Shotgun Wedding – A Throwback Action Comedy (Early Review)

Comedy thrives in chaos because it’s always more entertaining when everything goes wrong and characters are forced to try and find a way through, But that being said, they always seem to find ways to screw it all up for themselves and/or each other. While this has been a common thread over the years, films keep finding a way to dress it up in compelling not to mention entertaining ways. It’s wacky and incredibly goofy and set in a beautiful tropical locale, however, what sets Shotgun Wedding apart is the dynamite chemistry of its two leads, Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel. As they found themselves stumbling their way through a fun yet predictable action comedy, their absolutely clueless characters were a blast to watch together as they squabbled in the midst of their wedding being interrupted by a group of armed pirates. In what feels like a throwback to action comedies of the 1980s and 1990s, it works in spite of its cheesiness and stupidity not only because of Lopez and Duhamel but also a stellar supporting cast.

Shotgun Wedding, as mentioned, follows the exploits of Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel) and their extravagant island wedding that quickly found itself hijacked by a group of armed pirates thus further adding to an already volatile situation. Weddings are already contentious for several reasons and this one was no different with plenty of personalities and drama to be stirred up between the wedding guests and the bride and groom. Weaving in the past and present in that powder keg of drama made for dicey territory but that didn’t change following the arrival of the pirates. While they may have been ready to infiltrate the resort, they were certainly not ready for the guests they found there. Suffice it to say that keeping them in check was a tough task while Darcy and Tom had challenges of their own to contend with, away from the rest of the wedding contingent. Carrying their many insecurities going into their wedding into this new situation, their relationship was truly put to the test as they had to find a way to work together in order to survive.

The fun here was simply watching Darcy and Tom try to figure it out as they went along which unsurprisingly was not without its issues. Both absolutely clueless, they constantly argued while airing their grievances with one another as they stumbled their way through the pirates and the terrain in a quest to find help. Meanwhile, the other wedding guests were taken hostage and from there, argued with one another as they hilariously pleaded for their lives. However, as both subplots went on and the stakes rose increasingly higher, it quickly became clear what was really happening and why it was happening. From there, the film responded by ramping up the action and getting even more ridiculous, perhaps too much, but was nonetheless still entertaining. In the end, the shared experience of Darcy and Tom and the other wedding guests predictably offered all some much needed perspective that would only galvanize them as they tried to move forward past this ordeal.

The best part of Shotgun Wedding was the fun dynamic of Lopez and Duhamel as Darcy and Tom. Their dynamite chemistry as a pair of absolute ditzes single-handedly carries the film. It doesn’t try to be anything other than its wacky premise and they ultimately make it work. Lopez’s Darcy in particular was a standout in a role unlike most have seen from her as she fully embraces the ditz before coming to her own as a character in a pure scene-stealing performance. Duhamel’s sleazy Tom was a mostly straight man to Lopez but he had enough silly moments of his own. While they weren’t perfect characters by any means, the love for one another was there even though they had a funny way of showing it at times. With a great supporting cast, they were plenty of opportunities for more scene-stealers who better than Coolidge as Tom’s mother Carol to chip in with a few hilarious deliveries?

At the end of the day, Shotgun Wedding is not a masterpiece by any means but accomplishes what it set out to do which was to generate some laughs and above all else, entertain. Though it may be forgettable, Lopez can definitely do comedy.

still courtesy of Amazon Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.