Weddings regularly become one of the central events in cinema. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of films in which the wedding is the basis of the script. “My Pirate’s Wedding” tries to dilute the relatively standard romantic comedy approach to action elements. How successful it was for the authors of the film – read in the review below.

“My pirate wedding” / Shotgun Wedding

Genre romantic comedy, action movie

Director Jason Moore

In roles Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Coolidge, Callie Hernandez, Desmin Borges

Premiere cinemas

Release year 2023

Site IMDb

The plot of the film focuses on the wedding of Darcy (Jennifer Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel). The couple wants to celebrate it on a grand scale, so they chose a private island as the location, where relatives of the lovers also came. But the holiday quickly ends when the guests are taken hostage by thugs. They want $45 million in ransom. However, Darcy and Tom manage to escape. Now their goal is to survive on an island full of armed men, and at the same time try to somehow save the wedding.

Originally, the role of Tom was to be played by Ryan Reynolds. The script was largely written for him. However, the actor was unable to perform the role due to a busy shooting schedule. So he limited himself to the position of executive producer of the film.

And if you fantasize a little, the acting duo of Jennifer Lopez and Ryan Reynolds would look perfect on the screen. Reynolds is able to squeeze something interesting and funny even out of ordinary ideas. And their chemistry with Lopez would definitely be excellent. As a result, we would get a simple but fun film that would draw out the charisma of the main actors.

The problem is that Josh Duhamel is far from Ryan Reynolds. And let the actor try to play and seem like an attractive character, he still does not arouse any special sympathy. It’s nice to watch him only in tandem with Lopez, who turned out great in the film, but Duhamel alone is unlikely to be remembered after the credits roll.

As well as the whole film in general, because there aren’t any notable moments in it. Its basic concept is a combination of action and classic romantic comedy. But as a result, the authors failed to properly reveal any of the sides of their genre mix.

As a romantic comedy, the movie does not offer viewers anything new. At the level of jokes, it is maximum funny, but nothing more. Moreover, the humor here is quite fresh, almost monotonous. The script seems to be built in such a way as not to evoke anything stronger than a fleeting smile from the audience.

And how the action movie “My Pirate Wedding” does not show anything interesting. There are no inventive battles or interesting directorial finds. The film crew discards its only slightly unusual idea in the first third of the film’s duration. And then nothing remarkable happens at all.

Both as a romantic comedy and as a comedic action film, “My Pirate’s Wedding” is mediocre at best, no more. After all, the genres themselves often come into conflict with each other. The authors suggest watching gunfights, when the general mood is clearly pushing towards something romantic. And vice versa. This ultimately destroys the perception of history in the viewer’s mind.

The film’s structure and pace are constantly limping. Because of this, the already modest running time of 100 minutes seems unreasonably long, almost tired. The cinema is simply boring to watch, no matter what intrigues unfold on the screen.

Even the tropical island on which the events of the film take place, the authors managed to show faded and unforgettable. Too often the camera focuses on indistinct locations, which in principle could be anywhere. The film manages to reduce even the natural beauty of nature to something boring and inexpressive.

Here you can complain about the inexperience of director Jason Moore, for whom “My Pirate Wedding” is only his third full-length work. Moreover, both of his previous films were comedies. Therefore, the comedy part in Shotgun Wedding is still at least not bad. But this does not justify the general situation.

As a work of cinematography, “My Pirate’s Wedding” does not seem to know why it was born. And in the absence of self-determination, cinema is quite capable of leaving an unpleasant aftertaste on the soul after watching it.

Pros:
good chemistry between the main characters, sometimes good jokes

Cons:
as an action film, the film is very boring and does not work at all; romantic, comedic and action elements constantly conflict with each other, not allowing anything to be revealed; lackluster acting by everyone but Jennifer Lopez; general feeling of freshness and boredom while watching

Conclusion:

Maybe Ryan Reynolds could save My Pirate Wedding with his charisma. But it seems more like he avoided participating in an extremely mediocre movie. The film fails to impress on any of its modest levels. And against this background, it’s even a bit of a pity for Jennifer Lopez, who clearly deserves better than similar projects