Review | Review: In ‘Marry Me,’ Jennifer Lopez leans into her stardom

Jennifer Lopez is excellent at being very well-known.

That may sound extra like a circumstance and never a rarified talent, however that’s simply because she’d by no means allow you to see the work behind it. The identical goes for her competence as a romantic comedy heroine. She may not all the time get the very best materials, however her rom-com attraction is plain and even underrated 25 years after her breakout in “Selena.” The solely time we as a tradition appear to contemplate a efficiency of hers particularly noteworthy is when she’s in one thing extra “serious” (see: “Out of Sight,” “Hustlers”).

It’s what makes “ Marry Me,” her new rom-com in theaters and on Peacock TV Friday, so impressed. It permits her to lean into her totally singular expertise as a really, very well-known individual inside the assemble of her greatest style. Though it says one thing that she, as pop star Kat Valdez, is probably the most plausible a part of the entire endeavor, a shiny and better-than-average fantasy concerning the execs of organized marriage.

Now, “Marry Me” is just not actually pulling the curtain again on any darkish secrets and techniques of superstar, however it does play into Lopez’s hopeless romantic persona inside the confines of a PG-13 ranking. Her Kat is a Lady Gaga-esque singer who has had some dangerous luck within the romance division, not less than one divorce and one 48-hour marriage. She’s speculated to marry Bastian (performed by Colombian pop star Maluma) reside in entrance of 20 million individuals as they carry out their hit single “Marry Me,” however proper earlier than she goes out on stage, draped in jewels, she (together with the remainder of the world) sees a video of her meant dishonest on her. Still, she’s already bought the gown and the venue, so she seems out within the viewers, spots Owen Wilson’s Charlie, and picks him to marry. It is probably the most film rom-com arrange that’s ever existed, and this can be a film that wears its love for the style on its sleeve with figuring out references to every thing from “Pretty Woman” to “Notting Hill.”

Though she doesn’t comprehend it when she picks him, fortunately for Kat, Charlie is only a good single dad to a candy 13-year-old with a cool Brooklyn loft, a canine and a job as a highschool math trainer. His baggage is minimal, his divorce amiable, he doesn’t have a darkish facet and his flaws are… unexplored. Is there eventual, inevitable, connection plausible? No, not remotely. But you go alongside for the journey as a result of Wilson is charming as a hangdog sort and does sufficient with little or no.

Directed by Kat Coiro, who did the pilot for the good “Girls5Eva,” and written by “Mindy Project” alum Harper Dill and “Catwoman” screenwriter John Rogers, “Marry Me” looks like an early aughts creation, proper right down to Kat’s corduroy newsboy caps, again when studios used to usually spend greater than $20 million on the style. It breezes alongside because of its forged, together with Sarah Silverman doing a little heavy comedic lifting as Charlie’s co-worker; John Bradley, of “Game of Thrones” fame, who’s a pleasant presence as Kat’s supervisor Collin; and Michelle Buteau as a really Hollywood assistant.

There’s some hilariously apparent product placement and in addition a couple of superstar cameos, from Hoda Kotb to Jimmy Fallon (whose present is one way or the other all the time on within the background and whose alter-ego is noticeably meaner than his actual life persona). How James Corden isn’t on this may be the largest thriller of all.

But “Marry Me” hangs on Lopez who’s as glowing and glamorous as ever. Lopez, as they are saying, understood the project.

“Marry Me,” a Universal Pictures and Peacock TV launch, in theaters and streaming Friday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for TK. Running time: 112 minutes. Two and a half stars out of 4.

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MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some materials could also be inappropriate for youngsters underneath 13.

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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr: www.twitter.com/ldbahr