For more than a year, Jennifer Lopez has been promoting “Marry Me” and announcing that Maluma, a well-known Colombian reggaeton star, would make a special appearance in her latest movie.
“Marry Me” is a musical romantic comedy movie released in theaters and Peacock (an NBC streaming service) Friday, Feb. 11 – just in time for Valentine’s weekend.
Although it is not the best rom-com movie on the market, it is the perfect movie to enjoy during this love season. The film explores the themes of love, betrayal, self-love, trust, and spontaneity.
J-Lo plays the character of Kat Valdez, a famous pop singer who is set to marry Latin sensation Bastian (Maluma) in front of 20 million people. As Kat is about to perform on stage to share her vows, a video surfaces online showing Bastian cheating with Kat’s assistant.
Kat is heartbroken and decides to marry Charlie (Owen Wilson), who was dragged to the wedding by his daughter and best friend and was holding a sign with big red letters that read “Marry Me.”
Throughout the movie, we see how Charlie and Kat have difficulty navigating through each other’s lifestyles. Charlie has a daughter; he is a math teacher and is divorced. In contrast, Kat has been divorced three times already before being cheated on by Bastian.
Although Charlie and Kat have different interests and lifestyles, they both still hold on to the same hope; they will find true love one day.
The movie explores the idea of self-love as it shows how Kat learns to succeed on her own. She finds creativity within herself and learns to appreciate smaller things.
The recurring lesson throughout the movie is that success does not come with popularity or through sharing your everyday activities on the internet. Instead, true love and success come from experiences and memories that we cherish in private.
Although the love that Kat had Bastian was real, she did not realize how much she cherished the smaller and more heartfelt actions that came from a relationship outside the public scene.
The idea of trusting each other, gaining self-confidence, and accepting each other for who they are makes the marriage between Charlie and Kat work. They do not focus on making others happy they focus on each other’s happiness and love.
The movie reveals how love inspires Kat’s creativity with writing songs, and throughout the film, viewers can enjoy J-Lo and Maluma performing songs that were released with the movie’s soundtrack.
Although “Marry Me” is a good movie, the constant promotion caused the movie plot not to be a surprise.
Most of the scenes had already been shown through social media and in the official trailer. However, the movie does raise the question: Is Kat a portrayal of J-Lo’s real lifestyle?
The movie provides viewers with an insight into what it entails to be an artist. It also includes several special participations from Jimmy Fallon and Hoda Kotb from the Today show.
J-Lo has acted in several rom-com movies throughout her career, and this movie is another successful project added to her list.
Victoria Rivas is the arts & culture editor and may be reached at [email protected]; @VicRivas_18 on Twitter.
