At minute one of ‘An explosive wedding’, and looking at the poster, you already know what its exact development will be and how it will end. There is nothing wrong with falling into predictability (there are those who derive peace of mind and calm from it), but one cannot help but feel that in the film the automatic pilot has been put on, avoiding hooliganism and everything that comes out of an almost telegraphed plot that falls into all the clichés and, within its apparent (only apparent) break with the established, never ceases to be entertaining. What you take
you got married, you screwed up
During the first bars of ‘An Explosive Wedding’, Jennifer López insists that she has set up the wedding only with her money and does not need monetary help from her father. She knows she’s a bit seedy, but she’s done what she can. The “slightly seedy” wedding takes place at a resort on a paradise island in the Philippines packed with food, drink and activities. As a viewer, you are already forced to sigh and think about what This is the view of a poor marriage held by wealthy Americans.
But when they are already on the island, of course, the pirates arrive, who speak another language and are therefore dangerous. Luckily they carry guns and grenades, so Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel will be able to fight their way through the jungle and save everyone while taking down the bad guys. This is a middle-class power fantasy that has gotten out of hand: the script does not worry about being credible, the director does not try to get out of mediocrity and the actors are aware of the holidays they are paying for.
I don’t want to say that ‘Blow Up Wedding’ is a bad movie. It is, in reality, a nineties entertainment full of shots, characters who make questionable decisions, very bad foreigners and very good Americans who risk everything to the chemistry between its two protagonists. A chemistry that fluctuates but is never there, partly because the couple, arguing half an hour after getting married, don’t seem made for each other… And it’s hard to root for a film couple with more strain than love.
what you need is pain
Ryan Reynolds was originally going to star instead of Duhamel, and he really he was a better choice for a character who lacks the rogue and fun tinge on which the ‘Deadpool’ actor could have worked. As much as the movie wants us to fall in love with him, the most hilarious thing he does is ignore the requests for sex from his girlfriend (I repeat: Jennifer López) to make centerpieces with a pineapple and lights. I don’t know who lied to them saying this was funny.
‘An Explosive Wedding’ seems to be afraid of upsetting someoneand for this reason he always stays on the softest side possible, without making risky decisions and hammering the twist that is to come so much that it does not even surprise (and, incidentally, legitimizes the toxic behavior of one of the characters). It never stops being a salad of shots, explosions and slapstick more or less well carried outbut it could have been much more… And it is not.
Despite my objections (which I will not hide), I also believe that this type of films have to exist as comfort cinema, the kind in which there is no risk and feels like a warm blanket on a cold day. Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel at a wedding that goes wrong and for which they are going to have to arm themselves to the teeth fighting pirates? Lenny Kravitz as secondary? Few more silly and entertaining afternoons can be spent as one with the sofa.
Crash! Boom! Bang!
You will know Jason Moore, the director, better for that hilarious satire with which he debuted a decade ago, ‘Pitching the note’. After that bombing, he has been lurching in the industry for a while without finding the key to success again. Moore does not want to stand out more than necessary, staying in a role of simple narrator, effective but not groundbreaking.
Generally, it is impossible not to have the feeling that ‘An Explosive Wedding’ could have been so much more without ceasing to be this icon of filmic predictability and neutrality. It would suffice with some more poignant dialogues, some secondary ones that go beyond the cliché (friend who sleeps with a bridesmaid, rich father, divorced couple who can’t stand each other) and action scenes a little more original or, at least, did not feel like something seen a thousand times. I know that we have to judge what we have and not what we could have, but it is inevitable.
In general, the big problem with the tape is that It lacks something vital to stand out today: personality. He is that student who always gets enough to move on but whose teachers never finish learning their names. It is as flat as necessary for an audience that doesn’t always want to see masterpieces and just wants to take a nap between shots, grenades, pirates, regular weddings and Lenny Kravitz making the camera fall in love. I’m not glad I saw her, but frankly, I’m glad she exists.