The bride who doesn't dare

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Movie
German title The bride who doesn't dare
Original title Runaway Bride
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1999
length 111 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
Rod
Director Garry Marshall
script Josann McGibbon , Sara Parriott
production Gary Lucchesi ,
David Madden ,
Ted Tannebaum
music James Newton Howard ,
Eric Clapton
camera Stuart Dryburgh
cut Bruce Green
occupation

The Bride Who Doesn't Dare (Original Title: Runaway Bride ) is an American comedy film from 1999 . It was directed by Garry Marshall , with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in the lead roles .

action

The opening sequence shows Maggie Carpenter in a white wedding dress on a galloping horse.

Successful New York columnist Ike Graham works for USA Today . He is so well known that even the construction workers working near his home know him. He has a reputation as a chauvinist among women, however , and an elderly woman beats him in the street with a rolled up newspaper.

Graham writes an article about Maggie Carpenter, a provincial hardware dealer who fled the church several times before her wedding shortly before the wedding, thus preventing the weddings. The facts presented in the article are exaggerated, however, because they come from one of Maggie's former marriage candidates, whom Graham met in a bar.

Maggie complains to the newspaper and lists numerous factual errors from the article. The publisher of the newspaper, Graham's ex-wife Ellie, then announced a termination against Graham without notice. However, his friend, Ellie's current husband Fisher, offers him the chance to return if he seriously researches the background of the failed weddings and writes a report about it.

Maggie now wants to marry the gym teacher Bob Kelly, who wants to take her on a honeymoon on Annapurna . When Graham finds her looking for an interview in a hair salon repairing a chair, she looks at him with interest, recognizes him and promises him an interview if he has his hair washed. Gladly she colors his hair brightly. She becomes angry when she discovers that Graham is visiting people from her personal circle. Maggie even meets him at her parents' house, where he has befriended Bob and her father Walter. He receives a video cassette from Walter on which the three broken weddings can be seen.

Graham also visits her former fiancée just before Maggie can warn the men. She wonders why Graham asks each of the men how Maggie likes her breakfast eggs. She says you can't remember it, but the former fiancés remember it exactly. All the men say that Maggie loved the breakfast eggs as much as she (the men) themselves. However, each man preferred a different way of cooking. In addition, a tattoo on Maggie's back, which she had for the sake of one of the fiancés, turns out to be just a sticker .

During a game, Maggie and Peggy Flemming cheer on their town's team, which includes Peggy's husband, Cory. Graham arrives and Maggie asks her friend if he can read lip movements. She poisons the journalist. Maggie later jumps up, walks onto the playing area and performs a joyous dance with Cory. Peggy confides in Graham that Maggie and Cory were a couple in high school. Then she leaves the stadium. The returned Maggie accuses Graham of offending Peggy. She is dismayed when she learns that she herself has driven her own friend to flight, begins to think about herself and apologizes to Peggy.

A little later, Maggie breaks into Graham's room in the hotel and steals not only a record of her but also a cassette with his favorite music. She is caught by Graham and escapes through the window. A neighbor asks if the woman has a sister, to which Graham calls out to him to wait a week for the original to be available again .

The next day, Maggie comes to the hotel, wakes Graham and offers him a cooperation for the payment of the negotiated US $ 650. As a result, he gets to know and understand the environment and nature of Maggie. So he asks Maggie how and where Kelly proposed to her. Maggie confirms, as Graham suspects, that the marriage proposal appeared on the scoreboard during a game. Graham gives her a lesson in romantic marriage proposal text: I guarantee there will be times when either or both of us will want to get out of the business. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you now, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. Cause deep in my heart I know you're the only one for me Maggie is impressed and adds that she would have liked those words on the scoreboard better.

Maggie's already somewhat senile grandmother tells Graham about her assumption that Maggie is afraid of the "one-eyed snake" and therefore lets the weddings break. Maggie corrects her grandmother that she already knows this snake well. She gives Graham an old, valuable record by his favorite musician. With the money for the cooperation, she wants to buy an expensive wedding dress and invites Graham to come along. When the shopkeeper urges Maggie to get a cheap dress, Ike interferes and forces the saleswoman Maggie to sell the dress she wants. Ike can't hide and Maggie notices how much she looks on him in the dress.

When Maggie goes to a bar to pick up her drunken father, Graham appears there too. He assures her that he will not write anything about Walter's drinking problem. Graham and Maggie let Walter sleep in his car and meanwhile go for a drive, during which Maggie unconsciously reveals a sympathy for Ike. During a visit to Maggie's house, Graham discovers a metal sculpture , many of which she makes from industrial waste. He tries to convince her to sell her sculptures, but she hesitates.

