Summary
Shotgun Wedding is an undeniably entertaining blast with dynamic friction-filled chemistry between the leads and the reliably hilarious supporting turn by Jennifer Coolidge.
There have been two action-packed romantic comedies released within the past twelve months. Both combine the cheesy quality of romance with Die Hard–like escapades. The first was the Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum vehicle, Lost City. Despite an inspired cameo, that film’s romancing the rehash should have stayed buried. The other, Shotgun Wedding, streaming on Prime Video on January 27th, offers something a bit different in the genre. They embrace the fact couples will openly bicker and have disagreements well after the will they or won’t they phase of their relationship. This is always funnier and offers an edgier experience that never fails to do anything but entertain.
Shotgun Wedding (2022) Review and Plot summary
The story follows Darcy (Jennifer Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel), who are about to get married on a beautiful tropical island in the middle of the Philippines. Tom is a former baseball player who can no longer play in the big leagues. He has to compete with the men in his fiance’s life. For one, her father, Robert (Cheech Marin), is worth 60 million dollars. He is dating his much younger acupuncturist, Harriet (D’Arcy Carden). Robert has no love for Tom and prefers his daughter to come to her sense and marries her former lover, Sean (Lenny Kravitz), the successful entrepreneur and philanthropist who crashes their wedding by helicopter without an invite.
As Tom excessively worries about why Darcy refuses to embrace the wedding experience, their destination wedding is overrun by two types of people. One is their overbearing and over-opinionated families. The other is a band of pirates who take the wedding party hostage looking to take a majority of Robert’s money. Fortunately, Tom and Darcy bicker over her cold feet inside their hotel room. This forces them to work together to find help and save their family members.
Directed by Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) and written by Mark Hammer (Two Night Stand), Shotgun Wedding has some nice touches. For one, Duhamel’s Tom is in love with love and wants the most romantic wedding possible. At the same time, Lopez’s Darcy is ambivalent. The contrast adds a reverse type of friction that is refreshing. The way Kravitz needles Tom, making a tall, dashing, and handsome actor feel and act inadequate, is amusing. Duhamel’s ability to show insecurity is a real secret weapon here. (Can you imagine the original casting, Armie Hammer, in the role?). However, most importantly, the chemistry between the leads is appealing and is never dull. Especially when working together and falling face-first into accidentally out-maneuvering their foes.
While the third act does fall into action-comedy cliches, the supporting cast brings some real belly laughs to the script, most notably Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus). As usual, she is historical here as Tom’s boundary-violating mother. Coolidge’s well-known deadpan delivery is on point, as is her talent for a wide variety of comedic abilities that range from physical to improvisational. (She has the greatest blazing firearm comedy scene since Meryl Streep in The Laundromat). This allows the beautiful-looking leads to take a breather from carrying a film with a lightweight script.
Is Shotgun Wedding good?
Yes, Shotgun Wedding has some of the same cheesy themes as some romantic comedies. And yes, the final act has some of the same resolutions as many buddy-action comedies. However, all are done well and deliver enough laughs from the cast’s deep bench of comedic performers. Moore’s film doesn’t reinvent filmmaking or elevate the genre; it simply sticks the landing by being undeniably entertaining and even sweet.
What did you think of the Prime Video film Shotgun Wedding (2022)? Comment below.
