(one star out of five; from what I saw)
I can't fully review this film, since I stopped watching after twenty minutes. (My girlfriend, trooper that she is, forced herself to finish the movie, since we had paid for it.)
Let's just say:
-- it's not funny.
-- it's not credible at all.
-- the script is amateurish; plot & character development are sledgehammer-subtle but simultaneously boring.
-- The Gere character is not likeable. He commits a major sin -- vilifying an "Ordinary Citizen" in a newspaper column without checking ANY facts and making fifteen false, libelous statements -- and he just shrugs it off cutely. He never apologizes. He never decides to do right by the Ordinary Citizen he's libeled. The film is a silly comedy, but this is a rather large sin which requires more than a jokey absolution.
-- The Julia Roberts character is not likeable. You can dress it up whichever way you like, but a woman who's already jilted three men at the altar before the film begins (and just might end up jilting two more) is simply not terribly sympathetic. I sort of like the idea of "Runaway Bride" -- it's a big, high-concept idea which I think has some potential. But execution counts, too.
-- The movie is not funny. Did I mention that? Let me say it again: It is not funny at all.
Anyway, that's what I know about the film, based on watching the first twenty minutes and hearing the rest of it in background.