Before the wedding, there is a party at which Maggie's friends and relatives and also her father make fun of them and their aborted weddings with toasts, which Maggie endures with a pained face. Graham interferes with violent reproaches to those present and says what he thinks of these humiliations. Maggie runs out of the building and Graham follows her. Meanwhile, Kelly is engaged in a discussion about sports and does not notice any of it. Maggie blames Graham for not being familiar with local rites. Graham, who has already seen through Maggie's psyche, calls on her to be herself and criticizes and others. a. the planned honeymoon trip to Annapurna by describing a romantic alternative on the beach. That seems obvious, but Maggie in return criticizes Graham never writing about himself in his articles, but always about others, has just as little self-confidence and is just as lost as she is. Before the conversation can develop any further, Kelly and his friends join in because Maggie is supposed to mediate in the existing discussion about sports.

Maggie insists on another rehearsal of the wedding reception in the church to better prepare her psyche for going to the altar. At the express request of the obviously tipsy Maggie, Graham is there as a "reporter". He also takes on the role of the priest first, but has to switch to the role of the groom when Kelly takes over the direction, plays the priest and also speaks the text for the bride's kiss. The kiss is suddenly no longer played, but becomes real and passionate. Kelly notices the feelings Graham and Maggie have developed towards one another. He punches Graham and storms out of the church. Maggie and Graham decide not to let the wedding date expire and they both get married on that date. Graham's friends Ellie and Fisher are also invited. Fisher gets fits of laughter when he hears about the wedding. Ellie emphasizes that she will definitely be on time, since she was on time at his first wedding.

The wedding becomes a media event. On the way to church, Graham is hit again by an elderly woman with a rolled up newspaper. Fisher is his best man. The unforgiving Bob Kelly advises Graham to keep eye contact with the bride. A little later Kelly flirts with Elaine, who came from New York. Maggie appears in the church and walks towards the altar. At first she makes a movement as if she wanted to flee this time as well, which turns out to be a joke. When she got to the altar, a family friend took a photo with a flash. Maggie panics so much that she escapes after all. She jumps on the truck of a logistics company and drives away. Maggie is not only a mockery and topic in the media in her city for a long time.

Ike Graham goes back to New York frustrated. Maggie uses the time to think about herself and her personality. Among other things, she tests her own taste with breakfast eggs and also struggles to offer her sculptures, because Ike happens to see her metal sculptures in the window of a shop in New York. When Ike comes home, Maggie is surprisingly already in his apartment and offers him a discussion. She tells him that at the previous weddings she didn't know who she was. She now knows that Ike is the first man she understands. Graham replies dryly that he still had to run after a truck. Maggie replies that she now knows how she likes her breakfast eggs and how she envisions her wedding. She symbolically gives Ike her running shoes. Maggie then kneels down in front of Ike and uses the same words he once used to describe a proper marriage proposal. They dance to Ike's already known favorite music. Faded in you can see Maggie and Graham on a hilly meadow. They marry alone in front of the priest, the wedding guests only appear behind a hill and come closer. Both mount their own horse and ride away.

Reviews

Reviews

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that the plot was more reminiscent of The War of the Roses than a sequel to Pretty Woman . He found it unbelievable that Carpenter and Graham would still be able to develop a relationship after all the meanness and hurts they had. He found the last 15 minutes of the film "irritating". Berardinelli described the film as "uninspired," but praised Julia Roberts' charm.

Roger Ebert compared the film in the Chicago Sun-Times on July 30, 1999 with the comedy Pretty Woman , which he considers a masterpiece. However, he found this film annoying; he found it painful to see Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in such a "dumb" story after seeing them in many more intelligent roles. He also wondered why USA Today should not verify its newspaper's information prior to publication, which is not a common practice. He compared Maggie Carpenter's hometown to Pleasantville , the character of Bob Kelly to that of cops in crime films that are about to retire. In addition, the scenes with Hector Elizondo and Rita Wilson have no bearing on the dramaturgy of the film.

Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times on July 30, 1999 that Richard Gere seemed unreliable in the role of a columnist. The way Graham behaves in Carpenter's hometown he compared to the behavior of a stalker . Turan found Julia Roberts fundamentally more believable in her role as a film star in the comedy Notting Hill than in this as a simple, down-to-earth woman. On the other hand, he described the portrayal of Joan Cusack as “delightful as always”.

Kirk Honeycutt praised the "chemistry" between the main actors in the Hollywood Reporter , but criticized the script as "too calculated".

