Ah, Valentine’s Day, the annual celebration of love, consumption, and romantic comedies whose taglines are nearly identical minus swapping out character names and occupations. Marry Me, the newest romantic comedy from Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson, fits the bill, with a simple (if nonsensical) story that you swear you’ve seen before, you probably have, but you’ll have a chance to see it here. That said, it’s a charming enough journey thanks to talented performers that may just scratch that romantic comedy itch.
Directed by Kat Coiro from a screenplay by John Rogers, Tami Sagher, and Harper Dill, Marry Me first follows Latin singer Kat Valdez as she’s about to perform her marriage-themed hit song “Marry Me,” an intended duet with her betrothed Bastian (Maluma) that should be capped off with a life marriage on stage. Once catch: immediately before she performs, she discovers Bastian had cheated on her. She spots Charlie (Owen Wilson) in the audience, brings him on stage, and completes the marriage ceremony with him on stage. They then need to get to know each other and manage the media aftermath.
It’s a simple premise that feels like a time capsule, a mid-2000’s style rom-com with a far-fetched premise and, well, the same stars you’d see in those same films. From a story standpoint along it’s full of implausible events and contrivances, driven by characters who make sudden, abrupt, or stereotypical choices just to cause issues for the film to resolve. Why would Kat choose a stranger? How do these characters, so different from each other, fall for each other so quickly? How much time is passing, exactly? And when one of them gets cold feet and causes problems (that’s not really a spoiler, because when does that NOT happen in films like this)... why, after establishing they’re level-headed?
Both leads are playing versions of either themselves or of characters they’ve played before, leaving a comfortable but familiar feeling in one’s mouth. That said, it’s not devoid of surprising charms. Jennifer Lopez has high-strung breezy charisma as a character who is, at least on a superficial level, her. Owen Wilson’s divorcee math teacher showcases Wilson’s ability to be a sad but lovable gent, his on-screen charisma blunted a little bit with too little to do at times. The heroes of the film are, strangely, not the leads at all—Sarah Silverman steals every scene as loyal friend to Charlie and surprising media expert Parker Debbs, and John Bradley’s Collin Calloway exhibits such care and pathos for his client Kat that I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d break rank and fall for each other.
Marry Me isn’t innovative. It doesn’t get deep into the characters’ drives and psyches. If you’ve seen Jennifer Lopez rom-coms in the 2000’s, you’ve seen this film and can guess its entire narrative. Of course, that makes it little different than your usual romantic comedies (look at this last holiday season, the amount of Christmas Monarch romances alone is uncountable). On the other hand, with such a lack of the mid-budget movies of yore, it’s an engaging dose of new nostalgia for those who lament the days when simple rom-coms with cookie cutter premises had free reign in theaters. If all you want this Valentine’s Day is to turn your brain off and to dive headfirst into a simple romantic comedy, it was literally made for you and worth checking out.
In sum, Marry Me is a by-the-numbers romantic comedy throwback to the genre staples of yore, but if you’re looking for that nostalgic rom-com feel then it may be worth checking out. At least check it out for the great work of the film’s supporting players.
Marry Me premieres Friday in theaters and on Peacock.
