Rating: 
Summary: Deeper than you might think
Review: This movie is actually deeper than you think. I didn't expect much when I went to see this. In fact, I expected the worst. Women don't usually run away from getting married, it's usually the men. So I assumed this was going to be a really bad joke with some pleasant looking actors. Well, I was wrong. This movie isn't really about a woman running away from commitment. It's about what many women experience as they lose themselves when they get married. Let me just back up a little . . . Once the 60's hit women began to demand more from their romantic relationships. Divorce went up, supposedly because of the pill and those "damned feminists." A common theme came out of that: Women were not getting enough from their partners. (Hell, they're still not.) Anyway, lots of men, even today, gripe about how more women ask for divorce than men. This movie is the answer to those concerns! No one wants to watch a movie about a woman who is married for 20 years and then decides she's not happy because she lost herself to the man. It wouldn't even be a comedy. What the makers of this film did was back up and expose the woman being forced to change BEFORE she got married. It's the setup that allows this to be a feel good comedy instead of a dreary drama about divorce. Some people have said that this movie should have ended before the Fed Ex truck scene. Such an argument completely ignores the meaning of this film. Julia Robert's character hadn't grown. She needed to find out why she kept running away from relationships. Come to think of it, it's REALLY annoying to think that anyone believes the movie should have ended sooner. This movie is not about finding your prince and living happily ever after. It's about finding oneself first and then committing to the right person. There's a big difference. What I first thought was going to be an misogynistic joke actually turned out to be a critique of the entire western concept of marriage - that a woman has to lose her identity to get married. As a result, it subtlety gives men the message to wise up. I loved this film! (And by the way, I'm a guy.) I think every heterosexual woman should drag their boyfriend or spouse to this. They might learn something about themselves and teach the person they're with a little something as well. The only problem is, will they get the underlying message? Based on the reviews I've seen here and elsewhere, probably not.
Rating: 
Summary: Stars nealy salvage old-fashioned romantic comedy
Review: Runaway Bride is a romantic comedy that uses a tried and true formula for success. Put two stars who had a big hit together again. Team them with the same director. Put them in a completely different situation, but essentially clone their characters from the first movie. Add eccentric characters for the subordinate roles. Use lush photography, decorator sets, and a lilting music score. Ttir, but don't shake. It worked for Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, as well as for Doris Day and Rock Hudson. So, by golly, it worked this time for Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Unfortunately, in my view, Runaway Bride is neither a Philadelphia Story nor a Pillow Talk. This movie is the kind that always presents yours truly with a dilemma. I call it an Adorable Puppy movie. It is almost impossible not to be attracted to a cute puppy, even though you know it's going to make a big mess at some point. Sometimes, the lovability of the little dog is so great that the mess is overlooked. Sometimes, but not always. Two-thirds of the way through Runaway Bride, I found myself muttering "Bad doggie! Bad doggie!" Or, maybe I just have a lower than average Cute Quotient. Richard Gere is Ike Graham, a cynical columnist for USA Today, who has very few kind things to say about women. He indirectly meets his match when he writes a column about a Maryland woman who has bolted at the alter so many times, she's been dubbed The Runaway Bride. his subject is Maggie Carpenter [Julia Roberts], who writes a letter to his editor citing over a dozen incorrect facts in the column. The editor, who happens to be Graham's ex-wife, fires him. At the suggestion of a good friend, who happens to be his ex's current spouse, he goes to Maryland to write an article about Maggie for Esquire magazine. This time, he is determined to get his facts straight. He meets Maggie, who is about to try to get married again in a week, and, well, you can write the story from there. It all sounds like a grand time for an audience, so why did the picture fail me? There are several reasons. For one thing, Maggie's home town is too cute to be believed. It's supposed to be idyllic, but it looks and feels like a tourist trap to me, as though it were an attraction at Disney World. I could gag on its quaintness. The humor, which is pletiful in the movie's first half, tapers off as we get to know the couple. Ike and Maggie both suffer from a terrible fear of commitment. Normally, I would be empathetic. Here, we have a guy who is so mean-spirited that old ladies he has never met come up to him on the street and hit him over the head with their hand bags. Maggie is so caught up in her own fear of being herself that she becomes whatever her various grooms want her to be. But why would she wait until she was walking down the aisle to panic and run away - not once, but four times? It never seems to occur to her that, in the process, she is hardly the only victim. In the hands of an ingenious director, all this might have been overlooked. Serious thoughts are not supposed to intrude in our minds when we watch a comedy, are they? Since director Garry Marshall can't keep us focused on the adorable puppy aspects of Runaway Bride, we have too many opportunities to think about its plot's many messes. Despite all these problems, Roberts and Gere come close at times to salvaging the movie. They make an electric team, and like their romantic comedy star forerunners, the fact that they enjoy working together so much tends to rub off. If they decide to make another picture together, I am sure I will forgive them for Runaway Bride and buy a ticket. Me and forty million other people.
