Shotgun Wedding Review: Random AF But Funny Enough
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“At no time during our wedding did I imagine walking through the jungle holding a hand grenade!”
There are thousands of ways a wedding celebration can go wrong, but having it gate-crashed by a crazed group of violent pirates who hold all wedding guests hostage in a swimming pool will probably not make it to a 1000 Ways to Ruin a Wedding list. Created by Jason Moore (director) and Mark Hammer (writer), the romantic comedy “Shotgun Wedding” stars Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel as bride Darcy and groom Tom Fowler, whose destination wedding in the Philippines is taken over by armed pirates. The couple must save their loved ones—but before that, they have to resolve their own last-minute differences.
One of the earliest funny twists in “Shotgun Wedding” comes within the first fifteen minutes, in a scene where Darcy’s ex-boyfriend Sean Hawkins (Lenny Kravitz) arrives at the wedding venue in a helicopter. Dude doesn’t even RSVP, wasn’t even invited by Darcy, but shows up after being asked by her dad, because they used to work together. Groom Tom Fowler fumes at the unexpected cameo and starts having last-minute jitters on the day of the wedding. So when everyone at the wedding is getting kidnapped and intimidated, the bride and groom are having a meltdown in a different part of the resort, unaware of what’s happening. But once they learn of the situation, they try to tackle the pirates, one by one, in hilariously violent ways.
Cheech Marin plays Darcy’s wealthy father Robert Rivera, while D’Arcy Carden plays his young new girlfriend Harriet. Jennifer Coolidge provides plenty of funny moments as Carol Fowler, the groom’s mother, with Steve Coulter playing the father. Lenny Kravitz is super fit for his age—and yes, very good looking too—but his part in the movie falls flat; someone with better comedic presence was needed. Perhaps Dwayne Johnson or maybe Mark Wahlberg. The movie, of course, is largely steered by Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel as the lead couple working to get rid of the pirates and save their relationship. Their antics include getting stuck with an unpinned hand grenade, which naturally leads to some mad moments.
The ‘jungle-beach’ location of their wedding resort serves as a great visual element in “Shotgun Wedding,” slightly reminiscent of Sandra Bullock’s action-comedy “The Lost City,” which also came out in the same year. In that, you’ve got Sandra in a blindingly shiny dress trying to survive in a ruthless jungle; in this, we get Jennifer Lopez in a gorgeous dress that keeps getting progressively ripped through the wedding day. But she still continues to look as great as ever, even when only half her wedding dress is left on her, with stains and dirt that would make many other brides look like homeless women in discarded tatters.
“Shotgun Wedding” has several funny moments, some are too over the top and random, but quite a few manage to evoke laughs. However, unlike its title, the film’s 1 hour 41 minute runtime really begins to bog the pace down. The creators should’ve chopped the length by 15 minutes at least, if not more. Regardless, it’s a pretty fun movie to watch on the weekend with friends, especially if you’re a JLo fan.
Rating: 3 on 5. Watch ‘Shotgun Wedding’ on Netflix.
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