User reviews

Runaway Bride is an enjoyable romantic comedy. Yes, it isn't perfect, the story is very predictable and repetitive, the direction is perhaps a little too leisurely in some parts and there are parts when very little happens. But it is a very well played romantic comedy at that.

The script is full of very funny one-liners and quotes. Whilst I had a few problems with the story, the script was fine. Julia Roberts makes the most of her role as the title character, and Richard Gere, her co-star in Pretty Woman, is his usual charming self as the somewhat over familiar love interest, and Joan Cusack is enjoyable as Roberts's friend who gives her the odd piece of advice throughout the film.

All in all, not too bad. It is predictable, like I have said too many times already, but it is well played and well scripted, so not so bad to pass the time. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Until Runaway Bride came on the scene, I didn't realize how dated Pretty Woman had become! Fans of Pretty Woman will delight in the thinly veiled references and homages that Runaway Bride serves up. This is a fun film, very tongue in cheek in it's delivery. The first viewing of the film may seem a little flat, but after watching it subsequent times, you get a definite feel for the dance that is perfected here. That is what I look for in a movie; can I watch it over and over and still delight in it?

I took absolute delight in the setting of this film more so than anything. The movie refers to the town as Hale, Maryland. The actual town is Berlin, Maryland, absolutely gorgeous and located more to the Northeastern part of the state. Setting is everything here because you focus more on the characters and the small town atmosphere than the glitz and glitter of a major city. The character Maggie Carpenter is not unlike women of her generation--perhaps we tend to marry later in life now more than ever because we don't want to make that mistake that ends in divorce. Maggie doesn't know what she wants out of life, but she has enough sense to get down to the minute and realize a mistake. Her timing is rough, but it manages to avoid divorce lawyer, right?

Drink in the backdrop of the movie, and enjoy the main characters and the strong ensemble cast in this enticingly amusing tale of love and romance redefined.

This is one of the worst mainstream romcoms I've ever seen. The movie follows big city columnist Ike who writes a story about small town Maggie who's become a local legend for how many times she's run away from weddings leaving her groom to be at the alter. After Ike loses his job he goes to Maggie's home town to seek vindication and sparks supposedly begin to fly.

Runaway Bride is a bad movie. It has unlikable characters played by uninvested actors acting out an unbelievable premise in a chemistry free and toxic love story that honestly feels more stalkerish at first than like a genuine meet cute. The movie costs $70 Million none of which can be seen on the screen and its humor alternates between cringing Disney channel "wah wah" shenanigans to folks "oh gosh" small town type humor, and to rather creepy segments including a sequence where Ike obtains a topless photo of Maggie and won't give it back. I HATED this movie and wanted to throw my TV out the window after watching it. Joan Cusack however was enjoyable and what few laughs I did get came from her. She's an underrated actress.

Despite its formulaic and silly story, Runaway Bride is still a charmer. Julia Roberts has a charisma that buoys up every scene that she's in, even though Richard Gere comes off a little wooden and I don't completely buy their blooming relationship. This romantic comedy swings for the fences and, despite not hitting a home run, it's a movie I wouldn't mind watching again every now and then.

I am a fan of Pretty Woman and so I was anticipating the release of this film, expecting to find it just as enjoyable. Boy was I wrong! I wanted to leave the theater halfway through the movie, but chose to sit it out, purely on hope that it would improve. It didn't.

I actually think the plot had potential but the script was terrible, and the characters were all so one-dimensional. I felt like this talented cast struggled from beginning to end. I like Richard Gere but he was so stale in this film! Roberts was her usual cutesy-pie self. I just don't understand why someone with her potential talent wastes her time on some of these C- (if not lower) movies. Does she read the scripts??

My main problem with this film is the cheesy, cornball dialogue. Give me a break!! As if all the bad one-liners and jokes aren't enough, we're forced to sit through silly, random scenes like Maggie swinging the church bell; the whole scene where the girls dye Ike's hair; the duck-billed platypus imitation; I could go on and on!

My advice to you is not to pay money to see this movie. Only watch it if it comes on TV and you have a couple hours of your life you'd like to throw away.

"Runaway Bride" is one of those films that probably looked good on paper - bankable stars like Julia Roberts and Richard Gere trying to rework their "Pretty Woman" magic in a similar plot - but is so horribly mishandled it became painful to watch.

I rented it because my wife wanted to see it, and besides it was only an extra $1.00 with another 5-day rental at the local video store. How bad could it be for a dollar?

