Plot
Spirited Maggie Carpenter has left three fiancés at the altar on their wedding day, earning local notoriety and the nickname, "The Runaway Bride”.
Misanthropic New York columnist Ike Graham writes an unflattering article about Maggie after hearing her story from a man that he does not realize is one of her bitter ex-fiancés. Ike's story is riddled with errors causing Maggie to send a scathing rebuttal to the newspaper. Ike is fired for failing to verify facts but his boss offers him another chance by writing an in-depth, truthful article about Maggie, if only to prove she actually is a heartless "man-eater".
Ike travels to Hale, Maryland, where Maggie works at her family's hardware store and also makes designer lamps from spare industrial parts. Her forth groom-to-be, Bob Kelly, a high school football coach, who constantly uses sports analogies, is helping Maggie to “visualize” their upcoming wedding. Ike follows Maggie around town and interviews her friends, family, and former fiancés. Fed up with his intrusiveness, Maggie allows Ike one-on-one time with her to prove she is a good person. During this period, Ike and Maggie grow closer, using each other's feedback to improve their personal selves.
Ike discovers that Maggie adopts each of her fiancés' interests, particularly regarding her choice of eggs. At a prewedding luau celebration, Ike defends Maggie from her family's and guests' mockery, causing her leave. When Ike accuses Maggie of not truly knowing herself, she calls out his cynicism, suggesting he uses his column to mock others because he fears pursuing a meaningful life.
At the wedding rehearsal, to help Maggie practice her “visualization” techniques, Bob asks Ike to stand in as the groom while he directs them. When they hear, "you may kiss the bride", they share a passionate kiss and admit their feelings for each other. Chagrined, Bob punches Ike and storms out. Afterwards, Ike proposes that since a wedding has already been arranged, he and Maggie should marry, to which Maggie agrees.
The wedding day, is heavily attended by the media. Bob advises Ike to maintain eye contact with Maggie to reassure her as she walks down the aisle. While that initially works, a camera flash temporarily blinds Ike, breaking Maggie's concentration. She gets cold feet and flees the church. Ike pursues her, but she jumps onto a passing FedEx truck. Heartbroken, Ike returns to New York.
In the following weeks, Maggie works to discover herself, sampling different egg dishes to determine her true favorite and starts selling her lamps in New York City shops. One night, Ike returns to his apartment and finds Maggie there. She says she ran from her previous weddings because the men did not know who she truly was, partly due to her conforming to their personalities and preferences. She ran from Ike because she did not understand herself. Maggie symbolically gives her running shoes to Ike, then proposes using one of his previous speeches.
The two marry in a private hillside ceremony, forgoing a big wedding that Maggie never actually wanted. The newlyweds ride away on horseback as their friends and family celebrate.
In a post-credit scene, Maggie and Ike play together in the snow, revealing that their marriage is still going strong.
Production
The film was in development for over a decade with different actors attached at various times: Anjelica Huston, Mary Steenburgen, Lorraine Bracco, Geena Davis, Demi Moore, Sandra Bullock, Ellen DeGeneres, Téa Leoni (for the role of Maggie); Christopher Walken, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Michael Douglas (for the role of Ike) and Ben Affleck (for the role of Bob). [3] Director Michael Hoffman was attached. [3]
Writers Elaine May and Leslie Dixon did unused rewrites. [3]
Much of the film production took place in and around historic Berlin, Maryland, which was made over to become the fictitious town of Hale, Maryland. [4] Main Street in Berlin as well as some of the landmarks such as the Atlantic Hotel were left nearly as-is during production, while some of the business names on Main Street were changed. [5]
Coco Lee performed the theme song, "Before I Fall in Love." [6]
Release
Box office
The film premiered on July 30, 1999, with $12 million on its opening day. [7] In its opening weekend, the film peaked at #1 with $35.1 million. [8] [9] The film would hold the record for having the highest opening weekend for a Julia Roberts film until 2001 when Ocean's Eleven took it. [10]
By the end of its run, the film had grossed $152.3 million in the United States and Canada, and an international gross of $157.2 million, altogether making $309.5 million worldwide. [11]
Critical response
Runaway Bride received mixed reviews upon release. [12] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 45% of 86 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.4/10.The website's consensus reads: "Cliché story with lack of chemistry between Richard Gere and Julia Roberts." [13] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 39 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. [14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. [15]
The Los Angeles Times wrote: "Runaway Bride's Josann McGibbon & Sara Parriott script is so muddled and contrived, raising issues only to ignore them or throw them away, you wonder why so many people embraced it." [16] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2/4 stars, saying: "After seeing Gere and Roberts play much smarter people (even in romantic comedies), it is painful to see them dumbed down here. The screenplay is so sluggish, they're like Derby winners made to carry extra weight." [17] The New York Times said: "More often, the film is like a ride through a car wash: forward motion, familiar phases in the same old order and a sense of being carried along steadily on a well-used track. It works without exactly showing signs of life." [18]
