Music superstars Kat Valdez and Bastian are getting married before a global audience of fans. But when Kat learns, seconds before her vows, that Bastian has been unfaithful, she decides to marry Charlie, a stranger in the crowd, instead.
Two superstars, Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) and Bastian (Maluma) are planning their vows front and center stage for all the world to see, but before she can say, “I Do,” the entire universe has become witness to her husband-to-be’s infidelity over social media. As the musical collaboration of the two (Marry Me) blasts in the background, Kat steps onto the stage in her wedding dress and realizes that everyone is transfixed over their phone and she figures out the reason why and makes an immediate decision not to let the occasion go to waste. Not to be outdone, she turns her revenge into creativity and decides to marry the one random guy in the audience, Charlie (Owen Wilson), who is clueless as to who she is and what she ultimately stands for. Charlie just happens to be at the show because he and his daughter, Lou (Chloe Coleman) were randomly invited.
Once the vows are exchanged, Kat’s manager, Collin Calloway (John Bradley) immediately steps into crisis mode and asks Charlie to just go along with the entire thing for a few months until all the excitement wears off. While Charlie doesn’t immediately know what all he is getting into, his daughter convinces him to say yes and he spends the next few months trying to figure out everything about the woman he married while she is trying to figure out why she keeps picking the wrong type of guy. As they learn more about each other, they realize they have more in common, and as they break down barriers between their differences, they start to develop real feelings for one another, yet Kat still can’t seem to let go of her former fiancé, emotionally.
Charlie, who is a Math teacher, tries to get his new wife to understand that all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds her is something that she doesn’t have to have every day in her life and while he challenges her to be a “normal” person, she challenges him to step out of his comfort zone. In the end, they form a natural bond and she realizes that perhaps, just this one time, she has finally picked the right man and that she truly can let go of Bastian emotionally.
Kudos to director Kat Coiro, for some endearing moments in the film, but overall, it was hard to put Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson together, in my head, as a couple. While both are outstanding actors in their own right, I just couldn’t make the romantic link between the two, work for me, and while I understand the premise behind this category of film, I just can’t grasp how these “Beauty and the Beast” type situations continue to keep us at the box office wanting more. Apparently, Jennifer Lopez is a sucker for this typecasting, and yet I’m not too certain how much longer we can get away with the expectation that the Lonely Hearts club will buy into it. While “Marry Me” is long on lust, it definitely is short on sensibility, and even as a rom-com, I couldn’t find a way to let love rule.
In Theaters and streaming on Peacock Friday, February 11th
