Review: Marry Me

‘Art Imitating Life’ could very well describe Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson’s latest movie ‘Marry Me’.

An international pop star and social media icon, Kat Valdez, is about to marry the love of her life while integrating the whole experience into publicity and product launches — something not too far fetched from J.Lo’s own life and experiences.

The Plot – Marry Me

Legendary Popstar And Social Media Icon

Kat Valdez, played by Jennifer Lopez, remains at the top of her game after decades of hard work.  And, the global media magnate seems poised to complete her best life with the man of her dreams.

Kat plans to marry Bastian, played by Maluma, a popstar of his own acclaim; and together they plan to get married in a ceremony of social media and in concert while launching their combined single aptly titled, “Marry Me.”  The perfect example of pop culture and business synergy.

Just as Kat is about to perform the single on her way to the ceremony, however, her whole world comes crashing down in front of the whole world. Bastian cheated on her, with Kat’s own personal assistant.  Ouch.

The Everyman

Charlie Gilbert, played by Owen Wilson, leads a full life as a divorced, single Father, and a Math Teacher.  Gilbert’s daughter Lou, played by Chloe Coleman, excels at Math and splits time between her Charlie and his ex-wife.

Charlie’s busy life leaves his romantic life non-existent, especially given all the time he spends coaching his Math Students’ math team, the ‘Pi-Thons’.  His friend and fellow teacher Parker, played by Sarah Silverman, is a huge fan of Kat Valdez, and just scored three tickets to her concert.

The Wedding Seen Around The World

After Kat sees Bastian’s betrayal, a state of shock sets in, and she goes back on stage.  The crowd, including Parker, Lou, and Charlie, prepare to hear Kat sing her song.

Parker hands Charlie her sign, and he stands dutifully waiting for the song to begin.  Kat, dazed from Bastian’s betrayal, glances out at the audience. 

Before long, she spies Charlie holding Parker’s ‘Marry Me’ sign.  ‘Yes.  I’ll marry you’ pops out of her mouth as soon as she sees Charlie.  In a whirlwind, Charlie finds himself on stage standing in as groom at a wedding not intended for him.  Yet, he also says ‘Yes’…  In front of 20 MILLION people.

Marry Me Instant Movie Review – Dragon Movie Guy

The Good – Marry Me

The Supporting Cast

Any good RomCom needs an excellent supporting cast, and Marry Me is no exception.

Kat Valdez’ Manager/Agent Colin, played by John Bradley, leads an excellent supporting cast.  Not just a shoulder for her to cry on, Bradley conveys a more subtle and nuanced character than one might expect.

Not simply the cloying or cold businessman, or the ‘nice guy’ un-able to express his hidden feelings for Kat like you might expect in a Romantic Comedy; Colin genuinely cares about Kat’s career and well being, without being a snake in the grass or harboring unrequited romantic feelings.

Charlie’s friend Parker also breaks the mold for RomCom friendships.  She, also, has zero romantic feelings for Charlie, but she is quick to watch Lou when Charlie ditches her at the concert to marry Kat; and is willing to travel cross country to chaperone the Pi-Thons at a Math Competition.

Sarah Silverman also avoids many of the stereotypes we see in RomCom friend roles, while still providing a sense of emotional grounding and plot armour.

The Extended Family

Maluma and Chloe Coleman also bring the goods as the extended family members in limited screen time.

Columbian popstar Maluma brings true-to-life gravitas to Bastian, but he also brings a human side towards the middle and end of the film.  While he easily could have played into the whole two-timing man-whore, he instead brings a more dynamic take acknowledging what he had done yet still trying to move forward.

Chloe Coleman proved she could steal the show in 2020’s ‘My Spy‘, but she doesn’t try to pull the ‘cute kid’ card in Marry Me.  This time around, Coleman’s role is more subtle.

While still playing a teen struggling to fit in, she isn’t angry at the world, or a problem child to her father.  Instead, she plays Lou as rooting for her Dad to find romance and happiness in his life.  She also provides a nice bridge between Kat and Charlie, as one of Kat’s fans, yet capable of forming a friendship with her as the movie goes along.

