Shotgun Wedding (2022)

I got what I expected from 'Shotgun Wedding'. It is exactly the type of film that you'd think it would be, mostly in a negative way. I like Jennifer Lopez and she's solid enough, while Jennifer Coolidge and Lenny Kravitz are the minor standouts elsewhere. The rest? I don't have any positives, I'm afraid. The plot is pointlessly overdone and overstays its welcome, as anticipated. I, personally, wouldn't go as far to say it's a bad movie, but it most definitely fails to entertain. I do like the final scene of Kravitz's though, it's pretty cool and fairly well done. For me, overall, this is a standard 6/10 flick - the type that I won't remember by the end of the week, unfortunately.

**Shotgun Wedding struggles to balance its goofy tone but has some funny moments.** Shotgun Wedding used the kidnapped couple in danger and rediscovering love plot that we have seen in many other rom-coms like The Lost City but struggled with balancing the serious subject matter with its goofy moments. With all the wedding guests taken hostage, it raised the stakes a little too high and made it harder to laugh. But Jennifer Coolidge cut threw all that and delighted, entertained, and stole every scene she was in, proving her comedic chops once again. Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel were fun, but the script forced a frustrated couple plot that didn’t take the time to develop. It seemed like the first 20 minutes and last hour and a half had two different couples because they became total goofballs as soon as the action started. My absolute favorite part of the movie was the final climax and big death scene. I laughed out loud and rewound it to watch it again. Shotgun Wedding is a straight-to-stream rom-com that stands above some of the other streaming rom-coms (like the Father of the Bride remake or The Valet) …but not far above.

Shotgun Wedding was a bit of a surprise. The story is very generic, with a movie being released last year with a very similar overarching theme, but the dialogue and characters really save it. There are plenty of genuinely funny moments in the film that had me and my fiancé cracking up. Jennifer Lopez shines and Josh Duhamel is great, their chemistry was superb together. I did find some of the scenarios to be completely unbelievable, but that is part of the fun in these romantic comedy action movies. Overall, don’t expect anything grand, but if the audience is able to turn their mind off there is plenty of fun to be had with this film. Score: 54% Verdict: Average