Feb 23, 2022
Romantic Comedies are almost exclusively streaming these days. Whether it's a television series or a film, they're almost always dropped on services like Netflix or Prime Video. When I heard Jennifer Lopez would be headlining yet another one and that it would be coming to theatres, I questioned (unfairly) the fact that fantastic ones end up being unseen or forgotten in streaming. Well, I was very wrong in assuming it was just another throwaway Romantic Comedy because Marry Me was a pleasant surprise. Yes, the story plays out exactly how you think it will, but it's the fact that it feels like it has the harmless charm of a movie that was made 20 years ago that sold me.
Kat (Jennifer Lopez) and Bastian (Maluma) are both pop stars and are about to get married. During one of Kat's shows, their plan was to exchange vows. Finding out that he has recently cheated on her, she decides to make a crazy decision. She points to a man in the crowd who's holding a sign that says "Marry Me" and she responds by saying, "Why Not?". This man, Charlie (Owen Wilson) a recently single father who is trying to add some fun to his daughter's life, goes along with it. These two lead very different lives, but it may just end up being what both of them needed.
I'll start by saying that I never thought I'd see a romantic bond between Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson on-screen in my lifetime, but it really worked. This film has all the cheese and silly one-liners that you'd expect from a movie in the early-2000s and that's why I enjoyed it. Not only does it feel like it's from a different time, but the third act also flips the classic cliches on their head and I thought it was a nice change of pace. There are story choices that are predictable from the moment the movie starts, but at this point, every romantic comedy is predictable. This film embraces all of these elements and elevates them.
Jennifer Lopez was enjoyable in this but I really latched onto Owen Wilson's performance here. I thought the way he played being a nobody who became a somebody overnight was very well-acted. Is this film going to win any awards? Absolutely not, but it's still an enjoyable romance story that we don't get enough of these days. I can't see many people ripping this one apart. It knew what it wanted to be and it delivered just that. This is the first mainstream romantic comedy in a long time that I'd gladly watch again on a rainy day. Even though it's something you've seen a thousand times, Marry Me surprised me, to be honest, and I'd recommend it.
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