There
are so many splendid things about Runaway Bride. It is warm hearted, tender,
vulnerable, and it hits at one of the core dilemmas of our modern world of intimate
relationships. As most who read reviews and follow films know, the movie reunites Julia
Roberts and Richard Gere with director Garry Marshall ten years after their smash success
with Pretty Woman. Like before, they have succeeded, but this time, far beyond our
expectations. We see definite similarities between Pretty Woman and Runaway
Bride, but in the decade between the two movies, the woman ascends to a higher place
of challenge and insight.
The two popular stars, Gere and Roberts, have matured in
profound and beautiful ways since their Pretty Woman pairing. They have further
mastered the magic of communicating their emotional core through their eyes. We both wept
with deep joy and tenderness when one and then the other seemed to look into the depths of
our longing and hearts. While they discovered their love through the pratfalls of their
scrapping and differences, we discovered more of our connections with each other. Runaway
Bride is high praise for the romantic comedy genre because it succeeds in leaving us
with a sentimental sigh of hope for what our love lives might be.
Romantic comedy has never been and will never be about
literal reality. Since before Shakespeare, it has been about fairies in the woods,
transformations of frogs and donkeys into princes and princesses. Sure, every story has to
develop interest by finding unique settings and plot twists, but the basic action beats
pound out a story that is predictable and as well known as our own heartbeats.
In the older format of romantic comedy, true love is
often found when the Prince transforms the woman into a Princess by recognizing her deeper
beauty. She may be a shrew who needs taming, a stepdaughter who is in fact the most
beautiful woman at the ball, or a cripple who needs holding. Whatever her role, she finds
her completion in his castle. Even when Beauty transforms the Beast, it is still so that
she can find a place in his castle. In modern relationships, the struggle reaches far
beyond finding a place in the chosen man’s world. Each of the lovers must also
maintain a vision of personal perfection while deepening the connection with the other.
Our cinematic parables can have a profound impact on how
we cognize the possibilities for our lives. If we do not have a model, a mental picture of
how we might live lives of profound connection, we might never live such lives. By
experiencing the challenges of movie characters, we develop a cultural and personal
subtextual framework for how we might change and improve our lives. Runaway Bride
gives us an inspiring glimpse of how we could come out on the other side of our romantic
dreams.
In this story, Maggie Carpenter (Julia Roberts),
a small town woman, is destined to meet and fall for Ike Graham (Richard Gere), the
cynical, big city national columnist. They are brought together with clever originality.
He has written an exaggerated column about "men eating" women. To illustrate his
bitter perspective, he tells a story about Maggie, the woman who abandons men at the
altar. Maggie writes a passionate rebuttal, proves the story factually inaccurate, and
gets Ike fired. He believes that, though he may have gotten the details wrong, the gist of
his story is correct, i.e., this women acts out of hatred for men. To prove his theory, he
must cover Maggie’s pending wedding to see if she bolts.
Maggie is hardly a stereo typical princess. She has
flaws and her character is vulnerable, but she works as a competent manager of the family
hardware business and a kick-boxer who crafts lighting sculptures out of industrial parts.
While researching Maggie’s life, Ike finds more depth to her than he expected. Far
from hating the men she bolted from, Maggie had genuine regard for them. She ran because
she had molded herself into a woman she thought they wanted her to be. At the altar, her
soul rebelled, and she ran in fear and panic, not able to commit to subverting her core to
others.
As Ike and Maggie stir the pot, mostly in
confrontational badinage, Maggie begins to face her flaws. At one point, Ike berates
Maggie for flirting with the husband of her best friend, Peggy (played expertly by Joan
Cusack). Although Maggie vehemently denies the accusation, she takes Ike’s words to
heart. Early next morning, Maggie seeks Peggy’s perspective. Here, for the first
time, we see Maggie as a young woman earnestly reaching to find her true way and place in
the world. She is mature enough to admit her imperfection, and bold enough to look for her
authenticity.
Ike turns out to have the stuff of a genuine reporter.
He finds truths that contradict his assumptions about Maggie, and he is man enough to
realize that the very thing that makes Maggie run from the altar has led to the failure of
his marriage. He apologizes to his ex-wife with words of tenderness and respect he
hasn’t shown her before. The more Ike sees the "real" Maggie, the more he
falls in love with her. We soon witness that he is the only person in her life who truly
cherishes her core character. Unfortunately, she hasn’t faced herself yet, and she
runs away from the altar again, only this time, she is running from Ike and her only
chance of a true marriage.
At this point, we are given a moment or two to share
their heartache and build up our expectation for the final reunion. We know that Maggie
must come to Ike, but when she does, she doesn’t simply fall into his arms, and all
ends well. She must prove to him that she knows who she is and what she wants because he
loves her too much to live with her in any other way.
How beautifully this movie shows a woman asserting her
independent sense of self and integrity in the world of her desires for intimacy and
connection. Maggie is never strident. Her dependence on her small town life is really of
her choosing and making. She relies on her natural charm and beauty to attract people and
especially men because it was easy, not because of some paternalistic, nefarious
conspiracy against women. She molds herself into that which others expected of her, and
she hurts those who try to love her in their imperfect, even silly ways.
Partly because of the love of a man who fought through
his misconceptions and prejudices to see her beauty, and partly because she was at heart
honest and good, she found both herself and her love. That is a fairytale ending for our
times, one that many may identify with as we all try to find love and connection while
maintaining a sense of individuality and personal integrity.
Julia Roberts wins our crown for the Queen of romantic
comedy, and Richard Gere radiates his way into the heart of women’s dreams. The
supporting cast adds to the magic of this fine production. Joan Cusack is a gem. What a
wonder to see Cusack and Roberts bring alive the chemistry of genuine friendship and love
between two women. The deep bubbling laughter they created was truly tonic. We can only
hope they are cast together again. Of course, the movie simply wouldn’t be the same
without Hector Elizondo who played Ike’s friend. We loved him in Pretty Woman,
we love him even more now.
Thank you ever so much and bless you Julia, Richard,
Joan, Garry, and all who worked to make this movie such a treat.
