ‘sticks’ looking for vindication – if Maggie runs from wedding number four, he’ll be there to write the article and prove he wasn’t so far wrong the first time.

Thus starts the dance between the two characters in the run-up to Maggie’s wedding. She thinks Ike is trying to make her run, whereas he is convinced she will anyway, and sees her as an example of the female ‘man-eater’ type in general. He ingratiates himself with the local townspeople and Maggie’s family as he tries to ‘dig the dirt’, prove himself right and just generally find out what makes her run away.

In the process of this, he really does uncover some interesting observations. Maggie is a woman who is lost in her life, neatly shown by the whole ‘eggs’ topic: with each of her four fiancés, she has claimed to prefer omelette, scrambled, poached or fried eggs – whichever they like. Here is someone who doesn’t know herself, and instead merely tries to be whatever will please most.

Of course, such philosophical musings are not why anyone is watching this film! It’s no surprise whatsoever when the hate between the two characters starts to change to – well, you know exactly where that is all going! It starts with building
physical attraction between Maggie and Ike, and then he starts to stand up for her; Maggie has become the butt of many jokes in the town. Although meant affectionately, they are no less hurtful, especially coming from close friends and family. “Maggie may not be Hale’s longest running joke,” her dad says, “But she’s certainly the fastest.” With this kind of pressure from those she’s supposed to be closest to, we’re hardly surprised that Maggie is having problems.

While the outcome is never anything other than predictably, there is an attempt at putting a bit of a twist in this story. A lot of people have complained about this, but although nothing wonderful it does stop things being a straight jaunt from point A to point B. Of course, I’m not going to just tell you what happens!

As for the cast, well, Julia Roberts is a bankable actress – you know what you’re getting, and she doesn’t disappoint. Richard Gere, although not my type (I mean, how old is he?!), manages to ooze charisma – well, he oozes, at any rate! His character does come off quite well, with a nice line in cynical asides, and he is certainly preferable to the list of former fiancés. I found it interesting that neither of the pair looks significantly older (Roberts especially) from Pretty Woman – what is the secret?! The supporting cast is excellent, from newspaper boss Hector Elizondo (who played the concierge in Pretty Woman) who is married to Ike’s ex, Rita Wilson (isn’t she Mrs Tom Hanks?), to Maggie’s various friends and family as played by Joan Cusack and Laurie Metcalf (Jackie in Roseanne) among others.

After all my preconceptions, I really did enjoy this film as a bit of light-hearted, charming fluff. It was never going to be as popular as Pretty Woman, but in truth it’s just unfortunate that the comparisons had to be made. While it didn’t exactly turn my
not-so-great morning into all round sunshine, it did raise a smile and an occasional chuckle. Many people did seem to loathe this film, but really, as long as you’re not expecting too much, this is a pleasant enough, throwaway, Sunday afternoon kind of a film.



(Thanks for reading, and I’d love to read your comments. I’m a bit more comfortable writing book reviews, so any thoughts on my attempt at a film op or suggestions for improvement will be gratefully received. Cheers.)

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