Shotgun Wedding is a new romantic comedy directed by Jason Moore. If that name sounds familiar, he was also the director of Pitch Perfect, a fantastic comedy. The platform it plays on is Amazon Prime Video. This film stars Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel as we follow them to their destination, ‘shotgun wedding.’

Their two distinctly different families come together for a reunion like no other; with a turn of events, the ceremony gets crashed by gunmen who take everyone hostage. Now, Darcy (Jennifer Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel) must work together to save their loved ones from danger. The twist is Darcy and Tom are on quite the outs, having just gotten into a big fight before the ceremony. Through this turn of events, the audience is taken on a wild ride as the bride and groom try to save the day before they kill each other.

I did not read the description beforehand, so I had no idea what to expect from this film. This was such a surprising movie with twists and turns at every corner. I did not expect it to be as good as it was, to be honest. This was not only a comedy but had tons of other elements which brought such excitement to the screen. The amount of action was just enough to include with everything else that was going on in the plot. Even the title of “Shotgun Wedding” is so clever, which I love. It brought in many aspects of suspense but also the overarching theme of love.

To begin, I must admit, it takes a second to get into this film. The audience is placed right in the madness, to begin with, the bride and groom’s welcome dinner. We meet the families who slow down at the beginning of the film. Instead of having exposition, the audience is thrown into the event.

Josh Duhamel’s character, Tom, was one that we hadn’t seen from him before, which was interesting. Tom appears more self-conscious and nervous most of the time, which is sometimes a little forced or awkward. He is set as a ‘perfectionist’ though everything goes wrong. Maybe this adds to the character itself, but it sometimes felt a little out of place.

Jennifer Lopez’s character was somewhat forced as well. She was set to be this strong, self-righteous woman character, but many times contradict this. The overall acting wasn’t bad, but the plot helped reel the audience in, not the acting. Interestingly, the casting crew picked two well-known names to play the main characters together, so I have a feeling that drew in some of the audience to watch this film. On the other hand, I feel that with such a silly movie, they could have mixed in some other characters that had their time to shine too.

Not only were their two prominent star actors as the main characters, but the side characters also included some familiar faces. One character that I loved was Jennifer Coolidge’s character, Carol. Though Jennifer Coolidge may play the same role in each of her movies, I would have to say that I still find it quite laughable. She was such a unique character, giving an extra boost of life into the scenes she was in. I enjoyed watching her character throughout the film. Even the writing of this film was witty. At times, it could feel a little forced, but nothing terrible. Overall, the dialogue was not great, and I feel it could have been executed better.

Moving on to cinematics, the background and set of this film itself were terrific. Having a different location, being an island in the Philippines, mixed up the scenery with all kinds of environments. This kept things exciting and made it easy to watch. They took us through a range of locations from beach to forest to hotel, allowing the audience to feel the surroundings.

Also, I thought the costumes were well done. The outfits stayed the same throughout the movie, and the events that these characters endured were slightly altered. With each fight the characters had to go through, the outfit reflected their struggles.

I think it was a good balance of activities and connection to the characters. Throughout the movie, we saw different sides of each character, which allowed the audience to connect more with the storyline.

Having said that, the storyline was not profound or revolutionary. This movie was more fun than intellectual, if that makes sense. There was not a lot that was asked from the audience; instead, we could sit back and watch where this was going, which is a different vibe, but not a bad one. Overall, just having a message of love is what I could gain from this.

I give this movie 3.8 stars out of 5.

In conclusion, I thought this movie was easy to watch. It was entertaining and better than expected. In a sense, I liked that I knew these actors too, so it was fun to see some new characters. Though it is action-packed, I feel it is on the more light-hearted side of things, which is an excellent relief. If you are looking for a fun movie to watch whenever this one is perfect to throw on for many different occasions.