Let's put it this way - paying $1.00 to see this film was a rip-off. I shut off the movie after 30 minutes. My wife, who likes romantic comedies, stopped watching after an hour. The only reason I think she lasted that long was she was on allergy medication and lacked the strength to push the "Stop" button. The last movie I can recall her refusing to finish was "10 Violent Women" (we were in B-Movie/MST3K mode when we rented that one). As you have already determined, lumping "10 Violent Women" and "Runaway Bride" together is a huge red flag for the discriminating moviegoer.

First of all, Richard Gere's character is at best confused, but he is also conniving and mean. He's piggish yet suave - a great combination for a modern romance, I guess. He writes for USA Today, but is surprised when he's fired for not checking the 'facts' of his story. He tries to vindicate himself by getting the real story on Julia Robert's character, but he annoyingly turns up everywhere prying into every last detail of her life - and even though he just skewered her in a nationwide newspaper, everyone including Julia's fiance accepts and loves him. He's not a journalist - he's a stalker.

Julia Roberts is her usual cutesy self. At best, she gets by on charm, and if that's all you require I guess you'll like this film.

Most scenes are predictable and/or require the use of Roger Ebert's infamous "idiot plot." For example - in the first scene in the beauty shop, where I shut off the videotape. I won't give it away for those who want to see this film, but just watch and think about it for one second - would a big-city reporter fall for the towel gag? Why on earth would we buy this as a plot twist?

I found it impossible to identify with or care about any of the characters. Since both main characters and the plot are thin and uninteresting, the smaller aspects of the film might as well be problematic too. Some scenes and dialog, especially those of the minor characters like Julia's family and the ladies at the salon, would be better left on the cutting room floor. Most of the actors either seem uneasy with their dialog or are sleepwalking through stereotypical roles. The first 30 minutes seemed like a continuous product placement ad for USA Today and Z28's. The soundtrack songs are unimaginative - "Maneater" for crying out loud? I felt like I was watching a UPN sitcom instead of a movie.

I wish I could find something positive about this film, but it is only a transparent attempt to sequel "Pretty Woman" and make a bundle. My advice is short: don't see this film. Save yourself the time and money, even if it's only a dollar.

My Rating: 1 out of a possible 10

The story was so obvious, one could guess the ending, nearly at the beginning of the movie. There were a few amusing moments but it was the same joke right through the movie. Roberts and Gere were good, but the material was poor. It truly was disappointing.

Runaway Bride is just a good romantic comedy. Yes, the director and the two big name stars are the same as the film's 1990 counterpart, but even though the two films have striking and almost offensive similarities, Runaway Bride has a good enough story that I refuse to believe that it relied on the success of its predecessor.

Julia Roberts is Maggie Carpenter, a hardware store owner (a laughable profession surpassed only by Denise Richards as a nuclear weapons specialist in The World Is Not Enough. Yeah RIGHT!), and Richard Gere is a newspaper columnist (Ike Graham) who has been fired for printing a supposedly false column about a woman who consistently runs out on her marriages. When he travels to the tiny town where she lives to learn more about her life and possibly get his job back, he finds that there is more to her than just a newspaper column.

By the end of the film, there is such a huge media hype about Maggie's wedding that it's a wonder that Ike wasn't honored for his 'false' column about her. Joan Cusack has never looked and acted better than she did in this movie, delivering a wonderful nasally performance that was strangely heartwarming.

Runaway Bride had all kinds of wonderful scenes. I particularly liked the wedding rehearsal scene. The look on Christopher Meloni's face was priceless! There were so many good things about this film that I am able to overlook the superficial look of unoriginality. If you just look past the director and the two big names, the story itself is not at all like any other film. There will, of course, be the inevitable cynical comparisons to Pretty Woman, and these complaints are understandable, but people who condemn Runaway Bride as a rip-off of Pretty Woman or some sort of re-make are simply not looking at the film, but only at the names on the bill. This is a very good romantic comedy, and it should not be missed simply because of a superficial comparison to Pretty Woman.

After their great chemistry in Pretty Woman it was great to see Gere and Roberts in another comical and romantic film. The producers and director borrow some of the cast and ideas that worked and apply them well. The idea of an unconventional but somewhat realistic love story that is well paced and easy to go with. Not all bad.

