Marry Me (2022) * * *

 

Directed by:  Kat Coiro

Starring:  Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Sarah Silverman, John Bradley, Maluma, Chloe Coleman

Sure, the setup of Marry Me is preposterous, because most romantic comedies are ludicrous by nature.  But, Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson make a sweet couple and we root for them to fall in love and stay that way.   Marry Me stars Lopez as Kat Valdez, a singer as famous as Jennifer Lopez who is all set to marry her boyfriend Bastian (Maluma) in front of a worldwide audience when video leaks out of Bastian cheating on Kat with her assistant.   The nuptials to Bastian are off, but just to save face, Kat (decked out in a wedding gown) picks the nerdy math teacher Charlie (Wilson) out of the audience because he happens to be holding his friend's sign which reads Marry Me.   Kat takes this as a proposal, accepts, and Charlie goes along mostly because he doesn't want to see Kat humiliated.  

Charlie is a kind soul whose world is turned upside down because of his "marriage" to Kat.   Is it even legal?   Who cares?   Kat decides against her manager's suggestion to pay Charlie off to make him go away and actually stay married to Charlie.   They get to know each other.   Charlie loves teaching math and running his school's math club.  He doesn't want any disruptions to his life, but such things are inevitable when you agree say "I do" to one of the most famous women on Earth.   He's followed by paparazzi, but he takes things in stride because he finds he and Kat have more in common than they think.

Kat and Charlie go from friends to lovers, but take time to talk and to learn about each other.   Of course, there will be complications.   Bastian will weasel his way into the picture in a last-ditch effort to win Kat back, causing Charlie to feel insecure and leave Kat.   You know what will happen next, but yet it doesn't matter.   We watch movies like Marry Me for the same reasons we eat comfort food, because they provide a sense of security and we know what we're getting.   

Lopez and Wilson can play these people in their sleep, but instead they provide Kat and Charlie with warmth and sincerity.   They're decent people and they're lovable, which is more than half the battle in allowing Marry Me to work on its own terms.