Marry Me - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Marry Me



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Rom com’s are about as ancient and stereotypical of Hollywood fare as any action or horror movie is. But the genre has been beaten to DEATH over the years. The golden heyday of Rom Com’s was probably the 80s and early 90s, with the genre slowing down dramatically in the early 2000s, and really hitting the doldrums post 2008. Now, that’s not to say that we haven’t gotten good Rom Com’s since then, but that he frequency and quality of them has gone downhill as fast as the western did post 1980s. I saw the trailer for Marry Me and IMMEDIATELY rolled my eyes back into my head. The concept was beyond ridiculous, and I figured that it would die as quickly as my brain cells that watched the initial trailer. Color me just a bit surprised when I actually sit down with the film and end up enjoying what feels like a mid 1990s romantic comedy in both quality and tone.

The story is about as simple as one could hope for in this genre. Kat Valdez (J-Lo) is a pop star diva who is going to marry her fiancee singer Bastion (Maluma) on stage in front of a massive audience for all the world to see, only to find out seconds before she gets on stage that Bastion has been cheating on her with her assistant. Broken hearted and frustrated at the idea of being let down in love AGAIN, she decides to to point out a random member of the audience and have them come on stage and marry her. That random person just so happens to be Charlie (Owen Wilson), single math professor father or one who was just there to make his daughter Lou (Chloe Coleman) happy. Seeing the embarrassing situation that Kat is in, Charlie agrees to marry her on stage to salvage the situation.

After the initial rush wears off, the two of them realize that this was all what you would have expected from a rash decision. They don’t know each other, this can’t possibly work, but for some reason Kat says “why don’t we give this a go”?. The two awkward opposites figure, “what the hey, we’re already married, why not give ourselves a chance and go for something completely different?”. Yes, it’s silly, yes it would never happen in real life, but Marry Me actually goes through with that insane idea and makes...it...work.

J-Lo and Owen Wilson play off of each other really well, allowing their obvious differences in personality and careers actually work. Kat is exhausted of playing with the same pool of pop star celebrities, and it’s insanely refreshing to deal with a human being that isn’t in show business. Charlie is actually the one who has the most reservations as he knows that they’re both from different world. She has been catered to her entire career, and he’s reticent of allowing himself to get dragged into her world of paparazzis and cameras and world wide tours. Despite the cliché nature of the arrangement, and the goofy premise, this really feels like a 1990s rom com. J-lo and Owen are cute as a button, and the simplistic storyline doesn’t try to get bogged down with extraneous problems and curve balls. Instead, director Kat Coiro keeps things trim, clean, and straight to the point, which allows the film to bypass a lot of the filler material that can just KILL a romantic comedy.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for Some Language and Suggestive Material




Video:

Marry Me sports a nice looking digitally shot image for the romantic comedy, with plenty of fine details, VERY strong colors, but a weird camera lens that definitely throws you for a loop. It’s not a standout looking picture, but It’s a very stable looking one. There’s some mild softness throughout, but otherwise the digital image showcases great facial details, strong skin tones and more than enough details on clothing, or the on stage glitter when Kat sings. There’s no major signs of digital noise or artifacting anywhere, BUT there is an odd quirk of the film’s shooting style that really made me think something was wrong. That is, they used a strange fish eye like lens in more than a few shots that gives vertical stretch to the characters. At first I thought my Blu-ray player was acting up, but the more I looked and the more I asked around it appears to have been a choice by the director. It gives the outer edges of some scenes to be slightly distorted and stretched, and was REALLY obvious in the classroom scene (supposedly the director used it to get a wider angle shot because they were working in a really tiny classroom, but he also continued to use it for a lot of the rest of the film). It’s not going to affect the score at all simply due to being a stylistic choice and not affecting the clarity, but it is a really strange lens choice and had me scratching my head at first.











Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is good, never great, but still standarly good for a dramatic rom com flick. The musical numbers with J-Lo singing are obviously the highlight of the mix, adding in a wonderful amount of depth to the surround mixture, and some nice bass pop. The dialog is centered right up there in the center channel, and the mains get a healthy balance of reserved dialog centric scenes with simple background noise, and the hefty pump up of the musical bits. All in all, a good rom com track that does everything well.












Extras:

• FEATURE COMMENTARY – With Director Kat Coiro and Producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas
• DELETED SCENES
-- It's Coming Together
-- Plotting the Future
-- Is Everyone Happy?
-- Come to the Concert
-- What Am I Doing Here?
-- You're Married!
-- Having Fun at the Dance
-- Flight Status
• GAG REEL
• JENNIFER UNVEILED - Using raw, of-the-moment, b-roll shot on set throughout production, this piece will give audiences unprecedented access behind the scenes, showcasing close-up, intimate footage of Jennifer Lopez - actress and producer.
• BEHIND THE CAMERA: THE MAKING OF MARRY ME - Glitz, glamor, romance and music. Go behind the scenes in this making-of, for an up-close look at how powerhouse performer Jennifer Lopez and all-star director Kat Coiro are teaming up to put the swoon back on the big screen.
• TURN IT UP: THE MUSIC OF MARRY ME - Go inside the process with both J.Lo and Maluma as we discover what they wanted these songs to achieve, the stories and meanings behind them, and how they collaborated though countries apart.
• LIVE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - To create a fictional, epic, on-stage moment between Kat Valdez and Bastian, the production of Marry Me pulled off a REAL epic on stage moment between Jennifer Lopez and Maluma. Surprising a massive real-world audience of Maluma's at Madison Square Garden, Jennifer Lopez joined him on stage for one of the film's most powerful numbers. As we head backstage, we'll not only reveal how they pulled off such an exciting surprise, we'll also get an up-close look at international pop star Maluma.
• MARRIED WITH STYLE - Complete with eye-catching musical numbers, the nuptials of Kat and Bastian was meant to bring the house down IN STYLE! Now, visit Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City as the team behind this magical moment that could have been, breaks it down for us.
• "ON MY WAY" LYRIC VIDEO

Final Score: ​

Marry Me actually surprised me in that it was actually cute and funny, just like how a light a fluffy rom-com should be. It takes itself just seriously enough that it sells the story, but not so seriously that it become goofy and eye roll worthy. Yeah, the whole premise is out of this world, pants on heads stupid, but somehow it actually WORKS. Simply put, it’s a cotton candy rom com that gives you enough smiles and laughs to enjoy, but doesn’t exactly become a modern classic. Fun and fluffy.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Maluma
Directed by: Kat Coiro
Written by: John Rogers, Tami Sagher, Harper Dill
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French (Canada), Spanish DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 112 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: March 29th, 2022

Recommendation: Fun and Fluffy

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. I thought it was ok but man the theme song Marry Me is so cheesy lol.