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Runaway bride

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Everyone's favourite screen couple - Richard Gere and Julia Roberts - are matched in another runaway hit comedy from Garry Marshall - the director of Pretty woman!

Ike Graham (Richard Gere) is a big city newspaper columnist who causes an uproar with an unflattering and wildly erroneous story about Maggie Carpenter (Julia Roberts), a small town woman whose reputation for leaving men stranded at the altar has made her a local legend! But while Ike plans to prove he was right about Maggie all along... and Maggie plans to even the score with Ike... neither expects the kind of sparks that fly when they finally meet!

Persons of interest

Julia Roberts .... Maggie Carpenter
Richard Gere .... Ike Graham
Joan Cusack .... Peggy Flemming
Hector Elizondo .... Fisher
Rita Wilson .... Ellie Graham
Paul Dooley .... Walter Carpenter
Christopher Meloni .... Coach Bob Kelly
Donal Logue .... Priest Brian
Yul Vazquez .... Dead Head Gill
Jane Morris .... Mrs Pressman
Josann McGibbon .... Screenwriter
Sara Parriott .... Screenwriter
Garry Marshall .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Studios and distributors:

Touchstone * Buena Vista International

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Runaway bored.

Well, not that bad, but once again I was unable to resist the bitchy title.

Mind you, this is no Pretty woman and definitely no My best friend's wedding. If you want me to be precise, Runaway bride is to Pretty woman as You've got mail is to Sleepless in Seattle. It is a tad laboured, occasionally irritating, somewhat annoying and more predictable than you would want from a romantic comedy. That's what happens when you make non sequel sequels. It's as if Hollywood studios are trying to bring back the golden years when movie-goers would flock to the cinemas to see their favourite stars doing the same old thing over and over again (think Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Bogey and Bacall and so on).

Hmmm... I smell a conspiracy.

Now, back to the film. Richard is... well... Richard. You know, that slightly charming, slightly bedraggled guy who, no matter how much he may seem to have his life in order, still needs a good woman to show him where he's going wrong. Julia is... well... Julia. You know, that slightly independent, slightly ditzy girl who, no matter how much she may seem to have her life in order, still needs a good man to show her where she's going wrong. That chemistry worked well for Pretty woman (there's no escaping the comparison since the Propaganda keeps on harping on about it) where there was a huge divide between the two characters: a millionaire businessman and a prostitute. Runaway bride doesn't have that edge because the only real difference between Ike and Maggie is big city versus small town. That's enough conflict for an after dinner joke but not for a 2 hour film.

But credit where credit's due, they did take the story further than I expected. Your average romantic comedy would've finished at 100 minutes, but this one tacks on an extra 16 to play with your head a bit. Even though it makes the final product rather long, it does make it more interesting. You'll have to see it to understand what I am saying.

There are plenty of funny bits scattered throughout Runaway bride but it's pretty dark for a romantic comedy: in fact, it's more of a romantic drama. Keep that in mind when you're at the video shop.

Media intelligence (DVD)

Audio: Dolby Surround 5.0
Languages: English, French, German, Spanish
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish