Julia Roberts plays Maggie Carpenter, a woman who has left three fiancés at the altar, and Richard Gere plays Ike Graham, the New York reporter who comes to her hometown to write about her. That setup sounds like the start of a great screwball comedy. In practice, “Runaway Bride” spends most of its 116 minutes doing the same thing over and over: Maggie runs, Ike chases, and the movie waits for them to kiss. It never quite gets there.
Trailer, via YouTube Movies.
Maggie Carpenter’s Homecoming
Maggie lives in Hale, Maryland, where she works at her family’s hardware store and makes designer lamps from spare industrial parts. Her fourth groom-to-be is Bob Kelly, a high school football coach who speaks in sports metaphors. The wedding is coming up, and Maggie’s family and friends think she will run again. They call her “the runaway bride,” a nickname she has earned after leaving three men at the altar.
Ike arrives in Hale on assignment. His boss wants him to write a story proving Maggie is a heartless “man-eater.” Instead, Ike grows closer to Maggie as he interviews her friends, family, and former fiancés. He discovers she adopts each of her fiancés’ interests, particularly her choice of eggs. The film wants us to believe that Maggie’s running is not a pattern but a sign of self-discovery. It does not fully convince us.
The Wedding Day
The climax is the wedding itself. Ike stands in as the groom while Bob directs Maggie through her “visualization” techniques. The ceremony is a disaster. Maggie’s family and guests mock her, and she leaves the church in tears. Ike defends her from the crowd, and the moment finally feels like it might matter. But the film has spent so long building toward this that the payoff lands flat.
The Cast
Roberts and Gere are the engine. Roberts plays Maggie as a spirited, wounded woman who has never stopped believing in love. Gere plays Ike as a misanthropic columnist who cannot stop himself from falling in love anyway. Their chemistry is real, and the film leans on it heavily. Joan Cusack is excellent as Peggy Flemming, Maggie’s best friend and co-worker at the beauty salon. Héctor Elizondo returns as Fisher, a familiar face from Gere’s earlier work with Marshall.
The Supporting Cast
Christopher Meloni plays Bob Kelly, the football coach. Donal Logue plays Father Brian Norris, the second groom Maggie leaves at the altar. He later becomes a priest. Reg Rogers plays George “Bug Guy” Swilling, the third groom. Yul Vazquez plays “Dead Head” Gill Chavez, the first groom, a musician and car mechanic. Paul Dooley plays Walter Carpenter, Maggie’s widowed father who owns the hardware store. Rita Wilson plays Ellie Graham, Ike’s ex-wife and editor. She later marries Ike’s boss Fisher.
The film is full of familiar faces. Kathleen Marshall plays Cousin Cindy, Maggie’s unmarried cousin. Jean Schertler plays Grandma Julia Carpenter, Maggie’s grandmother and Walter’s mother, an avid runner. Sela Ward appears as a pretty woman in a bar. Linda Larkin plays Lydia, Gill’s girlfriend. Garry Marshall himself appears as a softball first baseman. Laurie Metcalf and Larry Miller appear briefly as Betty Trout and Kevin, a New York bartender.
The Problem With the Story
The problem is that the film never explains why Maggie runs. She leaves three men at the altar, but we never learn what the pattern means. The movie treats her running as a mystery to be solved, then forgets to solve it. By the end, the pattern remains unsolved, and the film’s central question goes unanswered.
The film also fails to make its supporting characters feel distinct. Bob Kelly, Father Brian, George Swilling, and “Dead Head” Gill all exist to be interviewed and mocked. None of them gets a scene that makes us care about them as people. The film’s focus on Maggie and Ike leaves everyone else feeling like background noise.
The Verdict
“Runaway Bride” is a pleasant enough comedy with a strong cast and a few funny moments. But it never rises above the material it is working with. The story is thin, the stakes are low, and the ending feels rushed. It is a film that knows what it wants to be — a romantic comedy about a woman who runs — but it never quite delivers on that promise.
Key Facts Box
– Title: Runaway Bride (1999)
– Director: Garry Marshall
– Writer: Sara Parriott, Josann McGibbon
– Runtime: 116 minutes
– Genre: Comedy, Romance
– Cast: Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, Joan Cusack, Héctor Elizondo, Rita Wilson, Paul Dooley, Christopher Meloni
– Score: 6.1/10
The film is a minor entry in Marshall’s catalog. It is not a failure, but it is not a triumph either. It is a pleasant, forgettable comedy that will likely be remembered mostly for the pairing of Roberts and Gere. For a film that spends so much time talking about love, it never quite finds it.
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