Having already left three grooms at the altar, Maggie Carpenter is branded "the runaway bride" by jaded New York journalist Ike Graham. But, after his facts are called into question, Ike races to Maggie's hometown to save his reputation and report on her upcoming fourth trip down the aisle – during which he's convinced she'll run again. Though he's there on a muckraking mission, Ike can't help but fall for this breathtaking heartbreaker.
**A pretty decent movie, which bets everything on average and family comedy.**
As I've had occasion to say in other reviews I've written, I'm not particularly fond of romantic comedies, although I believe I can appreciate quality and value when they're there. During the pandemic, when we were all shut up at home against our will (I handled it well, but I had friends on the verge of a nervous breakdown), a friend of mine spoke to me about this film and said he didn't like it at all, because it gave viewers a negative message, trivializing the act of leaving someone at the altar. At the time, I thought it was strange, but I ended up not seeing the movie. I saw it now, and I tend not to agree with my esteemed friend.
The script begins with a disagreement between a woman from a small town and a writer and journalist from the big city, when the latter writes, in his newspaper column, about her and the succession of fiancés she has already abandoned at the altar. Obviously offended, she responds to the article, causing him to lose his position at the newspaper. Of course, he doesn't give up: he goes to that city and decides to investigate her. The rapprochement between the two will eventually lead them to an unlikely romance.
In fact, I think my friend took the film too seriously. Anyone with intelligence understands the difference between a joke and something serious, so I don't think anyone will take the movie seriously. Also, the movie was released in 1999, and we are in 2022… in the present times, who is the couple that thinks about getting married? There are, of course, but they are few in a world where jobs, homes and romantic relationships are less planned to last a lifetime (it's one of the problems of the modern world, in my opinion, but it's the truth).
The film relies heavily on the performances of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, who we've already seen together in great shape in “Pretty Woman”. Personally, I liked "Pretty Woman" a lot more, as the characters were much more palatable. Here, we essentially have a duel of egos between two stubborn people who will eventually see the good in each other. There is also a very high degree of predictability in the story told, but this is one of the recurring problems in romantic comedies, where characters almost invariably end up at the altar. Despite all this, the work of Gere and Roberts is quite satisfying and will be able to please the fans of the genre.
On a technical level, the film doesn't stand out or bet particularly, preferring to play it safe and keep a very conventional aesthetic and look. It's almost like the dish of the day in that cafeteria where we have lunch every day, after work: made to be cheap and to please most customers. So we have sets, costumes and filming locations that are simply regular, standard cinematography and a bland soundtrack. The film stretches the script, there are pacing problems and moments when the film falls asleep due to sheer lack of subject matter. Much better is the design of the dialogues, quite witty and well-written.