German-language reviews

TV Today 20/1999 compared the film with Pretty Woman and Notting Hill , who would have more “magic” or “bizarre charm” compared to this “overly calculated” film.

TV Movie 20/1999 described the plot as "fast-paced", but "drawn by the hair", and praised the portrayals of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

Der Spiegel 39/1999 described the gags of the comedy as "tormented".

TV Spielfilm 20/1999 described the film as "lovable" and "heartwarming".

“Conventional romantic comedy that relies less on its own originality than on the unbeatable attractiveness of its stars Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Despite all efforts, there was of course no new edition of the bold humor of 'Pretty Woman', which obviously served as a model. "

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

Julia Roberts was nominated for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award , the Kids' Choice Award , the MTV Movie Award and the Hungarian Csapnivaló Award in 2000. Richard Gere was nominated for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award in 2000. Joan Cusack won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award and the American Comedy Award in 2000 ; she was also nominated for the Chlotrudis Award in 2000. Hector Elizondo was nominated for the American Latino Media Arts Award in 2000.

James Newton Howard won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Film and Television Music Award in 2000 . Marc Anthony and Mark Rooney won the same award in 2001 for the song You Sang To Me ; Marc Anthony was also nominated for this song in 2001 for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award .

The film won the Golden Screen and the Bogey Award . Stuart Dryburgh was nominated for the Csapnivaló Award in 2000 for camera work .

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating “particularly valuable”.

Backgrounds and trivia

History of origin

Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, and Garry Marshall have been thinking of a sequel since the hit movie Pretty Woman . A script for Pretty Woman 2 was even written, but it was particularly rejected by Julia Roberts. She feared that a sequel to the very successful comedy would inevitably disappoint the audience.

While in London , Roberts received a script from Gere written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott. This was partly due to a major motion picture The Runaway Bride from the year 1930 with Mary Astor in the lead role and also liked Roberts.

Production costs amounted to about 70 million US dollars , of which approximately accounted for 17 million USD to the Gage of Julia Roberts. The shooting took place in autumn 1998 a . a. in Berlin (Maryland) .

Roberts later reported in an interview that she had more courage to come up with suggestions for improvement of her own than was the case when the film Pretty Woman was being made. So she was able to bring her own natural "awkwardness" into her portrayal of Maggie Carpenter.

Garry Marshall reported that Julia Roberts had overcome her previous fears of fans and reporters. He said her encounters with her fans left a deep impression on these people. While he and Richard Gere would be addressed like friends, the appearance of Roberts makes many people cry. He compared this effect with the encounters with Princess Diana . He noticed that the "chemistry" between Roberts and Gere was right. Roberts needed a very good physical condition for her role in which she practiced sports such as kickboxing .

The film was released in the US on July 25, 1999.

meaning

The film broke the box office record at the time for $ 35 million on the first weekend of a film's release. A total of around 152 million US dollars were grossed in cinemas in the United States, which exceeded the result of the comedy Notting Hill by around 30%.

Others

James Spada pointed out in his book Julia Roberts. The biography. on some parallels between the film plot and the life of Julia Roberts. One of the canceled weddings is said to have been similar to that of Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland , which was planned at great expense and canceled shortly before the date. The wedding of Roberts to Lyle Lovett also had echoes of this story for Spada.

Roberts denied in interviews any similarities between Maggie Carpenter and her own life, as well as parallels to Anna Scott in the film Notting Hill . In connection with Carpenter's ability to learn from one's own mistakes, however, she also called for the right to be able to make mistakes without being criticized for them.

literature

  • Wolfgang Schmidbauer: If you lose yourself in love - the bride who doesn't dare . In: Heidi Möller, Stephan Doering (eds.): Batman and other heavenly creatures - Another 30 film characters and their mental disorders. Springer Medizin Verlag, Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-12738-0 , pp. 121-129
  • James Spada: Julia Roberts. The biography . Hoffmann and Campe Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-455-09436-8 , pp. 386-391

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Review by James Berardinelli
  2. ^ Review by Roger Ebert
  3. ↑ Review by Kenneth Turan
  4. ↑ Review by Kirk Honeycutt
  5. ↑ a b c d The bride who doesn't dare ( memento from June 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) in the Dirk Jasper FilmLexikon
  6. ↑ The bride who doesn't dare. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 17, 2016 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. ↑ The bride who doesn't dare to go to fbw-filmbassy.com
  8. ↑ Elizabeth Kendall: The Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1930's. A. A. Knopf, New York, NY 1990, ISBN 0-394-51187-5 .
  9. ↑ a b box office results on boxofficemojo.com