There's something strangely palatable about "Marry Me," a new romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson. It has the look and feel of a mid-2000s movie that would have made $200 million on Lopez's name alone. If it weren't for the plot's rampant use of social media and discussions of livestreaming, you might think this was a 20-year-old movie you stumbled upon on TBS one lazy Saturday afternoon.
Normally that sentiment would be used as a knock against the film, and it partially is, but that's where the movie's comfort lies. "Marry Me" feels like something we don't get in theaters anymore (to be fair, it will concurrently be streaming on Peacock) and there's something refreshing about that familiarity. Rom-coms used to be big releases and major box office draws, but now they're routinely popping up on Netflix - sometimes on a weekly basis - to the point where it's impossible to keep up with what even exists on that platform anymore.
The movie itself is built on a flimsy premise, and no wistful feelings about the changing film landscape can distract from that. Lopez stars as Kat, a major pop star, who is set to marry fellow musician Bastian (Maluma) at a concert in front of millions of fans as they sing a hit song they collaborated on together (the title of the song gives the movie its name). Just before going on stage for the wedding portion of the concert, Kat learns that Bastian has been cheating on her with her assistant, which causes her to interrupt the concert.
Instead of storming off stage, Kat begins having an existential meltdown in front of the audience. She knows she can't go through with marrying Bastian, despite all the eyes on her. Instead, she spots Charlie (Owen Wilson) in the crowd, who was dragged to the concert with his friend Parker (Sarah Silverman) and his daughter Lou (Chloe Coleman). Kat calls him on stage and marries him on the spot, instead of Bastian. Charlie is a math teacher who barely knows who Kat is, but he goes along with it under pressure.
"Marry Me" is a bit disorienting in its structure because all of this occurs in the first 15 minutes of the movie. The film that follows is unnecessarily long - near-two-hours - as it fumbles about in developing Kat and Charlie's publicity stunt marriage. The screenplay by Harper Dill, John Rogers and Tami Sagher, based on the graphic novel by Bobby Crosby, is loaded with big romantic gestures and plenty of "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a guy..." speeches but is widely uneven because the film is so frontloaded in its plot. Lopez and Wilson's chemistry is serviceable in guiding the material about a mismatched pair without ever elevating it beyond what's on the page.
It's weird to be living in a time where a movie like "Marry Me" doesn't warrant a recommendation but you desperately want it to succeed. But, if 2022 proves to be the recovery year for movie theaters, anything that generates interest and brings people back to the cineplex is a win.
Marry Me Movie Review By Matthew Passantino
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