Even when she stops by his classroom or meets his friends, she’s the one able to turn an ordinary school day into a once-in-a-lifetime event simply by showing up.

While the script (by John Rogers & Tami Sagher and Harper Hill) takes pains to give Charlie a life of his own, mainly revolving around Lou and his high school “math-a-lon” team, it is Kat’s world that Charlie enters, and not the other way around. (Getting too real would ruin the fun, after all.) Ditto Kat’s optimistic views on love, despite her very high-profile string of rocky romances.Īnd make no mistake - Marry Me is the Kat show. Glimpses into Kat’s life backstage - the swarms of paparazzi, the bustling entourage, the endless schedule of promos and interviews - are close enough to what we know of Lopez’s own reality to feel like a taste of her life, albeit one that takes a very light touch with its harder or more mundane aspects. But the character fits Lopez almost as snugly as the bejeweled bodysuits Kat wears onstage. To suggest Lopez is simply playing herself would not be giving her enough credit for how effortlessly she commands the screen as Kat, whether she’s addressing a jam-packed arena or relaxing at Charlie’s in one of his old shirts. Lady Gaga stripping back for A Star Is Born, this is not.

Kat blends so seamlessly with Lopez’s own career and image that Marry Me essentially doubles as an excuse for Lopez and Maluma to release a joint album for their existing fanbases. Yet it does not feel stale, because Marry Me demonstrates a shrewd understanding of the way modern celebrity operates, and in particular of the way Lopez’s does. The stars are gorgeous, the outfits are glamorous and the real estate is enviable - even Charlie, a high school math teacher, enjoys an implausibly spacious New York City apartment - and director Kat Coiro captures it all with the high-gloss polish that big-city dreams are made of.Ĭoming in an era when rom-com films seem more often than not to take the form of subversions, genre hybrids or bittersweet dramedies, Marry Me‘s old-fashioned romanticism feels in some ways like a throwback. There are meet-cutes and grand romantic gestures, a funny best friend (Charlie’s coworker Parker, played by Sarah Silverman) and an adorable moppet (Charlie’s daughter Lou, played by Chloe Coleman). Marry Me is a big, frothy studio rom-com of the sort Lopez used to headline 20 years ago - or perhaps more accurately, of the sort Julia Roberts used to headline before that, since the plot is basically Notting Hill with the odd Pretty Woman reference. Screenwriters: John Rogers, Tami Sagher, Harper Dill Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Maluma, John Bradley, Chloe Coleman, Sarah Silverman, Michelle Buteau

Marry Me by Bobby Crosby