‘Shotgun Wedding’: Cast & Crew
Director: Jason Moore
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Coolidge, Sônia Braga, Cheech Marin, Callie Hernandez, Desmin Borges, D'Arcy Carden, Lenny Kravitz
Available On: Lionsgate Play
Duration: 1 Hour 40 minutes
‘Shotgun Wedding’: Story
Darcy (Jennifer Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel) gather their families for the ultimate destination wedding in the Philippines. However, the party goes kaput when the entire wedding is taken hostage by pirates. Now, it’s upon the bride and the groom to do some heroics and save their beloved guests. But the bridegroom is themselves in the middle of a huge fight and might end up killing each other before the pirates can get to them. What will ensue? Will the couple stop fighting? Will they be able to save anyone among their guests? Will there be some deep dark family secrets which would come out in the open now? Well, to find out all of that, you’ll have to watch the movie.
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‘Shotgun Wedding’: Performances
Jennifer Coolidge, by Jove, what a performance! She has a smaller screen time than the lead couple, but she makes the most use of it. Her performance is filled with humour, sexual innuendos, and whatnot! She simply stole the screen every time she was on, and you will be left wishing to see a spin-off based on her character.
Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel, the lead couple, have done their part decently. They’re funny as per the need of the situation. It’s not a very intense character, and they needed to be having fun and let loose of their inhibitions, and the duo has done that perfectly.
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Lenny Kravitz has been doled out a character that doesn’t do enough justice to his calibre and talent. He’s there for a short screen time but doesn’t get enough meat to show his prowess.
‘Shotgun Wedding’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects
Jason Moore has managed to keep the direction light and humorous. It’s the way he creates the situations that lead up to funny instances that will make you guffaw in almost every other scene.
Mark Hammer’s writing is the only thing about this which is a weak point. The story is indeed predictable. Especially if you’re someone who’s a fan of Indian films, you would realise that the storyline follows very similar tropes to many Indian films. Thus, the unpredictability of the story’s ending was zilch and you could figure out every move that would happen in every second scene.
Peter Deming wasted a great opportunity to film in the brilliant picturesque locales of the Philippines. Despite the story being set in a tropical island country, the film is almost shot entirely in a resort, which doesn’t allow the cinematography to explore a lot of the natural beauty of the exotic destination. Therefore the end product looks like any other wedding, and not like a destination wedding of sorts.
Doc Crotzer’s editing is crisp and doesn’t let the story drool at any point. Keeping the timing under 2 hours was a brilliant move, thereby not letting the audience start feeling bored at any instance.
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The music by Pinar Toprak is nothing too memorable. The background score is decent, but nothing is too exceptional.
‘Shotgun Wedding’: Can Kids Watch It?
Yes
Outlook’s Verdict
‘Shotgun Wedding’ is definitely a great time-pass film. The movie has its funny moments and makes you laugh from ear to ear at instances, despite the storyline being utterly predictable. It’s, however, a good One Time Watch. I am going with 3 stars.
