Weddings regularly become one of the central events in cinema. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of films in which a wedding is the basis of the script. “The Unstoppable Wedding” tries to dilute relatively standard, as for romantic comedies, approaches with action elements. How well it turned out for the authors of the film – read in the review below.
Shotgun Wedding
Genre: romantic comedy, action movie
Directed by Jason Moore
Starring Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Coolidge, Callie Hernandez, Desmin Borges
Premiere cinemas
Release year 2023
IMDb site
The plot of the film focuses on the wedding of Darcy (Jennifer Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel). The couple wants to celebrate it on a grand scale, so they chose a private island as the location, where relatives of the lovers also came. But the holiday quickly ends when the guests are taken hostage by thugs. They want $45 million in ransom. However, Darcy and Tom manage to escape. Now their goal is to survive on an island full of armed men, and at the same time try to somehow save the wedding.
Originally, the role of Tom was to be played by Ryan Reynolds. It was for him in many respects that the script was written. However, the actor was unable to perform the role due to a busy shooting schedule. Therefore, he limited himself to the position of executive producer of the film.
And if you fantasize a little, the acting duo of Jennifer Lopez and Ryan Reynolds would look perfect on the screen. Reynolds is able to squeeze something interesting and funny even out of ordinary ideas. And they would have great chemistry with Lopez. As a result, we would get a simple but fun film, which would draw on the charisma of the main actors.
The problem is that Josh Duhamel is far from Ryan Reynolds. And let the actor try to play and seem like a charming character, he still does not arouse any special sympathy. It is pleasant to watch him only in tandem with Lopez, who turned out to be excellent in the film, but Duhamel alone is unlikely to be remembered after the end of the credits.
As well as the whole film in general, because it doesn’t have any notable moments. Its main concept is a combination of an action movie and a classic romantic comedy. But in the end, the authors did not manage to properly reveal any of the sides of their genre mix.
As a romantic comedy, the movie does not offer viewers anything new. At the level of jokes, it is maximum funny, but nothing more. Moreover, the humor here is quite fresh, almost monotonous. The script seems to be built in such a way as to deliberately not cause anything stronger than a fleeting smile in the audience.
And as an action movie “The Unstoppable Wedding” shows absolutely nothing interesting. There are no inventive battles or interesting directorial discoveries. The film crew throws aside its only somewhat unusual idea in the first third of the running time. And then nothing remarkable happens at all.
Both as a romantic comedy and as a comedic action film, The Unstoppable Wedding is mediocre at best, nothing more. But the genres themselves often come into conflict with each other. The authors suggest watching gunfights, when the general mood is clearly pushing towards something romantic. And vice versa. This ultimately destroys the perception of history in the viewer’s mind.
The structure and pace of the film are constantly limping. Because of this, the already modest running time of 100 minutes seems unreasonably long, almost tortured. The cinema is simply boring to watch, no matter what intrigues unfold on the screen.
Even the tropical island on which the events of the film unfold, the authors managed to show faded and unforgettable. All too often, the camera focuses on indistinct locations that, in principle, could be anywhere. The film manages to reduce even the natural beauty of nature to something boring and inexpressive.
Here you can complain about the inexperience of the director Jason Moore, for whom “Irresistible Wedding” is only his third full-length work. Moreover, both of his previous films were comedies. Therefore, the comedy part in Shotgun Wedding is still at least tolerable. But this does not justify the general situation.
As a work of cinematography, “The Unstoppable Wedding” does not seem to know why it was born. And due to the lack of self-determination, cinema is quite capable of leaving an unpleasant aftertaste on the soul after viewing.
Pros: good chemistry between the main characters, some good jokes Cons: as an action movie, the film is very boring and does not work at all; romantic, comedic and action elements are constantly in conflict with each other, not giving the opportunity to reveal anything; lackluster acting by everyone but Jennifer Lopez; general feeling of freshness and boredom while watching Conclusion:
Maybe Ryan Reynolds would be able to save “The Unstoppable Wedding” thanks to his charisma. But it seems more like he avoided participating in an extremely mediocre movie. The film fails to impress on any of its modest levels. And against this background, I even feel a bit sorry for Jennifer Lopez, who obviously deserves better than similar projects
