Rated: PG
Directed by: Kat Coiro
Screenplay Written by: John Rogers & Tami Sagher, Harper Dill
Based on the Graphic Novel by: Bobby Crosby
Produced by: Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Jennifer Lopez, Benny Medina, John Rogers
Executive Produced by: Alex Brown, Willie Mercer, Pamela Thur, J. B. Roberts
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Maluma, John Bradley and Sarah Silverman.
Married three times and about to marry for the forth, super star Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) has written a song with her also-a-super-star fiancé, Bastian (Maluma): Marry Me.
They’re set to sing the song at their wedding recorded live to stream across all platforms to over 20 million people making them the two most famous people on the planet.
And in front of all those people, Kat’s world falls apart when Bastian is posted cheating with her assistant. She sees the post just before rising onto the stage of her wedding.
Enter, Charlie (Owen Wilson).
Divorced and dad of Lou (Chloe Coleman), math teacher with no criminal record and holding up a sign: Marry Me.
They lock eyes.
OK.
So they get married. But only for show. It’s a meltdown, an impulsive moment. It will pass. The media frenzy will die down. It’s just for show.
Until it’s not.
I didn’t think I’d get into this movie, the premise being more than a stretch… Well, not so much these days?!
And I guess that’s of the point of the film, questioning the idea of getting married. Falling in love with the idea of the person and not who the person really is but what you want them to be.
There’s some foundation to the idea of these superstar with Jennifer Lopez being a singer and dancer in real life (alongside Latin music star Maluma), so the characters had some cred.
I wasn’t one-hundred percent sold on the Charlie character but he had some good lines, ‘I was, I am a fun guy.’ Tongue in cheek. He is a likeable guy. It was more the lack of chemistry between the celebrity singer and normal guy Charlie.
This is a film about getting to know each other rather than a steamy romance.
He is a math teacher who goes to bed at 8pm to read a book.
So it’s more about the relationship and the magic of taking that leap of faith. A romance that has some chuckles but is more about friendship.
It’s a little like, Notting Hill (1999) with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant where the superstar actress falls for the normal guy. But stretch that to a massive audience and streamed live on social media.
The formula’s always the same: the unlikely match, to the relationship working, to an obstacle, to taking the leap and overcoming the doubt, to tear jerker moment to heart-warming ending.
I’m admit to some cynicism.
But I kinda got into it with the aging British Bulldog, Tank used well to provoke those warm and fuzzies that will encourage hand holding leading up to Valentine’s Day.
Go on, take that leap of faith. Or don’t.
Either way, I agree with the sentiment, ‘If you want something different you have to do something different.’