The Shotgun Wedding<\/em> star never became the genre queen on the level of Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, or Meg Ryan, but it hasn\u2019t been for lack of trying. Gigli<\/em>, Maid in Manhattan<\/em>, The Wedding Planner<\/em>, Monster-in-Law<\/em>, and The Back-up Plan<\/em> have all cemented her as a fixture of a certain type of rom-com that\u2019s somehow devoid of both romance and comedy, despite her gifts as an actress proven in Out of Sight<\/em> and Hustlers<\/em>. The scripts of these lesser movies were certainly to blame, but she also was poorly matched with most of her co-stars, who were rarely on her level as a performer or didn\u2019t display the chemistry required. (Apologies to Michael Vartan and Alex O\u2019Loughlin, I guess.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shotgun Wedding<\/em> feels like more of the same problem. I liked the so-weird-it-works pairing of Lopez and Owen Wilson in last year\u2019s charming-enough Marry Me<\/em>, but coupling her with Josh Duhamel in this action-driven comedy is another mismatch of leads. Shotgun Wedding<\/em> begins where other rom-coms end, dropping us into the action on the night before the destination wedding of Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel) in the Philippines (the Dominican Republic<\/a>). There\u2019s tension and awkwardness between the bride and groom and their respective soon-to-be-in-laws, and the arrival of her ex (Lenny Kravitz) further complicates matters. Soon, Darcy and Tom are ready to call off the wedding, but the proceedings have hit a hitch anyway: pirates have arrived on the island, asking for a ransom from Darcy\u2019s millionaire dad (Cheech Marin). While the pirates have corralled the rest of the guests in an infinity pool (naturally), it\u2019s up to Darcy and Tom to fight back and fight for their relationship or something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We have no sense of who Tom \u2014 and especially Darcy \u2014 are, either together or as individuals. Your career shouldn\u2019t define you, but there\u2019s little indication of what Darcy does or cares about when she isn\u2019t getting married on a beautiful island in the Philippines. (Other than looking good without pants, which Shotgun Wedding<\/em>, <\/em>of course, dwells on.) Meanwhile, Tom\u2019s work as a failed minor league ball player is a running gag that all culminates in the film\u2019s limp finale. A romantic comedy that pays little attention to the central relationship results in no investment in its couple. With Mark Hammer\u2019s script beginning at the wedding, there\u2019s no evidence why these two people should be together or should get married. Lopez and Duhamel just don\u2019t have the chemistry that makes us root for them. When wedding stress inevitably gets to them, the reaction from the audience is a shrug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitch Perfect<\/em>\u2019s Jason Moore directs, but he provides none of the energy to Shotgun Wedding<\/em> that made his feature debut a hit. In a nod to that film, all the wedding guests join in for an a cappella wedding standard Edwin McCain\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ll Be,\u201d but it does little other than illuminate how dumb the song\u2019s lyrics are and how maybe they\u2019re not the best fit for a wedding. A lot of that 2012 comedy\u2019s success was due to the smart casting of its secondary characters, and there\u2019s some of that here. Jennifer Coolidge plays Tom\u2019s ditsy, daffy mother, and she gets some of the film\u2019s few laughs because she\u2019s Jennifer Coolidge, not because the script earns it. As Darcy\u2019s mother, Sonia Braga is predictably commanding, but she isn\u2019t given a ton to do. Actors who\u2019ve done ace supporting work in other roles \u2014 The Good Place<\/em>\u2019s D’Arcy Carden and You\u2019re the Worst<\/em>\u2019s Desmin Borges \u2014 get even less to work with, and it\u2019s unclear why you\u2019d cast such talented, funny people and saddle them with such unfunny lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Netflix was the de facto home for rom-coms during their theatrical hiatus, and while I\u2019ve clamored for more of these movies to get bigger releases, Amazon Prime and its shitty user interface feels like a more appropriate place to half-watch this particular kind of romantic comedy. Shotgun Wedding<\/em> harkens back to the days of catching not-great films in the genre on a Saturday afternoon on TBS, but this demonstrates that maybe it\u2019s good that that time has passed. “Shotgun Wedding” streams Friday on Amazon Prime Video<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/shotgun2-1024x512.jpg\")
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Tom and Darcy\u2019s rocky road to the altar invites inevitable comparison to the film\u2019s production. Producer Ryan Reynolds was initially attached to star a few years ago, but he was replaced by Armie Hammer, who, uhh, clearly is not on screen here for obvious reasons. The jokes about Tom being in the minor league extends to Duhamel, who just isn\u2019t at the same level as Lopez. The script does him few favors, but the bland Duhamel adds little to what was on the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/crookedc-01.svg\")
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