>The Bachelor
(PG-13)
reviewed by Christopher Lyon
"The Bachelor," starring Chris O'Donnell and Renée Zellweger, started with a funny premise. Jimmy, O'Donnell's character, stands to inherit $100 million from his crazy old grandfather if-and it's a biggie-he gets married by his 30th birthday, stays married for ten years, and has kids within five years.
The only problem is that Jimmy turns 30 tomorrow and the woman he loves (Zellweger, cute as a button) has already turned down his marriage proposal because he's deathly afraid of "getting hitched." He's convinced he'll lose his freedom.
So believing Zellweger's character has left the country on a work assignment, Jimmy, his best friend, and a priest take off on a madcap hunt for former girlfriends (including Mariah Carey and Brooke Shields) willing to marry him under the conditions specified.
The movie tries to be zany and slapsticky and madcap, but it just tries too hard. Or maybe O'Donnell just isn't cut out for zany. I don't know. What I do know is that I didn't start enjoying the movie until about two-thirds of the way through.
It's at this point that the local paper gets ahold of Jimmy's story and prints it on the front page. Jimmy finds himself on the morning of his hoped-for wedding in a church with hundreds and hundreds of women in wedding gowns. What ensues is a tug-of-war over Jimmy and, eventually, thousands of brides chasing him through the streets. What great visual images!
Of course, the story wraps up nicely in a quirky and kind of romantic way. It's a shame it has to get so crude along the way. But, given the subject matter, it doesn't get overly sexual. However, what we assume Jimmy is afraid of losing is some kind of sexual freedom that he had with all the women who came before his one, true love.
What the movie does well is give us an opportunity to talk about the difference between the world's idea of love and marriage-versus the model of love and marriage in the Bible.
I'm always amazed by how many Christians buy into the Hollywood idea that love is something that happens to you. "I fell in love with her when I was 16." "I couldn't help myself; I was in love." There's nothing in the Bible to support that idea.
Yes, infatuation happens to us. Attraction happens to us. We can be overcome by strong emotion for a member of the opposite sex. But that's not love. The Bible is very clear that love is something you choose to give to another person. And when a man gets married, he's committing to love that woman for the rest of their lives-not just until some emotion wears off.
According to 1 Corinthians 13 and Ephesians 5, real love is sacrificing myself for another person. In marriage, that person is my spouse.
The bachelor who isn't ready to sacrifice his whole life (like Jesus gave away His life for all of us) should be afraid of marriage. But the bachelor who is ready to love like that has nothing to be afraid of. His marriage won't be easy-but it just might be the most rewarding part of his life on earth.
"He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord," (Prov. 18:22, NIV).