jessegehrig
The funniest part of this movie is when I remembered that Julia Roberts and Richard Gere were also in Pretty Woman together, I had managed to forget, awesome. I am absolutely going to spoil the ending for you: Julia and Richard get together in the end. Remember how at the end of Pretty Woman, Richard and Julia get together, yeah, same thing in this movie. Were you worried? Did you think that even though they are both the lead actors in a romantic comedy that they wouldn't get together? I mean the only reason this movie was made was because so many people were happy that Richard and Julia get together in Pretty Woman--seriously, did it come to you as a surprise? They also make good movie or you could watch this one.
kxok630
Some crazy lady dramatically escapes weddings on horseback or something. A lazy journalist irresponsibly writes about her without researching the facts, and gets axed. Then he goes to meet her. Twisted premise, puzzling plot holes. Why do guys keep proposing to this creep? Why would someone with obvious mental illness be the heroine of a rom-com? Never explained.Another question: why Richard Gere? He looks like a grenade exploded in his mouth and blew his face away. His vapid acting is about as effective as you would expect from somebody without a face, too. As for Julia Roberts, even playing Little Bo Peep would be almost too complex for her. The script is just the usual "unlikely couple becomes a couple while other goofy stuff happens" story line. But it does't work with such vile lead characters. Not to mention the horrible acting of grenade face and bo-peep. The endless subliminal messages to subscribe to USA Today don't help, either. To be fair; a few jokes work, such as the wedding rehearsal scene. But that's about it. Otherwise, this is one long winded product placement infomercial. I hope director Gary Marshall enjoyed his complementary copy of USA Today after making this.
kyle-cruse
This film is a perfect example of why good romantic comedies are hard to find. Many of them turn out too much like this, not enough laughs or romance and too entirely predictable. "Runaway Bride" is not horrible and does manage to provide a few laughs here and there. However, as far as good romantic comedies go, this one did not satisfy me. For one thing, I found the plot too unbelievable and unrealistic. Though we usually don't expect romantic comedy to be entirely realistic, we want to see good reason for the two main characters to fall in love. I found the romance between Richard Gere and Julia Roberts to be too suddenly and awkward. No reason is really given in the film for why Roberts should start falling in love with a man who starts going around spying on her. I found Gere's performance just not realistic enough to enjoy. He does not play a very likable character, which gives me no reason to want the main characters to fall in love. The supporting cast is really the only reason I got any laughs out of this film at all. For example, Joan Cusack plays a funny, entertaining character, as usual, which brings a little enjoyment to the film. Nevertheless, it just did not work very well for me. Not a terrible movie, but not really worth your time either.**1/2 out of ****
Isaac5855
Nine years after their smash PRETTY WOMAN, director Garry Marshall reunited his stars, Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, in RUNAWAY BRIDE, a watchable 1999 romantic comedy which is more than anything, a reunion of the PRETTY WOMAN stars (including Marshall good luck charm Hector Elizondo) in a featherweight comedy that borrows liberally from more than half a dozen superior romantic comedies that I can think of, including PRETTY WOMAN. Roberts plays Maggie, a small town free spirit who has a reputation for planning large elaborate weddings and leaving the groom at the altar at the very last second. When Masggie gets engaged for the fourth time, word of her story reaches a big city newspaper writer (Gere) who decides to come to Maggie's intimate little hamlet to cover the wedding and well, you can guess the rest. The on screen charisma between Gere and Roberts is still there, but this time they have a rather limp screenplay to work with that doesn't really play to their strengths as farceurs. In addition to Elizondo, Joan Cusack does steal every scene she is in as Maggie's best friend and there are also effective turns from Paul Dooley as Maggie's dad and Christopher Meloni as fiancée #4. It's passable comic fare, but if you're looking for another PRETTY WOMAN, you will be disappointed.]
AD
