Of modern film comedies about weddings – “Bridesmaids,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Father of the Bride,” “Wedding Crashers,” “The Proposal” – “Shotgun Wedding” is the first to feature Balinese pirates trying to hold a wedding party hostage and shaking down the father of the bride for $45 million in exchange for the life of his daughter.
Written by Mark Hammer (“Two Night Stand”) and directed by Jason Moore (“Pitch Perfect 2”), the middling “Shotgun Wedding” stars Jennifer Lopez of the 2001 release “The Wedding Planner” among others as Darcy Rivera, a woman of a certain age, who for reasons unclear gets cold feet about marrying longtime fiance Tom Fowler (Josh Duhamel), who also has last minute reservations about taking the leap.
Originally, executive producer Ryan Reynolds was set to play the male lead. He was replaced by Armie Hammer, who was then replaced by Duhamel. The “White Lotus” herself Jennifer Coolidge plays Tom’s mother Carol, who always manages to bring amusing attention to herself after the pirates force all of the wedding guests into a pool and staple their place cards onto their clothes. This is how the pirates realize that the bride and groom are not among the hostages and are somewhere on the idyllic island (the film was shot in the Dominican Republic), where the wedding was supposed to take place.
The action begins with Tom almost missing the wedding rehearsal after he falls into the sea trying to set up a surprise for Darcy, whose rich father Robert (Cheech Marin) has brought his new, young girlfriend Harriet (D’Arcy Carden, “Barry”), much to the dismay of Darcy’s elegant mother Renata (Brazilian acting legend Sonia Braga). Also on the guest list, unbeknownst to Darcy is ex-fiance Sean Hawkins (Lenny Kravitz is all his shirt-unbuttoned splendor). Tom, as Roberto points out, is an unemployed 40-year-old Major League Baseball player. Darcy has a funny, Wednesday Addams-like younger sister named Jamie (Callie Hernandez, “Alien: Covenant”). For her part, Lopez looks beautiful and handles the physical demands of the role with aplomb. Duhamel has a lot of charm and comedic talent. He and Lopez have chemistry. But he is burdened with a hideous black-and-white tuxedo and even more hideous haircut.
“Shotgun Wedding” evolves into a live-action “Tom and Jerry” cartoon with grenades and assault rifles and comically disposable pirates, who all wear face-covering masks, making their demise easier to take. I felt a bit odd about the violent action given all the mass shootings we’re experiencing. But a scene in which Darcy and Tom are zip-tied to a golf cart hurtling toward a cliff is as good a comic metaphor for marriage as any I’ve seen lately. Darcy’s wedding dress gets repeatedly reduced in size by bits and pieces until Lopez is basically left wearing a corset and combat boots. Darcy passes out at the sight of blood. Tom is afraid of heights. They will both have to learn to adapt. A scene in which the two of them ride a zip-line across the island while she has a grenade without its pin clasped in her hand is pretty entertaining. Some of the encounters are borrowed inevitably from “Die Hard.” Kravitz is surprisingly good as the scheming ex. The villain of the piece has a really terrific exit scene. Watch the cast perform “Walk Like an Egyptian” over the closing credits.
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'SHOTGUN WEDDING'
Grade: B
Rated: R (for language and some violence/bloody images)
Running time: 1:40
How to watch: Prime Video
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