The Bachelor

A lifetime bachelor cannot seem to get the proper motivation to ask his three-year girlfriend to marry him. Unfortunately for him, his grandfather’s will provides him with only 24 hours to get married in order to receive his $100 million dollars fortune. If he does not get married within that time frame, he will get nothing.

Add this film to my list of “not good enough to recommend” romantic comedies from the past year which includes YOU’VE GOT MAIL, NOTTING HILL and RUNAWAY BRIDE. Every one of these films seemed to include a tailor-made script idea which might’ve read nicely on paper, but ultimately lacked the proper “oomph”, once produced and presented onto the big screen. Big stars and a catchy concept do not a romantic comedy make. A film would require romance and humor for that designation. This film essentially suffers from a lackluster script which actually starts off on a fun note, but quickly dissolves into many unfunny scenarios featuring the “bachelor” in question chasing after his ex-girlfriends in the hopes of marriage. Very little humor shows up in any of these scenes. Isn’t it also interesting how every single one of his ex-girlfriends apparently had completely different qualities about them? Usually folks tend to go out with people with reasonably similar characteristics, but not our boy! Toss that in with a distracting 10-second cameo from singer Mariah Carey, whose part is all but shown in the commercials of this film, and Brooke Shields attempting to be funny, and you see where I’m going with this.

It’s too bad because O’Donnell is actually pretty good in this film as your standard Joe Schmoe “afraid of commitment” guy, and some funny scenes do make an appearance near the end of this film (I’m sorry but the sight of all those brides in the church was pretty funny…). But all in all, the film lacked the overall comedic elements needed for a hearty recommendation for a visit to the theatres. O’Donnell’s sidekick Lange is just as annoying in this film as he was as the sidekick in LOST & FOUND (4/10) and DIRTY WORK (5/10), and the romance element is also quite weak. This is nothing more than your typical “video movie”, the type you’d rent on a slow night, after a hard day’s work when you and your love-hubby just want to sit around, shut off your brains for an hour and a half and snicker at a couple of clever moments. It’s also the type of movie which leaves very little to discuss once done, and might actually be appreciated more by men who themselves are afraid to commit (the whole Mustang horse analogy was kinda funny). Light, safe, funny in some moments, tired and unfunny in others, recommended on video only.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian