The Bachelor (1999)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Gary Sinyor

Writers (WGA):

Roi Cooper Megrue (play)
Jean C. Havez (1925 screenplay "Seven Chances") ...

Release Date:

5 November 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Comedy

Tagline:

One thousand brides. One hundred million dollars. Jimmie Shannon is about to discover the true value of love.

Plot:

A committment-phobic man goes in search of a bride including his fed up girlfriend, to inherit his grandfather's $100 million inheritance.

Plot Keywords:

Grandfather | Inheritance | Love | Remake | Male Female Relationship

Cast

Chris O'Donnell	...	Jimmie Shannon
Renée Zellweger	...	Anne Arden
Artie Lange	...	Marco
Edward Asner	...	Sid Gluckman
Hal Holbrook	...	Roy O'Dell
James Cromwell	...	The Priest
Marley Shelton	...	Natalie Arden
Peter Ustinov	...	Grandad James Shannon
Katharine Towne	...	Monique
Rebecca Cross	...	Stacey
Stacy Edwards	...	Zoe
Mariah Carey	...	Ilana
Sarah Silverman	...	Carolyn
Jennifer Esposito	...	Daphne
Brooke Shields	...	Buckley Hale-Windsor

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Canada:14A (Alberta) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Malaysia:U | South Korea:12 | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | France:U | Germany:6 | Hong Kong:IIA | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:M | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #36793) | Philippines:PG-13 | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Cook Ranch, Galisteo, New Mexico, USA

Company:

George Street Pictures

Trivia:

Several of the brides chasing the bachelor at the end of this movie are male extras in drag.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Scenes depicting the San Francisco Train station were clearly shot at Union Station in Los Angeles.

Quotes:

[Before Jimmie asks his ex-girlfriend Buckley to marry him]
Marco: OK, crunch time. Seventh game of the World Series. Bottom of the ninth. Two outs. Full count. It's our last chance. There's no tomorrow. Got it?
Jimmie: Four cliches ago.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Say Uncle (2005)

Soundtrack:

Don't Fence Me In

There will be no gala tenth anniversary edition released.

If you are looking for a non intellectually stimulating romantic comedy, and this is on TV and you arenÕt really going to pay attention, and your main alternative to watching is staring at the wall, then you are in luck. The Bachelor is the sort of movie that seems about eight years old as soon as it comes out on TV. The special effects involving various men running with horses look about this old.

Basically the film revolves around the idea of bachelors as stallions powerful wild and free, the idea of true love, and functions as a frame work for ÒcuteÓ romantic cliches about true love and what not. Basically the best part that lasts more than thirty seconds is the proposal with Buckley. This is not worth watching the movie for.

The only non paid for reference (read non advertisement) to this movie that I have seen is something about Mariah Carey: from singing to acting, but this is the sort of ÒactingÓ that a fan would not want spread around. Oh well so much for long term artistic merit or historical value of any kind.

What interests me most about this movie is what bystanders thought when they saw the scenes with hundreds of wedding dress clad bride hopefuls storming the streets, running up and down the same hill over and over again until they got the perfect take, and generally walking around the city. The wedding dress scenes are very impressive and alone are almost worth watching the movie previews for. It is kind of sad that some sort of candid camera clip of bystanders staring at a bunch of actresses in wedding gowns would probably be more exciting than the movie, but thatÕs the way it is with The Bachelor.

I didnÕt think that this movie was worth my time, but some people just love happy little romantic comedies. I realize that I am not in this group, and consider this to be the worst movie that I have paid to see this year. Try as I might I will never get back my 5 dollars and the 90 minutes of my life spent on this movie. If you do watch this do something else, preferably something distracting, at the same time. Given any alternative donÕt watch this.