Mark Reviews Movies: MARRY ME (2022)

Marry Me, Universal Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 10, 2022

There's a lot that strains credulity in Marry Me, in which an internationally famous pop star randomly marries an audience member on stage at a huge concert. Looking at this material more as a modern-day fairy tale (with a bit of a twist on the traditional gender roles of the central couple), it's a bit easier to accept. If only the filmmakers and at least one of the main actors had embraced that sense of romantic fantasy, there could have been something to this generally outlandish but occasionally sweet tale.

The pop star is Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez), who has achieved just about everything she can professionally. Her personal life, though, has been a bit of a mess. Things seem to be looking up for her in the romance department. She's engaged to fellow music sensation Bastian (Maluma), and the two have planned a massive concert/ceremony in New York City.

Outside of that world of celebrity is Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson), a middle school math teacher who's divorced and raising a 12-year-old daughter named Lou (Chloe Coleman). He doesn't have a single social media account and still uses an old flip phone. The guy's a bit boring, to be honest, but also sincerely nice. With such broad and vague characteristics, Charlie feels more like a figure for people to project themselves onto than an actual character. When the end credits reveal that the movie comes from a graphic novel by Bobby Crosby, that sense of audience projection and wish fulfillment makes a lot more sense.

Anyway, Charlie, who barely knows a thing about Kat, ends up at that concert/wedding with his daughter and his friend Parker (Sarah Silverman), the school's guidance counselor (The character is a lesbian, which keeps up that cliché, even with our underdog romantic-comedy protagonist being a man). Just before the two pop stars are set to exchange vows, a tabloid story goes viral: Bastian has been two-timing Kat with her assistant.

Kat shows up on stage, in a glamorous wedding dress and with millions watching, and notices Charlie—holding a sign that Parker made and that says, "Marry me." She accepts his accidental proposal and calls him up to the stage.

This is a big moment in and for the movie, as we'll either buy into its absurdly unlikely premise or see it only as a gimmick so absurdly unlikely that it feels silly. Everyone on and behind the camera seems uncertain of how to make this moment work. Lopez, whose character talks her way through this ridiculous decision, at least maintains some strength and grace through the otherwise-embarrassing event (Her performance, in general, is charming and shows some self-awareness).

The same can't be said of Wilson, whose stone-faced reaction to the whole, silly affair offers no insight into what Charlie is thinking or feeling in that moment. That's a significant miscalculation from the actor and especially director Kat Coiro, leaving us with an emotional void in this pivotal moment. The screenplay (written by Harper Dill, John Rogers, and Tami Sagher) does the moment no favors later, when Charlie reveals he was just trying to be nice to a woman who appeared to be having a nervous breakdown. A little more honesty—that this is some kind of incredible fantasy brought to life—would have been a lot more believable and, well, honest. The rationalization feels pandering and a bit patronizing.

It's an awkward and unconvincing scene, but the rest of the story, which has Kat and Charlie trying to get to know each other amidst the requirements of her fame and his ordinary life, is much better than that moment suggests—which isn't saying much but is saying something. The best moments here simply watch Kat and Charlie having something of a normal courtship, with late-night phone calls and evenings spent in and a trip to chaperone the school dance.

They talk—not with much depth, mind you, but beyond the gimmick and, for a while, without the distractions of other external obstacles. The fame is a problem, of course, which is a given that isn't explored as much as one might expect. It's not until later that Bastian tries to get between the two, and because his character is such a hollow representation of a nice and ordinary guy, Charlie's other big decision here is almost as unbelievable as the one that put him in this lucky situation in the first place.

Indeed, Wilson never quite gets past that deer-in-the-headlights discomfort of the big scene, but Lopez is being sincere and having some fun with this encapsulation and gradual dismantling of stardom. Like the whole premise of flipping the usual romantic-comedy gender roles, the climax has Kat being the one to make a grand, elaborate gesture, and there's some decent humor in watching the character try to get from New York to central Illinois on her own.

The surprise of Marry Me is that the movie does overcome its peculiar premise. Unfortunately, the resulting story relies far too much on the safe and the familiar.

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