Movie Review: Jennifer Lopez Is My Rom-Com Queen
J.LO, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, and even Reese Witherspoon, for awhile, were the queens of romantic comedies that made us, genuinely, believe that were the Drakes of film: always singing to love but never finding the right one. There was something so strangely dreamy and fun in watching one actress perennially look for “the one” amongst many male leads/ suitors, but, nowadays, you do not see that, and witnessing J.LO revive that sentiment with Marry Me was so heartwarming. Particularly, because you cannot help but see her own journey in love via Kat.
By the time we meet Kat, she is getting ready to marry for the fourth time, another megastar (Maluma scene stealing as Sebastian), and truly feels that of all the men that used her for her beauty and power, his kinds words, are genuine. Cut to him cheating and her having a breakdown, as seen in the trailer, and now she’s randomly married to a math teacher (Owen Wilson as Charlie). Though it may seem surreal, there is a grounded tenderness to both actors that makes you feel like “Sure, I can go to a Harry Styles concert, and this could happen to me.” Their ability to emanate a certain realness to this fantastical, love story comes from the plot’s core theme: do you give up on getting the right one when you always landed with the wrong ones?
As a serial dater, myself, I ask myself this question all the time. Is love some type of manifestation ritual where I simply write in my journal that Bad Bunny loves me and he ends up doing so or is it an odd game of acting like you do not want it so that it can just appear? For people, that have fallen hard for someone that, eventually, left them harshly, these questions feel rougher, and Kat and Charlie have opposing answers. For Charlie, love was a one-shot deal that left him with a great daughter and sadness at witnessing the person you called wife can really move on and happily call someone else “husband.” Meanwhile, Kat’s public shaming after every break-up and being known as a singer to love that just cannot find its proper tune feels 100% Jennifer Lopez’s story. This woman’s love life has been so bullied, it is a miracle she still has a heart. The same can be said for Kat.
Watching Marry Me, I was so giddy on love I joined a dating app. This movie is ROMANCE to the max, and feels like a “homecoming” for J.Lo who was DEFINITELY a ROM-COM queen between the 90s-00s. Watching her as Kat fall in love for the very sweet, but very nerdy Charlie (Owen Wilson). Seeing them embody the maturity for love that is born from heartbreak, oddly, reminded me that we do not have rom-com queens anymore. Yet, if Jennifer proves anything in this film, is that we need them. They make us feel hopeful that, somewhere, is someone ready to love us right. Marry Me Is Out in Theaters and Peacock on February 11.
