‘Shotgun Wedding’ movie reviews: What critics are saying about Jennifer Lopez’s romcom

The first reviews of Jason Moore’s romantic action comedy ‘Shotgun Wedding’ are out. Headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel, the film has not pleased critics so far. The film, written by Mark Hammer, has scored 27 per cent on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes after 11 reviews. Sônia Braga, Jennifer Coolidge, Lenny Kravitz, and Cheech Marin also star. The film has the couple Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel) gathering their families for a destination wedding. The couple begins to have cold feet and even worse, everyone is taken hostage. The film purports to combine humour and thrill elements. Though, the critics at least are not happy about it thus far. IndieWire’s Ella Kemp wrote, “These women find ways to turn dated rom-com beats into something a little sharper and wittier, even if it’s never quite enough to escape the film’s ocean of clichés.”

Variety’s Guy Lodge wrote, “Neither Moore’s direction nor Mark Hammer’s script lean enough into the absurdity of the situation for the film to take flight.” The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw was more positive. “There are some nice gags here, and smart twists from screenwriter Mark Hammer, and some funny supporting turns,” he wrote. Collider’s Tania Hussain was also kinder than others. “Sure, it has a few pacing issues and is formulaic from the get-go, but it’s still by rom-com standards, a naturally easy-breezy movie that takes fans on a trip to the delightfully sweet and balanced shrine of Lopez’s earliest submissions in the genre,” she wrote. The Wrap’s Elizabeth Weitzman wrote, “The story is perfunctory, the editing haphazard and the tone inconsistent. There’s too much violence for the escapist rom-com the dialogue suggests, and not enough adventure for the “Die Hard in Paradise” plotting.”

‘Shotgun Wedding’ releases on January 27 on Lionsgate Play in India.