Marry_Me

Marry_Me

There are some things you can always count on at this time of the year, flowers, candy and a new romantic comedy playing in theaters. This year’s offering is “Marry Me” starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson.

This script takes one of those “What if…” ideas to see how it would play out. At any superstar’s concert there is usually a number of posters a fan holds up that simply says, “Marry Me”. In this story we find out what would happen if said singer actually said, “yeah, okay.” Kat Valdez (Lopez) is getting ready to marry fellow musician Bastian (Maluma) during a live broadcast concert in New York City. However, moments before the vows are to be exchanged, she learns he cheated on her. Hurt, she spots math teacher Charlie Gilbert (Owens) in the crowd and brings him up on stage and they marry.

You can imagine everything that follows. Charlie’s life gets turned upside down and the Internet thinks Valdez has lost her mind, but can these two actually make it work out? Romantic comedies follow a certain formula and the reason why Hollywood keeps churning them out is because the formula works. “Marry Me” certainly follows that path, but it does miss certain beats during the film. The end of Act II takes way to long to arrive. Ten to fifteen minutes could have been cut to move things along for a tighter product.

Three screenwriters are credited here and you can’t help to think that certain ideas were introduced, but either abandoned in later drafts or were filmed and just wound up on the cutting room floor. Charlie is a divorced father and the relationship with his daughter (Chloe Coleman) is a subplot. The ex-wife is mentioned, but only has a few seconds of screen time. It feels she had a bigger role at one point in the story. Sarah Silverman also has a co-starring role as a friend and co-worker at the school, but she is not as utilized as you would want for an actress of her caliber.

Both Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson perform well in this piece. At the concert there are close-ups of their faces and the expressions in both their eyes says a ton of dialogue without any words being exchanged. That is not always easy for talent to do, but they convey it well. Most important, they have great chemistry together. You don’t have that then you have a real turkey on your hands.

If you have a romantic dinner planned this weekend followed by going to the movies “Marry Me” will serve its purpose. It won’t be the best one you’ve ever seen, but far from the worst. It also features some original music that is quite crowd pleasing.

2.5 Swords.