“Shotgun Wedding” Opens With a Jennifer Lopez Romantic Comedy That Fails Miserably

Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Lopez in "Shotgun Wedding." Ana Carballosa/Lionsgate

That assessment holds true for "Shotgun Wedding," which packs both barrels with Jennifer Lopez, late replacement Josh Duhamel, and Jennifer Coolidge and still shoots blanks, despite the fact that the odor of death surrounds movies when they go directly to streaming. Even that invitation is worth turning down because the movie is distributed through Amazon in the US.

Even for an action comedy, this Lopez-produced effort is disproportionately biased toward including as much of the trailer's enticing imagery as can, starting with the image of Coolidge raising an automatic weapon to protect the wedding party. She may be hot off "The White Lotus," but the tedious execution cannot be made up for.

Due to the casting of Duhamel to replace Armie Hammer, who quit the project in 2021 due to unfavorable reports about his dealings with several women, the movie gains possibly its most intriguing side element. The new docuseries "House of Hammer" went into detail about those concerns over his social media activities.

Although one might question the math behind Coolidge playing Duhamel's mother, there is little doubt that the casting change is not the issue. The bigger error was leaving the cast behind in a stunning location (the Dominican Republic, which served as a stand-in for the Philippines), and bringing such a moth-eaten script with them.

Baseball superstar Tom (Duhamel) has meticulously prepared for his destination wedding to Darcy (Lopez), which will take place on an exclusive island. Her stylish ex-boyfriend (Lenny Kravitz), who showed up there without having RSVPed, set up an argument between the two of them, and while they are arguing, a group of heavily armed pirates arrive and kidnap the rest of the wedding party.

In "Shotgun Wedding," Jennifer Lopez appears with D'Arcy Carden and Cheech Marin as her father and his new fiancée. Ana Carballosa/Lionsgate

Given the strengths of the film, masks are a good choice. The masked intruders demand that Darcy's affluent father (Cheech Marin) sign over millions of dollars as payment. She and Tom awkwardly switch into Rambo mode, conducting a guerilla war against the pirates while continuing to bicker during their downtime. But he won't until he is certain that Darcy is safe.

The movie is directed by Jason Moore ("Pitch Perfect"), and it includes a few really remarkable stunts (again, the trailer shows them all), including Darcy and Tom attempting to zipline to safety. The majority of the time, though, this is a haphazard attempt on practically every level that seems to have been marketed almost solely on the promise of seeing Lopez race through the forest in a torn wedding gown.

The simultaneous release of Lopez's most disappointing marriage-themed rom-com, "Marry Me," in cinemas and on the streaming service Peacock highlights the difficult commercial environment for this genre, quality difficulties apart.

Even while "Shotgun Wedding" will have a limited theatrical run in some foreign countries, its streaming launch relieves those behind it from one potential box office embarrassment: hosting a spectacular party and having almost no one turn up.

The Shotgun Wedding movie is streaming on Prime Video now. View the brand-new trailer and the official summary below:

On January 27, "Shotgun Wedding" will have its US debut on Amazon and a few international cinemas. R is the rating.