The Bachelor
USA 1999
Reviewed by Danny Leigh
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
San Francisco, the present. Bachelor Jimmy Shannon cherishes his girlfriend Anne, but remains terrified of marriage. Visiting his grandfather whose business he runs, Jimmy is instructed to wed as a matter of urgency. Reluctantly, he proposes to Anne. However, his wording is so inept she dumps him. Jimmy's grandfather dies: the will bequeaths $100 million and control of the company to Jimmy on condition he marries before his thirtieth birthday - which will be 6:05pm the following day. With a priest in tow, Jimmy again proposes to Anne. Unaware of his grandfather's will, she refuses and leaves town. Jimmy embarks on a manic nocturnal mission to find a bride, approaching all his ex-girlfriends. By morning, each has rejected him.
Jimmy's friend Marco guarantees him a wife, and disappears. In the meantime, the priest convinces Jimmy to wed Anne. Jimmy enters the church, where he is besieged by the city's single women; Marco got the story of Jimmy's inheritance on to the front page of the local newspaper. Jimmy learns Anne is back in town. Fleeing the church, he tells her about the will and convinces her he is ready to commit. The pair are separated as Jimmy is pursued through the city by a mob of women, but in the nick of time Jimmy and Anne wed at exactly 6:05pm.
Review
Besides its appeal (or otherwise) as a generic romantic comedy, The Bachelor holds a particular interest for those who cherish Buster Keaton since it is (at least ostensibly) a remake of the great man's Seven Chances (1925). It may be worth noting, however, that the resemblance is entirely fleeting. Once the premise of a confirmed singleton needing to marry fast to inherit millions has been appropriated, The Bachelor only invokes the spirit of its source material for its climactic chase sequence.
Needless to say, this is the best moment The Bachelor has to offer. Seven Chances is, after all, a masterclass in the on-screen hunt (with almost half its running time devoted to Keaton's blank-faced flight), and - even stripped of Keaton's cascading boulders - the spectacle of a thousand angry brides in vexed pursuit of their prey, wedding dresses careening in the wind, remains astoundingly funny. In the workmanlike context of its surroundings here, the effect is rather like seeing a band struggle through a set of lacklustre originals, only to raise the roof with a timeless cover as their closing number.
Equally, you can't help feeling the chase is something of a high point for director Gary Sinyor himself, whose inspired debut Leon the Pig Farmer (and subsequent hit-and-miss CV) demonstrated his strengths lie firmly in the deadpan. Time and again, Sinyor seems happiest when dabbling in impassive, Keatonesque absurdity. There's a similar glee in Jimmy's first proposal to his girlfriend Anne at San Francisco's famously romantic Starlight Rooms, accompanied by countless identical males going through exactly the same ritual at exactly the same time, right down to the synchronous popping of questions and champagne corks at every table.
It's only when he has to deal with the formulaic stodge between the set-pieces that Sinyor and The Bachelor come unstuck. For a start, the film never reveals exactly what it is Jimmy and Anne see in one another. She begins proceedings as an independent-minded match for her capricious beau, only to dissolve into the kind of woman who literally sits by the phone waiting for him to call. Jimmy, meanwhile, veers between egotistical corporate goon and selfless philanthropist with disconcerting regularity.
That said, the situation isn't helped by the leads' performances. Renée Zellweger (Anne) appears to be acting from the nose, wrinkling it one way to denote pleasure, another to indicate melancholy; Chris O'Donnell (Jimmy) finds himself in the unenviable position of inviting comparison with his predecessor and, whatever else he may be, he's no Buster Keaton. The result, intermittently cute though it may be, ultimately fails to rise above the level of innocuous fodder (albeit with an exceptional pedigree).
Credits
- Director
- Gary Sinyor
- Producers
- Lloyd Segan
- Bing Howenstein
- Screenplay
- Steve Cohen
- Based on the play 'Seven Chances' by Roi Cooper Megrue and the screenplay by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez and Joseph Mitchell for the film
- starring and directed by Buster Keaton
- Director of Photography
- Simon Archer
- Editor
- Robert Reitano
- Production Designer
- Craig Stearns
- Music
- David A. Hughes
- John Murphy
- ©New Line Productions, Inc.