Runaway bride, which is the second romantic comedy starring Gere and Roberts, somewhat works in its own way. I mean the script is a little weaker than I would have liked, it doesn't suck, but it had the necessary potential to be more than it turned out to be. Joan cusack was likable as ever playing the best friend role, as she usually does, but that's OK, because she really suits that type of movie character. Also, the chemistry between the leads isn't as obvious here as it was in pretty woman, I just didn't feel it as much in runaway bride. That is one of its biggest issues, not enough on screen romantic chemistry between Gere and Roberts. Some of the movie is kinda funny and amusing, but other scenes are kinda tedious. Also I did enjoy Christopher Meloni, so I'll give him a good shoutout, he was funny, rugidly attractive, kinda dopey at times, and macho, he fits his character pretty well. 6/10 for runaway bride.

I am not going to compare Runaway Bride to Pretty Woman because, quite frankly, I don't care too much for that movie either. I do, however, enjoy both Richard Gere and Julia Roberts as actors. This movie left them both cold. Neither character was well-rounded and the one dimension of them is quickly felt at the start of the movie. The dialogue left me distant; I felt nothing for either character and was only thinking about how I was going to get through the next hour and thirty minutes. Each scene contained lame punchlines that left almost the entire audience silent. The entire story annoyed me. If I had to watch her run from her vows one more time I was going to barf. The movie was hopeless from the first draft of the script.

Following up on the huge romantic hit "Pretty Woman," Richard Gere, Julia Roberts and Hector Elizondo reteam to produce yet another romantic comedy called "Runaway Bride."

Nobody lost a step or missed a beat as Gere, Roberts and Elizondo teamed up with newcomers Joan Cusack and Rita Wilson. The cast performed with such perfection it seemed like they were performing as it happened for the first time. I commend the casting director and the producer for putting together an excellent cast that really gelled and had chemistry that was like magic.

I must say that "Runaway Bride" was much more charming than "Pretty Woman." I still enjoyed "Pretty Woman" but the updated version had a certain charm and a twist that was lacking in the first film.

I can't say what the twist is without giving away too much, you'll just have to see it to find out.

This was a cute film with a unique way of telling a plot that seems to have been done before on the silver screen.

Are they kidding? This film actually made more money at the US box office than Notting Hill did. That kind of tells you something about american women....

It's the worst piece of crap I've seen in ages. Relying solely on Julias somewhat charming smile. Gere is sleepwalking through this whole movie (his life?). Joan Cusack is phoning it in. And the story! Don't get me started on the story, folks. The lamest excuse to ever reteam these two people is hereby in the can.

No, if you must see a Julia Roberts film, tune in Notting Hill instead. It will actually be remembered in the future.

If you have seen the Simpsons Episode mocking it, you know why this is the worst movie ever. You know the rich snob will lose, and Gere and Roberts will get together. This is a tired story, with no suprises. Julia and Gere have done better together, apart and in their sleeps. Avoid this movie at all costs, runaway from all showings of this movie or suffer the pain of a horrible movie!

I'm normally a huge Julia Roberts fan and while I found this romantic comedy entertaining enough, it cannot compare with her fabulous earlier movie, Pretty Woman, also starring Richard Gere. Nor did I care for it as much as her other comedy romances (most notably Notting Hill) or most of the Meg Ryan ones, especially Sleepless in Seattle.

The story revolves around a lovely young woman, Maggie Carpenter, who has left a series of three would be grooms partway through their wedding ceremony. A reporter named Ike Graham gets fired after writing an exaggerated article of half truths on her story, so to salvage his career, he travels to her small hometown, where he attempts to ferret out her true tale and get the scoop on her upcoming fourth nuptials. Needless to say, Ike does not prove very popular with his journalistic subject, Maggie, as he harasses her family & friends for info. However, he begins to feel protective of her when townsfolk mock her track record of jilting her fiancé at the altar.

Julia Roberts is invariably appealing & sympathetic in her roles, and typically this proves true in her portrayal here of Maggie. Richard Gere is competent as the journalistic vulture, Ike. I don't fault the lack of chemistry as much as the story, which simply isn't as good as Pretty Woman.

Of course romantic comedies are never exactly bastions of realism, but this tale where such a young woman has already run away from three weddings and is now embarking upon number four, really seems too far fetched even for this genre. One would suspect that any prospective groom would be quite leery by now, and why does Maggie keep planning these gala ceremonies if she suspects she might ultimately get cold feet? All in all, it's a cute, light hearted, & entertaining movie with some good scenes, but definitely not the best of its genre. For sure, it lacks the magic of Pretty Woman but judge this one on its own merits.

