Why Jennifer Lopez’s new Rom-Com Marry Me is worth the watch
The Marry Me movie featuring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson showcases a fun twist on traditional Romantic Comedy plot lines. The movie places a focus on not only comedy and love but also the celebrity obsession of social media as well as changing up the traditional gender roles of rom-com movies. Marry Me portrays Jennifer Lopez as Pop Superstar Kat Valdez, who is preparing to marry her also famous fiancé Batian (played by Maluma) at her concert in front of a huge audience. However, when Kat catches her soon-to-be fiancé cheating on her plan changes, she marries a random “fan” from the audience, high school math teacher Charlie Gilbert, who was attending the concert with his co-worker and his daughter Lou Gilbert, played by Chloe Coleman.
Although the plot is extremely unrealistic, it is a fun idea and empowering to see a rich and famous woman who eventually falls for a middle-class man. According to a Bustle Article, it features the fact that this movie is vastly different from her roles in previous rom coms, this is the first movie Jennifer Lopez has acted in which did not portray her as the love interest who is working-class. In Marry Me, Jennifer Lopez plays a role that is closely accurate to her real life, an international pop star who has had to battle through relationship drama actively made public through the use of social media.
The movie also features many scenes which appear to be filmed on phones and live-streamed on social media apps such as Tik Tok, Facebook, and Instagram. This only further embodies the idea that the movie focuses on how social media, although beneficial, can also be run by celebrity obsession tearing apart relationships and people’s lives. All too often people forget that through the lens of social media, people get hurt and real lives are affected. This is representative of Jennifer Lopez’s real life, and how her past relationship issues have been emphasized through the lenses of social media.
Although the movie features themes such as gender roles in romantic comedies, and the obsession with social media but also the idea of persistence and traditional marriage concepts. This is shown through Kat Valdez’s past marriages, in which she had already been married three times before she married Charlie. This concept is used against her to create a negative image. This idea is realistic as Jennifer Lopez has been married three times, as well as the fact that in 2003 she called off her marriage to Ben Affleck only a few days before the wedding before they split soon after. Kat Valdez explains her past marriage to Charlie as her search for love and taking a chance on fate. In her real life, Jennifer Lopez comments on her failed marriages in a quote to Page Six stating, “It’s very lonely, And so you always want somebody with you. And so I felt like if I got married, I felt like I would always have somebody. But that’s not how life works. That’s not how it goes. It’s a bad reason to get married! Not the right one. The wrong one! The right one is when you find somebody who really makes you better.” Although this is a quote from Jennifer Lopez, Kat Valdez actively portrays the concept of finding someone who makes you better, and not giving up. This is contrasting to Owen Wilson’s character, Charlie, who is portrayed as a pessimist who gave up after his past failed marriages. The movie focuses on the idea of continuing the search for love and leaving the comfort zone, as well as how necessary it is to change your routine, although realistically, not marry a random guy you just met.
Overall, I would highly recommend Marry Me. It is a refreshing change of the traditional Romantic Comedy trope and provides highlights of realistic and necessary themes in a self-aware way. Not only did I enjoy watching Jennifer Lopez play a strong, confident female role but I also enjoyed the soundtrack for the film, which was sung by Jennifer Lopez and Maluma. If you don’t trust my opinion, trust the fans mentioned in this Buzzfeed article which features “19 Fan Reactions That Prove “Marry Me” is the Rom-Com We Need Right Now”.