Rating:
Summary: JULIA, TRY TO STAY SINGLE.
Review: Runaway bride is not like Pretty woman.
Richard Gere is OLD, and Julia is more beautiful every time.
But the movie, is boring and a not funny or romantic at all.
The only good thing here is Julia, she is great and she'll always gonna be great.
Rating: 
Summary: very suspensful
Review: Maggie Carpenter (Julia Roberts) is famous for dumping men at the altar. When journalist Ike Graham (Richard Gere) is desperate for a story, he hears about her from a guy in a bar and preceeds to write an article about man haters which gets him fired by his ex-wife(and editor of the paper). So, he heads off to Hale, New Jersey to get more information to make his Runaway Bride story become a cover story. He meets Maggie, her family, friends, and her current fiance. Ike ends up falling in love with Maggie but the question is, does she love him enough to marry him and not runaway again.
Rating:
Summary: Not The Same Magic
Review: This 1999 film reuniting Julia Roberts and Richard Gere for the first time since their 1990 smash "Pretty Woman", is nice, but also a disappointment. This movie is nice and sweet and decently enjoyable, but it just doesn't have that same magic or chemistry that the two stars had in their earlier smash. Nice, stylish direction points go to Garry Marshall however. Gere plays a journalist who is starting to feel like he isn't a good writer anymore. Then, he gets wind of this woman whose left a number of grooms at the altar. He's sent to this idealistic 'Mayberry' looking town, to track her down and get the scoop. The woman, of course, played by Ms. Roberts. We learn that she is engaged again to a man(played by Oz's Christopher Meloni). While investigating this odd woman, Gere's character begins to....you guessed it, fall for her. Julia, like wise. The supporting players are better than our two stars. Paul Dooley, Laurie Metcalfe, Hector Elizondo, Rita Wilson, and the always reliabale
Joan Cusack. Gere and Roberts look good together, but it just doesn't have that spark. There's not enough to their characters or their characters being together that makes it very interesting. They are both game tho, and give it their best shot. Their best shot wasn't enough. Naturally, it has a sweet, happy ending. But, when you think about it afterwards, will it really be a happy ending?. Given Roberts' character's track record, you never know. If you go into this as just a nice, simple, sweet movie, you'll enjoy it. After all, that's the whole point. If you expect something as classic or memorable as "Pretty Woman", then you'd better go rent that movie for the hundredth time. Could of been better.
Rating:
Summary: A GOOD FOLLOW UP
Review: I WAS A LITTLE DUBIOUS WHEN I HEARD THAT THEY WERE DOING A FOLLOW UP TO PRETTY WOMAN(THOUGH THE STORIES ARE NOT ENTWINED IN ANY WAY).THIS SUCCEEDED MY WORRIES.A STORY ABOUT A WOMAN(JULIA ROBERTS)WHO IS A SERIAL BRIDE,SHE HAS HAD NUMEROUS WEDDINGS BUT NEVER GETS TO THE CAKE!WHEN A REPORTER WHO HAS BEEN FIRED DISCOVERS THIS WOMAN HE DECIDES TO DELVE DEEPER.A LOVELY STORY THAT WILL DEFINATLEY KEEP YOU ENTERTAINED(WATCH OUT FOR OTHER NUMEROUS STARS FROM PRETTY WOMAN)WATCH IT WITHOUT THE THOUGHT OF PRETTY WOMAN IN YOUR HEAD ,AS THIS IS VERY DIFFERENT!IT WOULD HAVE GOT 5 STARS BUT IT COULDNT BEAT PRETTY WOMAN!
Rating: 
Summary: IMMERGED IN SUGAR
Review: Roberts and Gere resisted bravely while they could to the pressure the movie executives put upon them to try to make another PRETTY WOMAN. The result was this thing, a formulatic and boring product that will be buried forever in film-making history.
Rating: 
Summary: Good movie, if you like typical fare
Review: While it's true I watch this movie many times, I don't know if it's particularly the kind of movie everyone would enjoy. It runs the formula too well, and so you definately feel like you've seen it before. I suggest you read the synopsis of Amazon.com's reviewer, and if you still want to buy it, go ahead. But don't expect anything particularly original or ingenius. (I particularly had a hard time finding the ending as particularly credible. But the romantic in me still enjoys it).
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful Reunion!
Review: Brought back together in this movie Julia Roberts & Richard Gere do just as great together as ever before! If you like Pretty Woman you've gotta see this one!