I am really becoming tired of coming across some 'generic' users' comments about movies such as: 'With a bigger budget, this film would certainly have been better'Runaway Bride, in my opinion, perfectly belies this too many heard statement: I wonder how many millions of dollars have been USELESSLY WASTED to make this stupid, boring and absolutely not funny movie: it is overwhelmed by clichés and extremely stupid dialogs with a thousand times overused storyline. Moreover, I also wonder how many millions Richard Gere and Julia Roberts 'earned' for their BAD ACTING. But, of course, many people will unfortunately still give some credit to this piece of garbage, for the only reason that the director Gary Marshall had directed 'Pretty Woman' nine years before and that he cast Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. However, here I say: STOP! What is more important than money and will always be in order to make a good movie is THE BRAIN and I fear that this time Mr Marshall lost his. I also sympathize with probable thousands of hundreds of people who walked out of the theaters feeling robbed of their money and with others who will buy the DVD (Moreover, with this awful NTSC standard) Fortunately, I am extremely glad I didn't have to pay a single cent for it, because I saw it on TV. but I still feel that they STOLE TWO HOURS OF MY LIFE, which is infuriating me enough. So I sharply encourage people who think like me to give a 1 to this so-called movie to send it to where, despite its big budget and misbegotten pretension, it belongs: THIS IS A PERFECT CANDIDATE FOR THE IMDb BOTTOM 100!!!

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.]

You can get past the absurd premise, the two-dimensional minor characters, the clunky script and the plot incongruities. What you cannot get over is the biggest failure in this film - trying to make Richard Gere funny. He isn't funny. Pretty Woman works because he is the straight-man who melts and opens up because of the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold. Here, he is supposed to deliver ironic asides and sarcastic put-downs, and it just does not come off. It is unfathomable why these actors showed up for this. In every interview I have ever seen with a successful actor, they always say their reason for choosing a film is the script. If the story is fresh, challenging and engaging then nothing else matters. What made Gere and Roberts think this would add a new dimension to their CVs? You can only imagine they saw an easy way to cash in on the PW thing, and went for it. A real, real shame.

Awesome movie! A very funny romantic comedy, with a good resolution. Roberts and Gere have great chemistry and should have an award for it. Never a boring part, always action! Must see for romantic comedies! A few suggestions not appropriate for children, but over all it was pretty clean. Joan Cusac did an excellent job as well, playing Robert's best friend. Very real and believable movie, with plenty of good morals. Overall it is a hilarious movie that keeps you laughing and has you repeating lines constantly until you laugh even more. It is older, so there are a few dated things, but it isn't that bad. Once again, hilarious. Good family things too. This rates up there with You've Got Mail and While You Were Sleeping. A must see for all!

This could have been a great movie. It should have been a great movie. I wanted it to be a great movie. It was a pretty good movie, but it wasn't a great movie.

I know it's not a PRETTY WOMAN sequel, but with Garry Marshall directing Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Hector Elizondo, and Larry Miller, I couldn't help but expect at least some of the old magic. And RUNAWAY BRIDE starts with lots of promise. Good characters, interesting plot, actors I enjoyed watching. But after a while, every scene seems like little more than a setup for the next punch line. In any romantic comedy, especially in a Garry Marshall romantic comedy, and ESPECIALLY in a Garry Marshall romantic comedy starring Gere and Roberts, I know how I want it to end. And at a certain point, I don't want any more plot twists ands turns, I just want to see the ending I happily paid 8 bucks for. I'm willing to play the will-they-or-won't-they game for just so long. RUNAWAY BRIDE messes with that formula a bit too much, and it ended up frustrating me. And I had really enjoyed it up to that point. After a while, it seemed like the story was being prolonged just for the sake of prolonging it. It seemed forced.

I won't spoil anything, but I will say that I loved the movie up until the scene with the FedEx truck. Everything after the FedEx truck was unnecessary and frustrating. That last 15 minutes or so took an 8 out of 10 movie and made it much harder than it needed to be. Final vote: 6 out of 10.

Sequel or not, people will invariably compare it to PRETTY WOMAN. If Marshall had wanted RUNAWAY BRIDE to stand on its own, he could have cast different actors. (Kevin Costner or David Duchovny come to mind as the male, Jenna Elfman or Sandra Bullock opposite.) But instead, I left the theatre with the taste of leftovers in my mouth; I liked it better the first time around.