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This is one wedding invitation that should be declined at all costs

Shotgun Wedding (R16, 101 mins) Directed by Jason Moore Reviewed by James Croot ★★

Having survived The Wedding Planner and a Monster-inLaw, Jennifer Lopez now finds herself up against a groomzilla and gatecrashing gunmen.

But while her tenacious bride Darcy Rivera rises to those challenges, in Shotgun Wedding, even JLo’s charisma is no match for a leaden script, predictable plotting and a film that’s tonally all over the map.

Yes, this is an action-comedy where the laughs are few and far between, the pyrotechnics and set pieces fail to excite and you can hear the graunch of the gears, as director Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) unsuccessfully tries to seamlessly shift between the demands of the two genres, while corralling a messy Snatched-meetsForgetting Sarah Marshall-esque tale by Mark Hammer (2014’s Miles Teller-starring rom-com Two Night Stand) into some kind of coherent and entertaining form.

In what feels like simply an excuse for cast and crew to enjoy an island break, our story is set in the Philippines’ Mahal Island Resort (although it was actually filmed in the Dominican Republic).

Wanting to be in charge of their own nuptials, Darcy and fiance´ Tom Fowler (Josh Duhamel) have rebuffed an offer from her father, Robert (Cheech Marin), to underwrite the event.

Tom is committed to getting every little detail right for his bride-to-be, even if his DIY approach doesn’t always yield the best result. However, the out-ofcontract minor league baseballer can’t quite cover all the bases.

There’s the outrageous behaviour of his showtune-singing mother, Carol (a scene-stealing Jennifer Coolidge), who is on her first trip outside the United States, and the unexpected arrival of Darcy’s glamorous ex, Sean (a disappointingly one-dimensional Lenny Kravitz), at the invitation of Robert. Both raise the tension between the couple, to the point that Tom and Darcy begin to wonder if they are doing the right thing.

Such concerns, though, fade into the background when a group of mercenaries storm the resort, invite all the guests to wade into the pool and demand Robert wire his fortune to their account.

What follows is a laboured, slapstick-heavy caper involving out-of-control golf carts, kitchen fights, a disintegrating wedding dress and JLo clinging to a grenade as the now bickering duo try to fight back against their intruders.

Lopez looks more at home in the action scenes than she does in the earlier sex comedy bits, but Duhamel (the third choice for the role after Ryan Reynolds and the now disgraced Armie Hammer) is stuck with a character who is unlikeable and woefully onedimensional.

His presence just adds to the overall impression that this is a movie out of its time. It feels so much like the rom-coms and action-comedies of more than a decade ago (When in Rome, Life As We Know It) that he used to headline.

Remember when this kind of genre film used to routinely feature a cast sing-a-long of an old favourite (here Edwin McCain’s 1997 hit I’ll Be) and ended with a dance/karaoke number (The Bangles’ Walk Like an Egyptian)? Well, those old tropes have been dusted off here.

Anyone looking at the conceit – and presence of Coolidge – hoping for a White Lotus-esque satire is likely to be bitterly disappointed (although she does provide the one crowd-pleasing moment).

This is one wedding invitation you would be well advised to decline.

Shotgun Wedding is now available to stream on Prime Video.

Entertainment

en-nz

2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282076281003409

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