After making her rom-com comeback with last year's Marry Me, Jennifer Lopez is back with another rom-com – or, more accurately, an action rom-com – in Prime Video's new movie Shotgun Wedding.
Lopez plays Darcy, who is about to get married to Tom (Josh Duhamel) in the ultimate destination wedding on an island in the Philippines. They've gathered their entire families there for the big occasion, but only end up putting their nearest and dearest literally in the firing line when the wedding is invaded by pirates.
After enduring a bout of cold feet, Darcy and Tom fortunately are nowhere near the ceremony when the wedding party is taken hostage. It's down to them to save the day and in the process, maybe rekindle the spark that has been missing from their relationship – if they don't kill each other first.
Watch Shotgun Wedding on Prime Video
Shortly before production, Shotgun Wedding lost its leading man when Armie Hammer dropped out of the role following accusations about explicit messages, which he has denied. Josh Duhamel stepped in at the last minute, less than a month before filming started.
Duhamel has the charm and the requisite good looks for this "groomzilla" role, but the last-minute change looks to have affected things. There's never quite enough chemistry between Lopez and Duhamel to fully make you care for Darcy and Tom, something that perhaps a longer pre-production time would have allowed them to build.
They both have their individual moments, with Lopez as effortlessly good as she always is blending the romantic with the ridiculous. Yet whenever the movie relies on the pair of them carrying proceedings, it ends up feeling flat.
It's perhaps not helped that their couple moments largely centre on the 'action' part of the action rom-com. Surprisingly violent in parts, Shotgun Wedding is unable to blend the two wildly different tones, not helped by the fact that The Lost City recently did the mix so much better.
The frequent diversions to Darcy and Tom's attempts to save the day, especially in the movie's second half, mean the supporting cast is wasted. It's such an impressive collection of comic talent, with the likes of Jennifer Coolidge, Cheech Martin, D'Arcy Carden and Desmin Borges, and the movie forgets about them for big stretches.
Coolidge still manages to get some big laughs as the mother of the groom Carol, because she's Jennifer Coolidge. In her hands, even unfunny lines from the script turn into comedy gems through sheer force of will and impeccable delivery, but it's not enough to save Shotgun Wedding overall.
The funnier supporting cast makes you wish the movie was just a wedding rom-com about dysfunctional families. The fact that Ryan Reynolds was once attached to star (and remained as an executive producer) makes sense, as you could see him being able to blend the genres better.
As it is though, Shotgun Wedding should have got rid of the action elements and gone more traditional. You do at least get to see Coolidge in slow motion wielding a machine gun, but rare diversions like that aside, you won't want to RSVP again to this particular wedding.
How to watch Shotgun Wedding online at home
If you fancy RSVP-ing to Shotgun Wedding, the new movie is available to watch right now on Prime Video for all subscribers.
Don't worry if you're not a subscriber as you can sign up to Amazon Prime for £8.99 a month, or £95 for an entire year, which will give you access to all Prime Video has to offer, alongside other Prime benefits.
What's even better is that if you've never subscribed to Amazon Prime or haven't signed up in the past 12 months, you can get a 30-day free trial. You will be charged automatically when the trial is up, so make sure to cancel if you don't want to continue.
Shotgun Wedding is available to watch now on Prime Video.
Best Entertainment and Tech Deals
Coronation Street X Joanie - Gilroy Retro Newton And Ridley Sweatshirt
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
