When news columnist and known female-basher Ike Graham (Richard Gere) gets hold of the story, there's no stopping him. Ike writes up a whopper of a raving review on Maggie that finds its way to her kitchen counter. And when she finds out from her best friend that this is no batchlorette joke, Maggie's out for blood. To save her dignity and teach Ike a lesson, she writes a long letter to the newspaper and manages to get him fired... by his own ex-wife, none the less! Ike sets out for revenge... or rather, proof that his story about the famed runaway is truth... that Maggie is going to leave poor Bob standing at the alter while she makes a mad dash for the door. She doesn't appreciate his arrival in Hale and tries to make it as difficult for him as possible; unfortunately, everyone seems to like Ike -- even her fiancé -- and he turns up in often the most unexpected and undesirable places with the determination to make her life miserable.

All of Ike's digging brings up some resentment, and by some strange twist of events, Maggie and Ike become almost compatible, which leads to a hilarious church rehearsal of her wedding. But this is merely the tip of a very large iceberg. There's no doubt about it -- Runaway Bride's the cutest comedy since Emma. Richard Gere and Julia Roberts work magic together. Maggie's innocent and yet wicked character is touching and you grow to like Ike despite his nasty comments about the opposite sex through his column. (I guess it's sort of a trade off from the snide remarks made about men in An Ideal Husband.) As usual, the director and writers felt to need to reach a PG rating and threw in some spicy dialogue to rival While You Were Sleeping or You've Got Mail, but the film is not only fun but clean in a general sense.

There's not a lot of bad language, which is a plus, but a few profanities do pop in now and again. Maggie is afraid of commitment because, in her words, "I'm walking down the isle to someone who doesn't really know me!" In a way, this is almost commendable -- at least she wasn't married and divorced three times. She's concerned about the way people see her and tries to change for the better throughout the film. Ike, in turn, learns that you can't treat people as if they were just a story, and even sticks up for her when things get tough. There are a few things to make parents cringe, however, while nothing is shown, we learn that Ike's come into possession of Maggie topless at a concert in the seventies. "Grandmother" makes some rather risqué comments about her wedding night. These two brief and crude scenes overshadow an otherwise entertaining and even touching romance that'll have you laughing the night away. All in all, a thumb's up. Just have the Mute button ready when "Grandma" asks her visitor to cover her ears.