Shotgun Wedding movie review: Jennifer Lopez lights up this diverting, fun romcom

Shotgun Wedding movie review:There is a dearth of good romantic comedy movies these days. While the genre flourished in the 1990s and early 2000s, but now? Even the concept of love and romantic relationships — the sincere, unadulterated kind — frightens screenwriters, or more accurately studios. Jennifer Lopez's Shotgun Wedding is thus a rarity, though it too was dumped on streaming. It is romcom in the classical sense. The genre is defined by implausible meetings, happy accidents, weirdo parents, straightforward, almost cliched dialogue, and far-fetched plot developments. I say all this not to denigrate the genre, for I happen to love it. I am just stating what is apparent. For me, there are few things as warm and comforting as a good romcom.

Speaking of being good, does Shotgun Wedding fits the bill? Read on. In the Jason Moore directorial, JLo plays a woman called Darcy who would have preferred a quiet wedding. But her beau Tom (Josh Duhamel), in his good intentions, thrusts a destination wedding at her instead, painstakingly dwelling on the small details to try and make the union extra special. There is an amusing scene when a lingerie-clad Darcy tries to seduce Tom, who seemingly buckles before her charms, but then remembers a piece of décor he forgot to put in place.

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Tensions simmer between the duo's family members. Darcy's mother Sonia Braga is only slightly miffed to see her ex-husband and Darcy's father (Cheech Marin) bringing his young and chirpy girlfriend D'Arcy Carden to the party. Or she hides her actual, primal feelings under a tough exterior. The brilliant Jennifer Coolidge, who is enjoying a revival in her career, essays Tom's mother. Her character is basically Tanya from The White Lotus with the same casually callous attitude towards what others have to say. A lover of tradition, she bars her son from sleeping with his wife-to-be on the wedding's eve, for it would be, she points out, bad luck.

But the person who really puts a spanner in the works is Sean (Lenny Kravitz), with whom Darcy was once engaged. The man now works for Darcy's father, who insisted he come to the wedding, forcing his daughter to send him an invite. Sean is a charismatic man who impresses everyone with his charm. Obviously, his presence perturbs Tom, who suddenly suffers from low esteem and insecurities.

Lo and behold, Darcy and Tom end up bickering to the point that they want to call the whole thing off. Due to the secluded nature of their tête-à-tête, they are blissfully unaware that the local pirates have invaded the event, holding guests hostage. From that point onwards, the film descends into a full-fledged action film, tinged with comedy as the couple flees from the pirates, while trying to find a way to save their families.

It's an appealing setup. For most of its runtime, Shotgun Wedding does remain a diverting enough romcom. It is nowhere near the best the genre has to offer, but it is not half bad either. There is something about the very presence of the pop star that makes every movie she is in more watchable than it has any right to be. JLo is not even a great actor. What she has in plenty is magnetism, and here, she exudes enough charisma to light up the film. Duhamel is competent but cannot hope to match the leading lady's screen presence. Once, Ryan Reynolds was under consideration to play that character. Sigh.

The action is predictably over-the-top and improbable... and quite fun actually. Although, for a movie of this kind, there is quite a lot of violence and gore in the movie. So do keep this film away from the young ones.

There are of course the usual romcom tropes here, and if you are one of those who enjoy realism in their movies... look outside the window. I kid, but movies like Shotgun Wedding are pure escapism. If you were to analyse the probability of this or that stunt or that chance meeting you will ruin whatever fun you were going to derive from this film. This story is either for you or not, and the trailer I feel would be enough for you to decide.

What I mean by that is, unless you detest romcoms, Shotgun Wedding is loud and moves fast enough that you will not notice all the absurd things about the plot. You have got to admire the chutzpah of Moore who directs Mark Hammer's script. The writing is pretty far from perfect, mind you, and many jokes come off as forced. One other thing that could have improved a lot about the movie is a lot more Coolidge. Then, Shotgun Wedding would have been totally my kind of movie. As it is, I recommend it to anyone who loves (and misses) romcoms.

Shotgun Wedding is streaming on Lionsgate Play in India.

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