Shotgun Wedding film review: Jennifer Lopez comedy is a tonal mess
★★☆☆☆
Jenny From The Block plays Darcy in Shotgun Wedding. Soon to be marrying her fiancée Tom (Josh Duhamel) at a destination island wedding. Family tension, attractive exes and cold feet are in the mix, but then the wedding party is taken hostage. The couple must put their new marriage to the test if they are to save the day.
The production has had a bumpy path to the altar, losing its original male lead Armie Hammer. However, it’s hard to imagine the Social Network actor making Shotgun Wedding vastly different. It’s a cavalcade of wedding gags that will draw a laugh from anyone who has come to blows over table settings, punctuated with random slapstick violence.
It’s a tonal mess but is often too dumb to be outright hated. Lopez knows how to be a romantic lead and while this is a million miles from her Hustlers highpoint, her charisma on screen works pretty well when coupled with Duhamel (who is present to simply react to his more famous costar). The film’s brightest spark is Jennifer Coolidge as an obnoxious relative, giving the kind of gleefully unaware asides that have made her so loved.
The type of disposable entertainment that seems less offensive as a streaming offering, Shotgun Wedding runs out of ideas long before the final bullet has flown, but has enough one-liners to keep undemanding audiences happy.
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