Rating:
Summary: I still want a sequal, but this will do for now:)
Review: I've been in love with Pretty Woman since the first time I saw it, at fifteen. I have been dreaming of a sequel forever, but eventually gave up hope. Then in 1998 I hear that they're filming a new movie with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, directed by the great (he told me I was pretty:) Garry Marshall and immediately got excited. Sure I had to wait until July 30th to see the film, but I followed as much as I could before then. I had heard that there were a few scenes that related to Pretty Woman and they were easy to find; the throwing of the snail/the throwing of the crab mallet, the money negotiations and the problems buying a dress, but being the obsessed fan that I am I saw many more similarities such as silver cars in both films and the fact that Julia's character knows more about cars then Richard's. Like I said, obsessed fan:)I even bought a DVD player just for this film and the 10th anniversary special edition of Pretty Woman which was released a couple months later. Sure I now own many DVDs, but those two are the ones I watch the most. At least I can't wear out a DVD:) Garry Marshall has stated many times that he doesn't make films for critics, he makes them for fans, and that is what makes him a hero to me. Runaway Bride was made for the fans of Pretty Woman, and that was proven in how much money was generated and the fact that Pretty Woman sequel buzz started again not long after Runaway Brides success, but it's been two years and I've given up hope. Critics panned Runaway Bride for various reasons I don't really know b/c I don't like critics and I don't read reviews, all I know is I love the film and have found myself watching it four times a day when I have nothing better to do. Runaway Bride reunites MOST of the cast of Pretty Woman, Julia, Richard, Hector Elizondo, even such members as Patrick Richwood who played Dennis the elevator operator in Pretty Woman and had a few minutes with a video camera in Runaway Bride, Julie Paris who played a prostitute in Pretty Woman and a reporter in Runaway Bride, even down to the actor who played a tourist taking pictures of a dead body in Pretty Woman and Richard's hotel neighbor in Runaway Bride. Garry Marshall is known for putting the same people in his movies, the "Crony Count" as it's called, a group that includes his daughter Kathleen and his son Scott. This would be annoying if they couldn't act, but both are incredible in their small yet pivotal roles in Runaway Bride. Unfortunately Kathleen's part in Pretty Woman was that of a hotel desk clerk and her lines were "Yes ma'am may I help you...yes ma'am....no sir." but her part as Julia's man crazy cousin Cindy in Runaway Bride was very entertaining. One prime example being after Maggie leaves fiance number four, Bob (Chris "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" Meloni) and as he storms out she says "You are going to find someone who can make you so much happier then I ever could!" not a second later Cindy (Kathleen) pushes by saying "Look out!" and immediately goes after Bob giving him her number. Yes, that is a small example and her part is larger then that, but it did get one of the biggest laughs in the theater and that's always a plus. Scott had almost no lines as a drug dealer on a skateboard in Pretty Woman but made me laugh as the hotel clerk in Runaway Bride who after giving Maggie (Julia) the keys to Ike's (Richard) hotel room so she can snoop around yells out "Don't take anything heavy!" The entire supporting cast is wonderful, Joan Cusack as Maggies best friend who can't help but feel jealous of Maggies "Quirkyness", Jean Schertler as Maggies grandmother, Paul Dooley as Maggies alcoholic father, Rita Wilson as one of Ike's ex-coworkers, Jean Schertler Ike's ex wife, even Julia's sister Lisa has a memorable role in the film; the list goes on and on. Sure I would have been even happier if more actors from Pretty Woman showed up in Runaway Bride, such as Laura San Giacomo who was probably busy on Just Shoot Me at the time, and Jason Alexander who said in an interview that everyone hated him in Pretty Woman so there was a good reason he wasn't in Runaway Bride, but I'm happy with what I got. Another thing that makes this movie great is chemistry, one of the many things that made Pretty Woman the fairytale classic it is. You see Richard and Julia and you WANT them to be together, and when they finally do get together you feel fulfilled. If I romance doesn't do that for you then there's really no point at all. I guess my point is, if you loved Pretty Woman you will love Runaway Bride. Yes, it is much more lighthearted then Pretty Woman, and some may find it corny, but sometimes corny works and in my opinion this movie works in so many ways. It's pretty much has the same story line as Pretty Woman, two lost people finding each other and finding out more about themselves along the way. Sure we'll probably never get a sequel to Pretty Woman, but in this case we get to see Richard Gere and Julia Roberts together again and in this case we actually get to see them get married, which I guess is supposed to take the place of a sequel, but it doesn't mean I'll ever stop wishing and hoping, planing and dreaming...wait...wrong Julia movie:) And P.S, I'm watching it right now:)
|
