Day 2: Runaway Bride

Oh my god, I'm doing a little jig! The second movie in my project is Runaway Bride (which by the way I knew in the first 2 notes of the opening credits)! This is THE Romantic Comedy. I had a VHS of this and watched it so much that I wore out the tape. This is one of the ones I hold up as a standard for all other RC's to live up to! It has (almost) everything. Oh the cheesy love, oh the "I hate you, I love you, I hate you, I love you", oh the great comic side characters, oh the WEDDINGS! Not to mention, this is truly a feminist film! No wait - really - it is! This is ultimately a great lesson to women to learn about themselves and love themselves first. This film warns us not to wrap ourselves up in someone else so much that we have no identity of our own. It insists that love will wait for us to be ready for it.

I just love love LOVE this movie. That darn Julia Roberts and Richard Gere- their charm and chemistry just make a gal like me all warm and fuzzy! Mmmm mmmm that first kiss- that should be super awkward seeings how it is done in front of the man she is supposed to be marrying, is so hot you can't help but forgive them! And here's my list and how this film stacks up:

• Giddy: Oh yes! Yes Yes Yes! My heart goes all a flutter and I giggle uncontrollably every time I hear lines like: "I guarantee there are going to be hard times and I guarantee there will be a time when one or both of us want out of this thing but I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine I'll regret it for the rest of my life because I know in my heart your the only one for me". Other moments that make me giddy: Duckbill platypus, "Did I not just see you", that first kiss, "I like his tight butt - Well I do!"
  
• Lies: Well she's lying pretty darn good to herself through the majority of the movie. Oh yes, sufficient lies I'd say.
• Big emotional outburst: Oh yes - several
• Dance sequence: A bit of a slow dance at the end to Miles Davis - but that doesn't count in my book - so no... no there is no big dance number
• Wedding: Oh yes, we get not one lovely wedding but 5! Yes 5 different wedding dresses! I'm so jealous!
  
• Rewatchable: I think I've already covered that this is- yes. And I will be watching this one again - very soon- maybe next Saturday while I'm cleaning the house.
  
• Love: Oohhh Yes!
• Fantasy: Well - most of us can't afford 1 wedding let alone 5 and I don't know anyone in NYC with that incredible an apartment (especially on a writers salary)...sooo yeah I'd say there is a lot of good fantasy here.
  
• Journey of the main character: The best part is that she goes from knowing nothing about herself to discovering who she truly is!
  
• Body count: well... no, no body count - unless you count all the grooms she leaves at the alter and well that's stretching it.

* I'm adding 2 new things to the list that I think should be included from here on out:

• Music Montages: No respectable romantic comedy is without a music montage to quickly let us know of the passage of time, of growth and change. And how awesome this one is! We learn of Julia's struggle to define herself and Richard's struggle to live without the love of his life. This is not the best (the best being Notting Hill's famous montage that goes through the seasons and includes all the side characters) but its good!
  
• Strong Female: As a feminist, as a strong woman- I identify best with strong women characters and I look for them in my entertainment especially. Here, we have a great woman, cool, confident (at least on the outside) who makes the mistake of defining herself through men and learns to define herself on her own. She even proposes to him at the end (a trend I really wish would take off). One of the last lines of the movie which comes from the preacher who is marrying them is 'May your individuality strengthen your union". AND...she rides off on her own horse!