The opening credits start in wide open land with lots of horses running wild. Our narrator/lead character
Jimmy Shannon (Chris O’Donnell) starts his story by telling us that every man (in America) is Mustang (the horse, not the car) at heart. He is too. He is also a happy bachelor who loves dating a variety of women without having to think about getting married. One day he meets Anne (Renée Zellweger) and even though he is still not even dreaming about marriage, he is happy just being with that one women. After a year of bliss, his luck starts to change. All his friends have been getting married inevitably Anne uses the ever-dreaded word “future”. He is the only single guy left in his circle. He decides to do the inevitable and screws up big time. But then something even more dreadful happens- his grandfather dies and leaves him a $100 million. What’s dreadful about it? Jimmy needs to be married in a certain time frame, be married for at least 10 years and have 10 children. What the ****? “Poor” Jimmy proposes to Anne again, screwing up more time. Anne leaves town to visit her folks and Jimmy has no choice but visiting all his exes one by one, a highly diverse list of women who include a feminist, an over-bearing one, a cop, one who is all business, a stockbroker, an opera singer…
So Jimmy spends a lot of time proposing to one wrong woman after another and failing to be engaged, until his friend comes with a “brilliant” idea that’s very entertaining for us the audience and a total nightmare for Jimmy….
The Bachelor is a typical romantic comedy but I am saying it with love and affection. I really do like this movie. I love the idea, the actors, the scenes and the dialogue. Sure, as a modern woman I resent the idea of all men being portrayed as commitment-phobic and women crazy about marriage. I resent the idea that all women see marriage as bliss but men as a nightmare. It might be true for a lot of cases but hey times are changing a little. But who cares? The casting is perfect. If any other guy was giving you all the talk about Mustangs, a girl might be pissed. But hey, it is Chris O’ Donnell. One of the cutest and prettiest actors to date, he lights up the screen and even in his desperate moments, he doesn’t annoy you. He makes you laugh. Put an average guy in there and you would say “Oh, screw you, who would want to marry you, anyway?”. This is a romantic comedy meaning it is (unfortunately) targeted mostly at women and I am being honest.
Brooke Shields and Mariah Carey make very fun appearances. Even though I don’t like Mariah Carey at all, she was the perfect choice as the over-the-top opera singer.
It is a fun romcom with all the regular amount of cheesiness. But the funny bits are really funny and the romantic part is romantic. So if you like the genre, suspend your cynicism for the duration of the film and have fun.
Other Chris O’Donnell Posts
The Three Musketeers starring Chris O’Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland Charlie Sheen
NCIS Los Angeles starring Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J.
Mad Love starring Drew Barrymore and Chris O’Donnell
All Posts on Renée Zellweger
11 Actors, 11 Drastic Weight Changes for Roles: With Christian Bale, Jared Leto, Renee Zellweger
4 Good Movies with Awesome Soundtracks: Shoot ‘em up, Jerry Maguire, Reality Bites and Vanilla Sky
I always admire renee, she’s great… especially in this film, which is one of my fav.s, her joys, sadnesses, behaviours and dilemmas.. are so cute, I don’t know.. before-bridget period 🙂
Well, I love Bridget Jones movies too but I you are right. She is just gorgeous here. I love her to bits. And Chris O’ Donnell is just so cute:) Fun, romantic, escapist film with a fun script;)