The Good – Marry Me

The Emotional Truth

The Second and Third acts of Marry Me offer an emotional truth, an emotional grounding for this film.

While the premise of the film is a bit far-fetched, Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson sell the growing bond between Kat and Charlie as the film progresses.  Charlie isn’t overwhelmed by Kat’s beauty and fame, and begins to feel a real bond with her once she spends time with him on his turf — without the cameras.

Kat also seems impressed with Charlie’s indifference to her fame.  He’s not out for the fame, or the money, unlike so many of those around her; and is willing to play along with her social media strategy without asking for anything in return.  And, when she sees the joy he brings to his Math classes and the Pi-Thons Math team, her feelings continue to grow.

There is a genuine believability to Kat and Charlie’s bonding that would seem like a much harder sell if not for the skilled performances of J.Lo and Owen Wilson.

The Bad – Marry Me

Director Kat Coiro heads her second feature film, and first since 2013’s Justin Long/Evan Rachel Wood RomCom, ‘A Case Of You’.

While Kat Coiro has been a working Director in Hollywood for a decade, the first act of Marry Me is a giant mess.  Both the shooting and the editing are sloppy and could have easily been more smoothly executed.

Cinematography

One camera lens in particular stands out as being distractingly bad.  Coiro and Cinematographer Florian Ballhaus oddly chose a fisheye lens to shoot in Charlie’s classroom.

I understand the film was shot on location, and the real world classroom didn’t have enough room to back the camera up to get a typical wide shot of the whole classroom.  

But, the resulting fisheye lens was distractingly curved, as the lens was so widely curved to get a wide field of view into a standard frame.  The resulting finished shots looked more like security camera footage or a GoPro style camera, but without the context for those types of shots.

Editing

The Editing also suffered, particularly in the first act during the scenes depicting the wide ranging impact of social media.

Granted, it is hard to depict something as abstract as social media on camera, but other films have done a more effective and naturalistic way of showing the perception and impact of social media before. 

The particular combination of fast edits, overlapping cellphone videos, and text comments overlayed on the screen seemed more haphazard than intentionally done.  Also, the finished scenes feel like chopped down versions of what was probably much longer sequences in the Director’s cut.  Thus, the combined effect on the final film does little to show the impact of social media and just feels like the Studio wanted to get the run time under 90 minutes.

The Review – Marry Me

While the first act of Marry Me had me thinking this film was going to be distractingly bad, the acting and talented cast was able to save Marry Me in the Second and Third acts.

The excellent casting saves the film from any technical and directing deficiencies from ruining Marry Me.

J.Lo

Jennifer Lopez, 52, and Maluma, 28, are not only convincing as Popstars, but as a romantic couple, as well.  Despite Maluma being almost half JLo’s age, their natural chemistry and shared life experiences make Kat and Bastian’s relationship not only believable, but the scale of Bastian’s betrayal that much more impactful.

Similarities with Jennifer Lopez’ real life personal history also bring out a life-imitating-art element to the story.  Jennifer’s 10 year marriage to Marc Anthony and the social media frenzy that surrounded her ‘Bennifer’ relationship with Ben Affleck; combined with her ‘everyman’ style brief marriage to Cris Judd clearly are analogues for Kat’s relationships with Bastian and Charlie.

Owen Wilson

Owen Wilson’s surprisingly understated performance without a single utterance of his signature ‘WOW’ serves the story well.  Far from the fast talking pretty boy in Wedding Crashers, Wilson’s performance as Charlie is the foundation on which Marry Me is based.

Wilson finds just the right balance of ‘The Everyman’ and Owen Wilson style charm to make it believable that Kat Valdez could pick Charlie out of a crowd, and eventually fall in love with him.  Without that believability, this movie would crumble apart, especially given the technical miscues by the Director and  Cinematographer; and by Editors Michael Berenbaum and Peter Teschner. 

Not a perfect film my any means, but Marry Me is a fun RomCom at just the right time of year to celebrate Valentine’s Day, and the hope of finding love, despite the odds stacked against us all.

Worth a watch, especially if you love Romantic Comedies.

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