Runaway Bride is a 1999 American screwball romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall, and starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

The screenplay, written by Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon, is about a reporter (Gere) who undertakes to write a story about a woman (Roberts) who has left a string of fiancés at the altar.

Later, his boss offers him a chance to restore his reputation by writing an in-depth, truthful article about Maggie, if only to prove that she is indeed the heartless "man-eater" he claimed her to be.

Ike travels to Hale, Maryland, where Maggie works at her family's hardware store and makes designer lamps out of spare industrial parts.

She is now on her fourth attempt to be married; the groom-to-be, Bob Kelly, is a high school football coach who constantly speaks in sports analogies and has been working with Maggie to help her “visualize” the wedding.

At a pre-wedding luau celebration, he defends Maggie from the public mockery she receives at a roast from her family and guests, causing her to leave the room in embarrassment.

Ike confronts Maggie outside and accuses her of not truly knowing herself; she in turn calls him out for his cynicism, suggesting he uses his column to mock the lives of others because he is too afraid to pursue a meaningful life for himself.

In the following weeks, Maggie works to discover herself, sampling different egg dishes to determine her true favorite and putting her lamps up for sale in New York City shops.

[8] The Los Angeles Times wrote: "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.

"[9] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2/4 stars, saying: "After seeing Gere and Roberts play much smarter people (even in romantic comedies), it is painful to see them dumbed down here.

"[10] The New York Times said: "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.