By: Andrew Wing
Marry Me is a 2022 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Kat Coiro (fourth feature film), with a screenplay by John Rogers (co-wrote The Core, Catwoman, and co-wrote the story for the film Transformers), Tami Sagher (was a staff writer on How I Met Your Mother), and Harper Dill. It’s based on the graphic novel of the same name by Bobby Crosby, it stars Jennifer Lopez (Selena, The Wedding Planner) as Kat Valdez, a pop star who decides to marry a stranger, Charlie Gilbert, who is played by Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, Midnight in Paris), holding a “Marry Me” sign after learning that her on-stage partner Bastian, who is played by Maluma (Columbian singer and songwriter), has been having an affair. John Bradley (Game of Thrones, Moonfall), Sarah Silverman (School of Rock, Wreck-It Ralph), and Chloe Coleman also star in supporting roles.
The film was announced in April 2019, with Lopez and Wilson set to star and Coiro joining the project as director. Universal Pictures acquired the film distribution rights in July 2019. Principal photography took place in Manhattan in October and November 2019. A soundtrack album of the same name by Lopez and Maluma was also produced. The lead single, titled “Pa’ Ti”, was released on September 24, 2020, and debuted at number nine on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs, marking Lopez’s highest chart debut in the United States since 2017.
Marry Me premiered in Los Angeles on February 9, 2022, and was released in the United States theatrically and simultaneously available on Peacock Premium on February 11. It was delayed twice from an original February 2021 release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
THE GOOD
I won’t lie, when I saw this trailer for the first time, I was shaking my head. One because of its extremely silly premise. And two, because it’s yet another romantic comedy film starring Jennifer Lopez, only this time with one of my favorite actors, Owen Wilson. Yes, he is one of my favorite actors, but I didn’t love the thought of his on-screen chemistry with Lopez. I just didn’t see it working. Add in the fact that it had a February release and that it would be premiering on Peacock the same day, I set the bar very low. Well anyways, I still ended up reviewing it, so keep reading to see if Marry Me was exactly what I thought it would be, or if it was actually something completely different!
So yeah, as I just said, the only thing that got me to press play for this was the inclusion of Owen Wilson. I have just always loved him as he is somebody I grew up watching a lot of. I remember actually watching Wedding Crashers at the young age of seven and instantly saying that it was my favorite movie ever because of how funny it was. And yes, you read that right, my parents let me watch Wedding Crashers at seven, but hey, I’d like to think I turned out okay. Nonetheless, I have continued to love Owen Wilson even more after seeing all of his roles in Wes Anderson’s films, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, and recently as of last year, his role in the Disney+ series Loki. But enough about his past roles, let’s talk about his performance in this. I thought he was really good, to be honest. He plays Charlie Gilbert, a divorced math teacher, and he is just so good at playing a normal, everyday kind of guy. I loved his casting as the math teacher too, mostly because it allowed for some hilarious math puns that made me laugh audibly. He was even solid in some of the more dramatic scenes towards the final third of the film. It was just another above-average performance under his belt and he made the movie for me.
Yes, Owen Wilson is great, but there is no denying this is J.Lo’s movie. It has been a couple of days since I watched this, and I really am having a hard time grading her performance. I think because I can’t tell if she is truly acting or just playing herself because watch the trailer and any joe schmo can tell you that her character in the film, Kat Valdez, is basically just Jennifer Lopez. Despite that, I think she was good overall, and it was definitely one of her better performances that I’ve seen. Definitely wasn’t as good as she was in Hustlers, a 2019 film that I really enjoyed, where she really put her acting skills on full display. But even if it wasn’t her best, it’s okay because J.Lo is certainly a singer first, and her singing in this was superb. For the rest of her acting career, she might as well play characters that sing because it’ll put people in the seats just because of how amazing her voice is.
The music as a whole in Marry Me was top-notch. This was the first I’ve heard of Maluma, the actor that plays Kat Valdez’s partner Bastian, and his voice is phenomenal. I’d be lying if I said his and J.Lo’s song “Marry Me” hasn’t been stuck in my head the past couple of days because of how catchy it is. A couple of other things I liked about Marry Me include pretty much all of the supporting performances, specifically John Bradley and Sarah Silverman. I loved Bradley as Samwell Tarly in Game of Thrones, and he definitely has a future in comedy films like this, and it was just a treat getting to watch him and Owen Wilson go back and forth sometimes. As for Silverman, I am a big fan of hers as she is always able to crack me up. Lastly, I got to give some love to director Kat Coiro and also the screenplay we got here. This film really could’ve been bad, but the people in charge clearly knew what they were doing and they produced one of the better romantic comedies of recent memory.
THE BAD
First things first, this film will not be winning any big awards come awards season, but that’s okay. At least for me, films like this with ridiculous premises tend to have a certain ceiling on them and I would argue they ultimately hit theirs. This film was made for a specific audience and I think most people will be pleased, but with this being “The Bad” section, I just need to highlight some flaws here.
First, I was not a fan of the editing in this. I know we are living in the social media age, but I was getting quite annoyed by every other scene having either an Instagram story or Snapchat story being on the screen so we can see it from whoever is filming’s perspective. Just got tired of it after a while and I don’t think it was necessary. And second, similar to me saying films like this have ceilings as to how good they can be, I also think they should have a limit on how long they can be. This clocks in at just under 2 hours with its 112-minute runtime and I would say it should be right around the 90-minute mark. It definitely dragged at some points and I was checking the time on my phone occasionally, but I was ultimately pleased with the ending so I guess I can’t critique how we got there.
THE VERDICT
Despite my low expectations and its silly premise, Marry Me is actually one of the better romantic comedies of recent memory. It’s such an easy and enjoyable watch as it is light and cheesy, but still harmless and sweet at the same time. Also, I was pleasantly surprised by Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson’s chemistry and charm in this as they both give good performances.
TED TAKES RATING - 7.1/10
Marry Me is now in theaters and available to watch on Peacock. Check out the latest trailer below.