Release Date: November 5, 1999
Starring: Chris O'Donnell, Renée Zellweger, Artie Lange, Brooke Shields, Hal Halbrook, Ed Asner, James Cromwell
Directed by: Gary Sinyor
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (language)
If there's one thing that 1999 has been overloaded with, it's supernatural thrillers. But if there were two, it would be supernatural thrillers and romantic comedies. To Hollywood's credit, they haven't overdosed on these products to the point of nausea -- at the very most, these like movies managed to come two weeks apart. But even with the increased sampling pool, there remain a few constants. Both types had their winners and losers, not necessarily defined by box office statistics, and both types managed to reuse, recycle, and regurgitate a lot of the same material. This last is the sort of condition that tends to magnify the errors in a film, and so perhaps in another year The Bachelor would've been plausible and even worthwhile.
Not in 1999.
This time through the calendar, movies in these crowded genres can't get by on halfway, because there's plenty of other worthwhile entertainment. Audiences will take their business elsewhere after such whimsical properties as this.
Whimsical because, like a fair number of predecessors, Gary Sinyor's The Bachelor has nothing new to offer nor an exciting way of reanimating the same old same-old. The top romantic comedy of the summer, Runaway Bride, may have been a rehashing of the goings-on in Pretty Woman, but it was everything that a romantic comedy should be. This film is not.
It pits the dashing but fickle young bachelor Jimmy Shannon (Chris O'Donnell) against the dreaded confines of marriage. All the elements are in place: Jimmy's deeply in love with Anne (Renée Zellweger), his girlfriend of three years, and he's watched his buddies get married off in short order. The ranks of the bachelors have been thinned, and now it's his turn.
Then things get thrown into high gear: his grandfather dies, leaving him $100 million with the condition that Jimmy find a bride by his thirtieth birthday, remain with her for ten years, and produce at least one child from the endeavor. Anne is the obvious choice, but his first attempt at proposing went horribly wrong, and now she's nowhere to be found. Things aren't looking good, especially when his thirtieth birthday is less than twenty-four hours away.
This ordeal is played out in typical fashion by two inexperienced leads and an inexperienced British director making his American debut. O'Donnell, who has starred as Robin in the last two Batman outings, is a generic clean-cut leading man, and Zellweger, who was part of the one-two romantic punch that Jerry Maguire delivered, can't generate much outside of a bubbly-blonde archetype. Director Sinyor doesn't take this movie or his two leads anywhere, which is a pity because the entire production is begging to be led somewhere. With a bit of confidence or commitment, this could've been more than just Runaway Groom.
The 'comedy' half of the romantic comedy isn't spectacular, and at times it's not even laughable. Much like 1997's Trial and Error, this film keeps playing as though it's ready to spill a dozen side-splitters, but the jokes never come. Even though The Bachelor is a giant parody, and perhaps arguably a self-aware parody, it doesn't capitalize on this hokey atmosphere. As a result, it comes off as being just hokey -- parody minus the intelligence. Send your complaints to screenwriter Steve Cohen, rookie, c/o: New Line Cinema.
But such is the price of designing an ill-witted comedy for release in an oversaturated calendar year. As predicted, the romance is light as cotton candy and the comedy is all but present. The next prediction to make is the length of The Bachelor's stay in first-run theaters, and in this case it's decidedly: not long.
all contents © 1999 Craig Roush