Marry Me depends 100% on buying into the completely ludicrous idea that a musical superstar will impulsively accept a proposal from a math teacher.

When you’ve seen one rom-com, you’ve seen them all. That’s just the way it goes with this genre. The trick of the trade is to try and freshen it up somehow. It doesn’t matter who the stars are unless you have a script that catches you’re eye. We’re supposed to believe that musical superstar Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) and math teacher Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson) can marry each other before getting to know one another. I’m sorry but even I know that this is completely unfathomable! If this were a sci-fi fantasy film, there would be some room to suspend belief. But the fact of the matter is that this isn’t a sci-fi fantasy. It’s not a comic book movie. Romantic comedies are supposed to be grounded in realism. Marry Me is just…not realistic.

Charlie Gilbert is just a random fan holding up a sign that says “Marry Me.” It’s just that it was never his sign to begin with and he was only holding onto it for a friend. Of course, he didn’t plan for Kat to be looking at him straight in the eye during one of her most vulnerable moments in the film. Movie law states that the film will have a call back to their meet-cute later on. But anyway, Kat and Charlie get married right then and there on the spot because Kat learns that Bastian (Maluma) cheated on her. It’s a comedy rule that Kat learns this moments before she’s about to marry him!

Kat is a superstar. Charlie is just a math teacher. Hell, he’s still using a flip phone, which is hardly ideal for being married to a superstar! The more you watch this film, the more you wonder if they are even right for each other. Reminder: this is a romantic comedy so they will break up at some point. Movie laws rule out over whatever you think is going to happen. Unrealistic and absurd as it may be, they still end up together. Again, this film requires you to buy into these two people falling in love. I’m sorry but I just find it impossible. Not a superstar marrying the average Joe because it does happen. It’s the whole marriage on impulse with somebody that you do not even know!

To my surprise, the source material for Marry Me is a graphic novel. So yes, as implausible as it may sound, Marry Me is a comic book movie! But anyway, celebrities only show us–their fans–what they want us to see. Everything on social media or talk show appearances almost always go through a filter. Sometimes, they have one of those moments where they go viral on social media for all the wrong reasons. The thing with Marry Me is that it takes us behind the scenes. We get to see what Kat is like when she’s not in front of the cameras. At the end of the day, it’s hard getting over the hump of buying into what Marry Me is trying to sell us as viewers.

DIRECTOR: Kat Coiro
SCREENWRITERS: John Rogers & Tami Sagher and Harper Dill
CAST: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Maluma, John Bradley, Chloe Coleman, and Sarah Silverman

Universal releases Marry Me in theaters and on Peacock on February 11, 2021.

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