|
|
| “The Bachelor” |
by Kimberly A. Brehm
Assistant Editor |
For all his weaknesses and male idiosyncrasies, Jimmie Shannon (Chris O'Donnell) is so cute you can't help but love him.
When he botches several marriage proposals to Ann (Renee Zellweger), the woman he truly loves, you can't help but cringe for him. Jimmy wants to do the right thing, but he can't help loving his bachelor ways. It's his major weakness. He sees all of his friends taking the marital plunge, and it makes him a nervous wreck. Jimmy imagines himself as a mustang, running free and able to sample all different types of "grasses" and roaming a variety of "pastures." He simply cannot imagine being lassoed into the pitfall called marriage.
But, alas, Jimmy realizes that he has been dating Ann for three years, and it is time to move the relationship forward. He chooses to propose, for the first time, at the romantic Starlight Restaurant, where many of his peers are doing the same thing. Unfortunately, Jimmy doesn't choose his words very carefully and tells Ann, as he hands her the ring, "Here, you won." It goes downhill from there.
The botched marriage proposal becomes an urban legend, and Jimmy spends the rest of the movie trying to make it up to Ann. She, however, isn't falling for his excuses and proceeds to play hard to get.
This is where the movie becomes more interesting. Jimmy's grandfather (Peter Usinov), a mean old man, suddenly dies and leaves Jimmy $100 million with many stipulations. Jimmy must be married by his 30th birthday (the next day, of course) and must remain married for at least 10 years. He and his bride cannot spend more than one night apart per month and must produce at least one child within five years. Jimmy panics. He is afraid to lose the inheritance because the family business would then have to be dissolved, and the many families, who are dependent on the business, would lose their sole means of support. So he begins going through his old girlfriends, one by one, looking for someone to say yes to his proposals.
Many familiar faces pop up--Brooke Shields, Mariah Carey, and Jennifer Esposito (from "Spin City"). All of these women are funny and find very good reasons not to marry Jimmy. I thought the movie might seem false because I didn't believe many women would turn down the chance to marry into $100 million. But the movie does a good job of explaining why they turn Jimmy down.
Equally funny is Marko (Artie Lange), Jimmy's best friend. Marko really wants Jimmy to inherit all of that money, so he does everything he can to ensure that Jimmy gets married. When Jimmy botches every attempt to find a bride, Marko decides to take matters into his own hands. While not giving away a key part of the movie, let's just say that Marko is behind the final scene of thousands of would-be brides desperately chasing Jimmy through the streets of San Francisco.
This is a light-hearted, romantic movie that leaves you with a smile. Of course, everything works out in the end and the two main characters live on happily ever after. There are no surprises in "The Bachelor" but you do laugh out loud several times during the movie. What more can you ask for from a comedy? |
|
|
