Cast
Maggie Carpenter (Julia Roberts)
Ike Graham (Richard Gere)
Peggy (Joan Cusack)
Fisher (Hector Elizondo)
Ellie (Rita Wilson)
Bob (Christopher Meloni)
Mrs. Trout (Laurie Metcalf)
Julia Carpenter (Jean Schertler)
Directed by Garry Marshall Written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott Rated PG for language and some suggestive dialogue
Running Time: 116 minutes Distributed by Touchstone Pictures and Paramount Pictures

Runaway Bride is a romantic comedy that gets wounded by its mild script. Maggie Carpenter (Roberts) is a country girl that has ran and left the groom at the altar three times. Ike Graham, a columnist with USA Today, becomes very interested in the runaway bride's incidents. After Maggie gets Ike fired for running false allegations about her, Ike leaves New York City to Maggie's hometown. His mission is to write a career-saving article on Maggie's true reason why she ran and also to see if she is going to run from her current fiancée Bob (Meloni), the town's high school football coach. Maggie immediately becomes annoyed that her friends, family, and Bob all welcome Ike in with open arms. Ike goes from researching and interviewing to spending all his time with Maggie. Ike and Maggie both relate to past pains of love and happiness. The two characters bond and are left with choices that will change their lives forever.

Runaway Bride is enjoyable, but has an insufficient script with only moments of good dialogue. The character development is only done well for Ike. Maggie's character is introduced riding away from a wedding on a horse, which is the film's dumbest scene. Peggy (Cusack) just pops up, hangs around for awhile and then disappears nearly to the end.

The writers apparently have little journalism experience or didn't do very good research on it because Ike is fired after his false column is printed. From personal experiences in journalism classes, the editors never would have ran the column, especially in USA Today. Also, if Ike were such a great journalist, he would have known that one of the cardinal rules in journalism is to just write the facts. Anyway, this just a movie.

The acting in Runaway Bride was bland. In my opinion, the only actors who contributed to the film were Richard Gere and Hector Elizando. I just don't like Julia Roberts. After her success with Pretty Woman, her head got stuck in the clouds and is still there. I do like some of Julia Roberts' movies, but her last good acting role was in Sleeping with the Enemy. Richard Gere really does a fine job in Runaway Bride. I like Richard Gere in films like this one but hate him in action films like The Jackal. Hector Elizando is also admirable in the film. He is one of those actors that when I see his name in the credits I know he is going to be effective.

Runaway Bride does have its moments but is hurt by its script. However this is a movie led by its known cast that will draw big audiences and probably gobble up money at the box office.

Report Card Grade: C

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