- Production Companies
- New Line Cinema presents a Lloyd Segan Company production in association with
- George Street Pictures
- Executive Producers
- Michael De Luca
- Chris O'Donnell
- Donna Langley
- Co-producers
- Leon Dudevoir
- Stephen Hollocker
- Line Producer
- Gene Levy
- Executive in Charge of Production
- Carla Fry
- Production Supervisor
- Nancy J. King
- Production Controller
- Paul Prokop
- Production Co-ordinators
- Nelson Tuon
- In-house:
- Emily Glatter
- Unit Production Manager
- Gene Levy
- Location Managers
- Ned Shapiro
- San Francisco:
- Stefanie Lee Pleet
- Post-production
- Executive in Charge of:
- Jody Levin
- Supervisor:
- Rick Reynolds
- Assistant Directors
- Richard Graves
- William M. Connor
- David Hyman
- Rusty Mahmood
- San Francisco:
- Joseph Aspromonti
- Script Supervisor
- P.R. Tooke
- Casting
- Valerie McCaffrey
- Associates:
- Joe Adams
- Ayo Davis
- Director of Aerial Photography
- David B. Nowell
- Camera Operators
- Phil Carr-Forster
- Dick Montagne
- Steadicam Operator
- Mark O'Kane
- Visual Effects
- Perpetual Motion Picture Company
- Richard Malzahn
- René Clark
- Visual Effects
- CFC/MVFX Los Angeles
- Digital Supervisor:
- Rob Hodgson
- Plate Supervisor:
- David Goldberg
- Producer:
- Jonathan F. Styrlund
- Compositors:
- Travis Baumann
- Matt Dessero
- Editor:
- Matt '45' Magnolia
- Executive Producer:
- Daniel J. Lombardo
- Digital Bouquet Sequences Designed by
- Nina Saxon/New Wave Entertainment
- Special Effects Co-ordinator
- San Francisco:
- David Kelsey
- Associate Editors
- Lynel Moore Cioffi
- AVID:
- Roger Cooper
- Art Director
- Randy Moore
- Set Designers
- Eric P. Sundahl
- Barbara Mesney
- Set Decorator
- Ellen Totleben
- Scenic Artist
- Lorena Diane Fortier
- Storyboard Artist
- Dan Caplan
- Costume Designer
- Terry Dresbach
- Costume Supervisor
- Eric H. Sandberg
- Make-up
- Key Artist:
- Gary Liddiard
- Artists:
- Kimberly Felix-Burke
- Gary 'Dennis' Liddiard Jr
- Key Hairstylist
- Joy Zapata
- Hairstylist
- Geordie Sheffer
- Main/End Titles
- Nina Saxon/New Wave Entertainment
- Titles/Opticals
- Pacific Title
- Featured Vocalists
- Jane L. Powell
- Thomas Lang
- Solo Soprano:
- Janet Mooney
- Featured Players
- Piano:
- Jason Ashcroft
- Upright Bass:
- Pete Wilmot
- Drums:
- Ged Ryan
- Percussion:
- Ged Lynch
- Piano:
- Dave Hartley
- Orchestral Leader
- Gavyn Wright
- Music Conductor/
Orchestrations - David Arch
- Music Co-arranger
- Greg Francis
- Music Executives
- Paul Broucek
- Dana Sano
- Music Co-ordinator
- Bob Bowen
- Music Editor
- J.J. George
- Engineer
- Richard Scott
- Orchestral Engineer
- Mike Ross-Trevor
- Music Mixer
- Rick Riccio
- Music Consultant
- John Houlihan
- Soundtrack
- "Don't Fence Me In" by Cole Porter, performed by David Byrne; "Hernando's Hideaway" by Jerry Ross, Richard Adler, performed by Billy May and his Orchestra; "Little Arrows" by Albert Hammond, Mike Hazlewood, performed by Leapy Lee; "O'Fortuna" from "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff, performed by
