When “Marry Me” came out, you might be accustomed to judging it was an outdated movie of “ordinary idiots dating celebrities.”
In fact, “Marry Me” is far more entertaining than most romantic comedies to emerge in the streaming age, and Jennifer Lopez’s on-screen presence is as popular as ever, even though she’s over 50.
“Marry Me” is not a good anti-fighting film, but it is enough to bring long-lost viewing pleasure.
For moviegoers, it could easily trigger nostalgia for “Notting Hill” or “The Proposal”.
But in this film, the setting of strong women and weak men is not so sharp, or it is not the life-saving straw that the film fully relies on.
When Owen Wilson’s “Amateur Husband” first appeared in public, you’d find that the plot that was exaggerated to the point of breaking the bank was obviously saved.
Veteran actress Kate is set to tie the knot with male star Bastian after a concert expected to be watched by 20 million viewers.
Under the persuasion of his friend Debbies, Charlie, a middle school math teacher, plans to surprise his daughter by going to Kate’s concert together.
The two should never have met.
But when Kate stood on stage in her wedding dress and learned that her fiancé was secretly having an affair with an assistant, she happened to see the sign Charlie was holding up – it said “Marry me” and everything was messed up.
Kate didn’t know who or where the guy in the crowd was, but she pulled Charlie on stage and convinced him to marry her in front of everyone.
Objectively speaking, this is a 100% absurd story premise, and the biggest danger is that if the script is not strong enough, it can only support a short film at most, and will soon send a large audience away.
Fortunately, the tacit understanding between the two stars allows the story to proceed smoothly, sometimes beautifully.
Here, we barely see the magnified star nightmare of “A Star Is Born.”
In this special relationship of “forced speed dating”, no one tried to take the lead, and the development of the situation always followed the inner changes of the characters, and the characters became richer as a result.
When one person is optimistic about the odds of a successful marriage, the other is less pessimistic.
The key to the comfort of the film is that this small probability event, which is almost impossible in real life, makes the solution of the emotional relationship between the two sexes photographed with realism and imagination.
Kate and Charlie both have the confusion that most people have to face about marriage, and because of this, they both give each other a certain amount of space, allowing each to have room to digest hesitation.
Kate did not use the status gap to tie and control Charlie’s life, and Charlie knew how to let go in time when he saw that Kate might be “connected” with his ex.
This makes every step they take apart a catalytic experiment, and as a result, their hearts come closer.
Of course, “Marry Me” is not a high-level and deep romance movie.
“Notting Hill” from more than 20 years ago is so memorable because both characters played by Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant have obvious flaws, hurting each other and exposing vulnerability in that lopsided relationship.
In this film, both of them are rational and mature enough to fully meet the audience’s wishes.
“Amateur” Charlie is simply a PR master in the screenwriter’s pen, with a psychological quality beyond ordinary people; Kate keeps shining every moment, if at least once, she collapses to look a little sloppy, the effect may be better.
The most important advantage of the film is the star appeal of Jennifer Lopez. She has increased the film’s attention in Northern America tenfold. When the film critics only gave qualified points, the audience’s praise rate reached 92%.
In the film, Lopez used the character’s mouth to admit that although she has a successful career, she has never been recognized by awards.
“Marry Me” proves once again that Lopez doesn’t need awards, and her rom-coms are still attractive.
Owen Wilson and Lopez collaborated on “Anaconda” as early as 1996, and now the two over 100 years old are in the same frame again, and the acting spark is still considerable.
“Marry Me” is a clever, character-oriented film.
On the one hand, the film does not magnify age anxiety in the shaping of female stars. Lopez, who sings and dances in tights, seems to bring people back to the genre films of the first decade of this century.
On the other hand, the film is also very restrained in showing the lethality of Northern America’s social platform. Except for Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show”, Kate does not seem to be overly criticized or ridiculed. She has always been criticized by agents, assistants, fans, etc. Lots of lovely supporting characters to spoil.
Some people think that “Marry Me”‘s potential for real-life theatrical satire has been completely smoothed out, greatly easing the star’s image anxiety.
But as a commercial film in the global post-epidemic era, it does not seem necessary to carry anything that is unnecessary.
Related Post: Romantic comedy ‘Marry Me’ starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson becomes Peacock’s highest-grossing mixed-release film.
