Runaway Bride
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: July 30, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
39
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
15
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
More often, the film is like a ride through a car wash: forward motion, familiar phases in the same old order and a sense of being carried along steadily on a well-used track. It works without exactly showing signs of life. Read full review
60
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Poky but often charming. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The difference between "Pretty Woman" and Runaway Bride is that we can no longer buy Roberts in her tearful romantic-melancholy mode. It seems vaguely patronizing now. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
After seeing Gere and Roberts play much smarter people (even in romantic comedies), it is painful to see them dumbed down here. The screenplay is so sluggish, they're like Derby winners made to carry extra weight. Read full review
50
Film.comRobert Horton
It's all safe and sane and bland.
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The screenplay provides enough cute one-liners and love-struck speeches to give the comedy intermittent charm. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Lack of chemistry between Richard Gere and Julia Roberts sinks this souffle. Read full review
50
Washington PostRita Kempley
Fans of Gere and Roberts may not care about the movie's many implausibilities and other shortcomings because the stars do indeed sparkle like the bubbles in wedding champagne. But the rest of us will find the vintage too sweet. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A shiny bauble full of dead weight, gloppy good feeling and airless cliches. And every time you try to grab onto "Bride's" characters, they run away. [30 July 1999]
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A clumsy motion picture that strives so hard for the perfect romantic ending that it triggers a gag reflex along the way. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleSarah Hepola
Too bad their characters are comprised of nothing but the most hackneyed clichés and that it apparently never occurred to anyone to add even sketches of believable character development. Read full review
40
NewsweekDavid Ansen
It's not just that the movie is formulaic; it's disingenuous. It relies on Roberts's smile to erase all misgivings. But all the stardust in the world can't disguise the fact that this is more package than picture. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAmy Taubin
Runaway Bride isn't as offensive as most studio romantic comedies—just pointless and dull. Read full review
40
Film.comJohn Hartl
It doesn't generate enough laughs to make up for the fact that you never figure out what he (a misogynistic USA Today columnist played by Richard Gere) sees in her (a dizzy small-town hairdresser played by Roberts). Or, for that matter, what she could ever see in him.
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Runaway Bride's Josann McGibbon & Sara Parriott script is so muddled and contrived, raising issues only to ignore them or throw them away, you wonder why so many people embraced it. Read full review
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