- CSR Symphony Orchestra and Slovak Philharmonic Chorus; "Papa Chew Do the Boo-ga-loo" (Part 1)" by Jerry Murray, Samuel Kaplan, performed by Tom and Jerryo; "So Long!" by John C. Boydston, Barry Shulman, William Beatty, performed by Indigo Swing; "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Ewan MacColl; "Lie Low" by Matt Bronleewe, Steffany Vandeveer, Tiffany Arbuckle, performed by Plumb; "Hot Salsa", "French Kiss", "Fugee Fugue", "Bontempi" by/performed by Hughes & Murphy; "Barbara Allen" performed by Dave Lymm; "You're the First the Last My Everything" by P. Sterling Radcliffe, Tony Sepe, Barry White, performed by Barry White; "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody (medley)" by Leonello Casucci, Irving Caesar, Julius Brammer, Roger Graham, Spencer Williams, performed by Louis Prima; "It Must Be Love" by Labi Siffre, performed by Madness; "Hit the Road Jack" by Percy Mayfield, performed by Buster Poindexter; "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin; "Acerina" by Carlos Cuevas, performed by Los De Abajo; "Pao de Acucar" by Daniel Indart, performed by Daniel Indart Quartet, Tracey Carmen; "Cha Cha on the Moon" by Ronnie Bridges, Charles Rose, performed by Pat Reader; "Could You Be Loved" by/performed by Bob Marley; "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me (Higher and Higher)" by Raynard Miner, Carl Smith, Gary Jackson, performed by Jackie Wilson
- Sound Mixer
- Richard Bryce Goodman
- Re-recording Mixers
- Andy D'Addario
- Tim Chau
- Recordists
- Neal Porter
- Chris Sparkes
- Sound Editors
- Nils Jensen
- Douglas Jackson
- David Kern
- Dialogue Editor
- Jim Brookshire
- Supervising Sound Effects Editor
- Donald J. Malouf
- ADR
- Supervisor:
- Thomas Whiting
- Recordist:
- Jeannette Browning
- Mixer:
- Doc Kane
- Foley
- Co-ordinator:
- Rich Green
- Artists:
- Gregg Barbanell
- Laura Macias
- Mixer:
- Scott Weber
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Rocky Capella
- Wrangler
- Rudy Ugland
- Helicopter Pilot
- Robert 'Bobby Z.' Zajonc
- Cast
- Chris O'Donnell
- Jimmy Shannon
- Renée Zellweger
- Anne
- Hal Holbrook
- O'Dell
- James Cromwell
- priest
- Artie Lange
- Marco
- Edward Asner
- Gluckman
- Marley Shelton
- Natalie
- Sarah Silverman
- Carolyn
- Stacy Edwards
- Zoe
- Rebecca Cross
- Stacey
- Jennifer Esposito
- Daphne
- Katharine Towne
- Monique
- Peter Ustinov
- grandad
- Mariah Carey
- Ilana
- Brooke Shields
- Buckley
- Lydell M. Cheshier
- Sanzel
- Robert Kotecki
- Hodgman
- Pat Finn
- Bolt
- Timothy Paul Perez
- Stone
- Romy Rosemont
- Rita
- Kelly Jean Peters
- waitress
- Jane L. Powell
- Starlight Room singer
- Jim Jackman
- nervous guy
- Christopher Carroll
- maître d'
- Kevin Jones
- florist
- Michael Deeg
- Erik Kever Ryle
- Brian Leonard
- customers
- Mary J. White
- florist assistant
- Edith Fields
- Edith
- Joe Meek
- Michael Lee Merrins
- traders
- Lisa Nalen
- 'Anne' on the street
- Brantley Bush
- stagehand
- Nicholas Pryor
- Dale
- Maree Cheatham
- Mona
- Mark Norby
- suspect
- Ken Baldwin
- Gustavo Vargas
- Salsa dancers
- Natalie Bartlett
- O'Dell's daughter
- Cheri Rae Russell
- biker bride
- Jodi Taylor
- older bride
- Jenni Pulos
- big hair bride
- Rebecca Gray
- Kiva Dawson
- punk brides
- Anastasia Horne
- preppy bride
- Niecy Nash
- African-American bride
- T.L. Brooke
- big bride
- Marnie Alexenberg
- brunette bride
- Lea Moon Llovio
- Latina bride
- Robin Lyon
- Elizabeth Guber
- Nancy O'Dell
- questioning brides
- Marnie Schneider
- Muslim bride
- Louis Ganapoler
- baker
- Certificate
- 12
- Distributor
- Entertainment Film Distributors Ltd
- 9,182 feet
- 102 minutes 1 second
- SDDS/Dolby digital/DTS stereo
- Colour by
- FotoKem
- Prints by
- DeLuxe
- Anamorphic [Panavision]