© 2022 Universal Pictures.What is love in today’s world? A world filled with social media, where every moment is captured and shared the very instant it takes place. Image is king, and if you are not showcasing your best self, you must not be a success. Can life and love exist outside of a bubble? In the new film Marry Me, now in theaters and streaming on Peacock, we get a glimpse of a woman’s bubble and if it has room for anyone else.
Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) is on top of the world. She is a major singing sensation with millions of social media followers and an extremely successful career. She’s about to take the biggest step of her life by marrying the man on the other side of her duet, Bastian (Maluma). They’ll perform the song “Marry Me” in front of a live audience that includes over 20 million viewers when you add all her social channels and proceed to exchange their actual vows, but trouble is brewing.
Bastian was caught in a compromising position with none other than Kat’s assistant. That knowledge, of course, greets Kat as she is about to take the stage for the memorable moment. In an instant the magical wedding leaves her feeling a bit ill, but instead of crumbling, she decides to take hold of the situation. A quick look into the crowd finds Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson) holding a sign with the words “Marry Me,” and she decides to take the wild step of saying yes to Charlie, even though she has never met him. Before you know it, Charlie, a single dad and math teacher, joins Kat onstage and the two get married. Impulsive, yes, but the singer decides it is time to break the mold.
Now it is damage control time for her manager Collin (John Bradley), as how do you manage a situation when a celebrity very publicly charts a course that is significantly different from what is expected? Is this real, or is the “marriage” between a math teacher and a pop star just another show for the camera? And that is when the fun begins.
Marry Me director Kat Coiro knows what the audience wants. Lopez, Lopez and more Lopez. The star sings and dances, virtually ensuring the title track gets added to our playlists, all while devouring the screen in a plethora of costumes that turn the heads of everyone around her. There is no doubt Lopez knows her way around the environment that Kat is put into, which is both great for her performance, but sad in documenting the microscope that is placed on celebrity.
With Wilson as the other side of the romantic pair, we get an immensely dependable actor whose comedic timing is always spot-on. Whether in a good or a bad film we know he will put forth his best effort to pull a gag.
We don’t know much about each other, be it the good or the bad that orbits our own universes. Whether it is the Pythagorean theorem or the newest social media platform, we all have issues, but it’s good to believe that maybe, just maybe, two worlds can become one instead of remaining a fairy tale.
Romantic comedies are a hit-or-miss proposition. They don’t have to all be home runs to be successful; sometimes we just want to feel good. Unlike Lopez’s last offering in Hustlers, this film is not on a trajectory for awards. But Marry Me is a film that elicits laughter, big smiles, lots of warm fuzzies and left me feeling good when the end credits rolled. Is there anything wrong with that?
Marry Me is now streaming on Peacock.
