I Want to Marry Ryan Banks (2004) (TV)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Sheldon Larry

Writer (WGA):

Chad Hodge (written by)

Release Date:

18 January 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Ryan Banks's manager and old friend, Todd, comes up with the idea to have Ryan be the bachelor on a reality dating show in order to clean up his image. The only problem is, Todd falls in love with Charlie, the girl Ryan has chosen to propose to.

Plot Keywords:

Fictional Reality Show | Character Name In Title

Cast

Jason Priestley	...	Ryan Banks
Bradley Cooper	...	Todd Doherty
Emma Caulfield	...	Charlie Norton
Mark L. Walberg	...	Stan
Paige Jones	...	Jessica
Nicole Oliver	...	Trish
Lauren Lee Smith	...	Lauren
Leah Cairns	...	Mindy
Allison Warnyca	...	Dana
David Parker	...	Patrick
Jennifer Kitchen	...	Leslie Lyon
Erin Karpluk	...	Nikki
Cameron Bancroft	...	Larry
Garwin Sanford	...	Ed Miller
Melissa Barker Sauer	...	Tristin (as Melissa Barker-Sauer)

Also Known As:

The Reality of Love (Philippines: English title) (cable TV title) (UK)

Runtime:

USA:120 min (including commercials) | Brazil:95 min | Argentina:95 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Greece:K | USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

Goofs:

Continuity: During Ryan's date with the first of the four finalists, the waiter pours Ryan a glass of champagne. In between shots, the level of champagne changes while it is poured.

Quotes:

Ryan Banks: [to Japanese waitress] A couple of dragon rolls, definately. Thanks.
Charlie Norton: [to waitress] You know, I would like a Chinese chicken salad.
Ryan Banks: Charlie, this is a Japanese restaurant.
Charlie Norton: Uh, yeah.
[to waitress]
Charlie Norton: Could you make sure the chicken isn't cooked in oil, the lettuce is triple washed and the dressing is egg free?

Movie Connections:

References "The Bachelor" (2002)

Soundtrack:

Le Cafe

Sweet, romantic story

I became a huge fan of Emma Caulfield during her all-too-brief stint on "Beverly Hills 90210." She played Jason Priestley's girlfriend during the mid-1990s, before 90210 went into terminal decline. When she disappeared from the show without a lot of explanation, I was sad, and basically stopped watching. She had a bright, vibrant energy in the role that was memorable. Emma went on to join "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" but has not done much else, and I catch her appearances when I can.

So, when I saw this re-pairing of Emma and Priestley in a romantic cable TV movie, I decided to give it a shot. It did not disappoint me. While it is the usual TV movie fluff, "Banks" has likable stars and an inoffensive plot. It pretends to show actual "real life" romantic complications behind the scenes of a reality show like "The Bachelor." Priestley stars as a young Hollywood star whose career is in trouble and must star in such a show in order to rejuvenate his career. Caulfield is one of his choices and an obvious top candidate from the moment of her introduction.

The way the Caulfield character is portrayed is a little too good to be true (she is entered for the show by someone else because she is too good to ever do it herself, etc.). Echoing her "integrity" thing from 90210, she is very much the "good girl" here, perhaps a little too good to be believable. Priestley's character, on the other hand, is made a little too dim to be believable in order to make the underlying conflict a little more blunt. Note, though, that the Priestley character is dim only around the Caulfield character at times, but pretty clever otherwise, and it is he who engineers the perfect ending.

No reason to give too many details away, suffice to say that Priestley's best friend/manager, played by Bradley Cooper, is the real lady's man of the two and the brains behind the whole operation. You can figure out the entire plot from those few details without straining too hard. The plot actually borrows a bit from an event that actually happened on the MTV "Real World" reality show, when a producer reportedly got involved with a participant, though that unintentional "real life" situation did not have anything like the happy ending shown here. The ending here, in fact, is a bit of a cop-out in my opinion, but shows the only possible outcome where nobody could get hurt or terribly embarrassed.

I'd like to think that Priestley remembered the same chemistry with Emma that I did when putting this film together, but then, she has great chemistry with everybody. While Jason is not at the top of his game here, it still is good to see him back at work after his tribulations of recent years. Cameron Bancroft also is around as part of the "90210" reunion.

Sweet, likable fluff, recommended for hopeless romantics and fans of the stars.