# Bachelor, The (1999)

### reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten

    THE BACHELOR

     Reviewed by Harvey Karten
     New Line Cinema
     Director: Gary Sinyor
     Writer: Steve Cohen
     Cast: Chris O'Donnell, Artie Lange, Renee Zellweger, James
    Cromwell, Brooke Shields, Marley Shelton, Hal Holbrook, Ed
    Asner

Can't you just see it now... a reprise of the old joke about the Robert Redford appearance in "Indecent Proposal"? As the predominantly female audience stream out of a screening of "The Bachelor," one sweet one thing turns to her friend and wonders, "Would you marry Chris O'Donnell for one hundred million dollars?" "Sure," her friend replies quickly, "But you'll have to give me a few weeks to raise the money."

Obviously, as with "Indecent Proposal," the situation is reversed. The O'Donnell character must find a woman to marry him in less than 24 hours. Whoever accepts the proposal and says "I do" within that time gets to share an estate worth a hundred mil. Would one of the handsomest young men in Hollywood, attached to such a fortune as well, have the slightest problem getting the job done? You wouldn't think so, and indeed, hundreds upon hundreds of eligible females turn up within minutes of hearing of the offer, competing vigorously for his hand in marriage. Oddly enough, though, the handful of people he could live with reject both him and his lucrative offer.

If you think this sounds like the basis for a rollicking comedy, you'd be on the money. In fact, the thought is hardly original. One guy had a ball with the theme in a movie he directed and starred in about a man who must be married by 7:00 the very evening if he is to inherit a fortune, but a miscommunication with his girlfriend leads to his pursuit by thousands of would-be brides. If you remember seeing this film when it first came out, well dearie, as the Ethel Merman song goes, you're much older than I. We're talking Buster Keaton in "Seven Chances" (1925), which had a great role for young Jean Arthur, the girl of his dreams who turns him down.

Now, however, in blazing color with a hefty budget of perhaps a third of that whole estate, New Line Cinema has come out with an old-fashioned comedy that shouldn't work but does, thanks to adorable performances by Chris O'Donnell as swinging bachelor Jimmie Shannon and Renee Zellweger as his dreamgirl, Anne. When Jimmie's eccentric grandfather (Peter Ustinov) dies and leaves his entire estate to Jimmie--provided that Jimmy marry no later than 6:05 p.m. on his thirtieth birthday (which occurs in 24 hours)--you'd think that the two lovebirds could quickly and happily tie the knot. But Jimmie, a freedom-loving guy in no hurry to be tied down, had previously messed up. When he had first proposed to Anne, he made clear by his body language and unromantic vernacular as well that he was not really ready for the big step. Since "The Bachelor" is a romantic comedy, Anne turns him down, leaving Jimmie to spend the rest of the story hoping to get together again--which is what people in romantic comedies try to do.

The plot is contrived as all get-out and the story is as old- fashioned as anything that Capra has ever done, but if you suspend disbelief--as all veteran moviegoers can do without being asked--you're in for a fun time in San Francisco. You'll watch as Jimmie's best friend Marco (Artie Lange) plays Cyrano, doing what he can to round up the right person for Jimmie to marry. Director Gary Sinyor, working with a lighter- than-air script from Steve Cohen, makes clear to us that Jimmie may be stubbornly independent but he's not selfish. If he does not get his hands on the dough, the plant he had inherited would be sold out from under him leaving a couple of hundred workers out of jobs, including Marco.

Aside from the penultimate scene featuring a chase up and down the San Francisco hills that resembles a rough July day in Pamplona, the most fun comes from the proposals that Jimmie makes to a few individuals he had dated in the past, each wholly different in temperament from the others. Foremost of these is a bid for the hand of Buckley, played by an unrecognizable Brooke Shields. Buckley, as opportunistic as they come, is a poised debutante perfectly willing to marry in an instant--until she discovers that she will have to live under the same roof as her husband for ten years and have at least one kid with him. A clever parody of radical feminism issues from a skit with perpetual student Carolyn (Sarah Silverman), who tosses out the usual cliches against marriage (a property transfer from father to husband; roses are a metaphoric sexual organ designed to seduce), prompting the frustrated Jimmie to cry out "I'm not interested in your vagina...I just want you to marry me!"

Renee Zellweger plays the usual ditzy self that has been her hallmark since her great success in "Jerry Maguire" (though her best role was as a Hasidic woman in "A Price Above Rubies") and Chris O'Donnell will draw in the women for this delightful bit of fluff. A visual metaphor that seems heavy-handed but is at least original involves a frequent cut to a racing band of wild stallions, representing the allegedly joyous freedom of bachelorhood.

    Rated PG-13.  Running Time: 97 minutes.  (C) 1999
    Harvey Karten

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