Jennifer Lopez on a red carpet being interviewed in 2010.
Marry Me, starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson, is the latest romantic comedy to hit theaters and Peacock to check all of the right boxes in making a successful rom-com.
Romantic comedies are usually lovey dovey with just the right amount of humor to get away with the over-the-top cheesiness that makes you cringe as if you’re watching another episode of the bachelor or bachelorette.
Marry Me found the perfect match between actor and actress, a home run casting job by director Kat Coiro, (Charlie Gilbert) played by Wilson outkicked his coverage by landing pop superstar (Kat Valdez) played by of course, Lopez, a superstar in her own right.
It helps that Lopez and Wilson are no strangers when it comes to rom-com success. Wilson starred in the unforgettable Wedding Crashers and had a big role in Meet the Parents, while Lopez starred in Maid in Manhattan, and the Wedding Planner (just to name a few classics).
In Marry Me, Charlie is the newly divorced uncool dad, and grade school math teacher who decides to be fun for a change and accepts an invite by his co-worker Parker to attend a Kat Valdez concert where she’s supposed to get married live after performing hit single Marry Me with boyfriend/singer Bastian played by actor Maluma.
Then comes the rom-com curveball.
A video of Bastian cheating with Kat’s assistant circulates around the internet minutes before the performance, Kat is stunned as she’s approaching the stage, so she speaks from the heart about love and decides that she’s getting married in front of millions of people anyway.
Kat points to the first man she spots at the concert that just so happened to be holding a Marry Me sign in the first few rows, Charlie.
Over the next three months, Kat decides she wants to stay married to Charlie in what appears to be a PR move to save face after one of the most embarrassing moments of her career.
Charlie wants no part of this, refusing to accept any money from Kat’s manager, or to be apart of some PR stunt and in the spotlight alongside the pop superstar.
Charlie eventually gives in and the love story begins.
Kat finds herself spending all of her time with Charlie, and they grow closer and closer even as she’s touring the world and becomes lonely without him by her side.
She visits his classroom, meets his daughter, which leads to the most feel-good part of the movie when she helps the class study for the mathalon with the help of some choreographed dance moves.
Charlie and Kat fall for each other.
And then, Bastian reappears in the picture when the two are nominated for a Grammy award for their hit single. They perform together on stage again, leaving Charlie confused, and thinking it was a just a PR stunt all along.
In a shocking turn of events Charlie breaks up with Kat the night of the performance.
Charlie and Kat go their separate ways for a few weeks until Kat realizes after writing another song that her new hit was actually about Charlie. Kat leaves town immediately to fly to Illinois to try to attend the mathalon. Kat makes it just in time for the final round.
Kat expresses her feelings for Charlie in front of everyone in attendance and uses giant signs to ask him to marry her, again.
This rom-com was a success because even though the ending was what was expected, how it got there was unpredictable and with the star power of Lopez and Wilson it was no surprise.