Perhaps my “X” Trending settings are too skewed toward professional athletics, because I don’t know how This Is Me…Now: A Love Story starring Jennifer Lopez isn’t exploding everywhere worldwide. You will not see a stranger trailer for a movie in the year 2024.
This is already a lock for weirdest of the year. It won’t be close. We’re in January and I can confidently say that…
Before breaking this down in fuller detail, let’s be abundantly clear: JLo is one of the foremost pure artists on the planet. She’s defied aging, has made her share of hit movies, and oh yeah, she’s a megastar in the music world. Not to mention, she’s parlayed all of that into a successful career as an entrepreneur/businesswoman. Just wanted to get that out of the way. Her husband, Ben Affleck, is one of my acting heroes, so I’m not preemptively going to say with 100% certainty this movie is DOA. There’s an innate benefit of the doubt.
OK with all those qualifiers out of the way, I’m sorry, but This Is Me…Now: A Love Story seems like it could be one of the biggest-swinging passion project misfires of all-time.
Here’s what I think is happening: JLo has a studio album by the same name releasing on the same date as this borderline surrealist musical. I’d infer that the accompanying film is more of a glorified music video than a tightly-plotted, literal/traditional form of cinematic storytelling. Then again, look at the cast assembled for this! It’s a loaded lineup of celebrities…and Fat Joe playing the role of JLo’s therapist. Neil deGrasse Tyson is in this joint spewing profundities as well.
The one line in the trailer that drops out of nowhere and gives your jaw a workout is an apropos of hardly anything intervention, wherein one of JLo’s friends says, “We think you might be a sex addict.”
Umm…come again?
CUT TO: a colorful, happy, choreographed wedding dance number! Then, we get flashes of three different grooms on the same reception set next to the beautiful, allegedly uncontrollably horny bride. Oh, and then she’s in what looks to be a support group session for sex addicts, and they start dancing in the middle of a gym.
We also get this grand, mechanical set that’s supposed to represent the complexities of JLo’s human heart, or so my personal interpretation tells me. To cap it all off, how about a little homage to Singin’ in the Rain, followed by the final shot of JLo with a confused expression on her face.
I hope this turns out OK, or is just sort of an uneven cacophony of electrifying parts that don’t add up to a totally satisfying whole. Based on that trailer, with my reserve of about 10% benefit of the doubt still intact, it sure feels like this could be one of the most, shall we say, unusual entries in modern cinematic history.
This is the most confused I’ve been by any piece of a movie since I saw Hugh Jackman’s segment of Movie 43 for the first time a few months ago. Still haven’t recovered. Your brain will be in a complete bind trying to figure out how this footage was agreed upon to be shot in the first place.
