''Shotgun Wedding'' is a 2022 American romantic

action comedy Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of actio ...

film directed by Jason Moore and written by Mark Hammer. It stars

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

Josh Duhamel Joshua David Duhamel (; born November 14, 1972) is an American actor and former fashion model. After various modeling work, he made his acting debut as Leo du Pres on the ABC daytime soap opera ''All My Children'' and later starred as Danny McC ...

Sônia Braga Sônia Maria Campos Braga (; born 8 June 1950) is a Brazilian actress. She is known in the English-speaking world for her Golden Globe Award–nominated performances in '' Kiss of the Spider Woman'' (1985) and ''Moon over Parador'' (1988). She ...

Jennifer Coolidge Jennifer Audrey Coolidge (born August 28, 1961) is an American actress known for her roles in comedic film and television particularly in American Pie (series), ''American Pie'' film series (1999–2012), Legally Blonde (franchise), ''Legally Bl ...

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...

, and

Cheech Marin :''The surname'' Marin ''is of Spanish language origin. In Spanish, it is spelled'' Marín'', with an acute accent on the'' í. Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American actor, musician, comedian, and activist who gained ...

. After being filmed from February to April of 2021 in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

, ''Shotgun Wedding'' was released in Singapore on December 28, 2022, and was released on January 27, 2023, by

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

via

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service prim ...

Plot

Tom, Darcy and their families gather for an ultimate

destination wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage ...

on a private island in the Philippines. Just as the couple are away arguing about the wedding, their guests are taken hostage. The pirates demand $45 million dollars from Darcy's wealthy father Robert. He refuses to pay until he is assured that Darcy is alive. Darcy and Tom are captured apart from the wedding party, but manage to escape their captors, killing one of the pirates. As they try to evade recapture, Darcy and Tom air their respective doubts about the wedding. Cornered hiding in a vault beneath the manager's office, Tom surrenders to them so Darcy can stay hidden. When he rejoins the rest of the wedding party, Tom reveals that Darcy's ex-fiancé Sean had hired the pirates. With his plot exposed, Sean goes to hunt down Darcy, taking Robert's girlfriend Harriet as a hostage. Meanwhile, Darcy joins Tom and the rest at the pool where she and Tom admit that they still want to marry each other. The wedding party members realize that Harriet was in on the plot with Sean. Tom convinces the two pirates standing guard to let them complete the wedding ceremony. Darcy's dad said he would release the money if they let them get married. As the guests sing " I'll Be", Tom and Darcy rush the pirates, and Darcy takes a grenade off of one. One pirate surrenders; the other runs off, then begins firing on the venue. Tom's mother Carol grabs a weapon from the ground and returns fire. Darcy throws the grenade in the air so Tom can bat it at the pirate, who is blown up in the explosion (which also sets off the fireworks that had been staged for the wedding celebration). As the wedding party goes to safety, Darcy and Tom race to get help, but are confronted on the dock by Sean. Tom fights him, then Tom and Darcy escape in a boat. Harriett tries to stop them in a helicopter. Sean, who had been dragged by a rope with the boat, climbs aboard and fights Tom again while Darcy drives the boat. A

parasail Parasailing, also known as parascending, paraskiing or parakiting, is a recreational kiting activity where a person is towed behind a vehicle while attached to a specially designed canopy wing that resembles a parachute, known as a parasail w ...

is released, taking Tom and Sean into the air. Tom zips down the line to the boat deck. Tom and Darcy cut the line, sending the parasail loose into the helicopter's rotors, which kills both Sean and Harriet. Back on the beach, as authorities take the remaining pirates into custody, Tom and Darcy get married.

Cast

Production

Development

The film was first announced on January 29, 2019, with

Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian-American actor. He is one of the highest-grossing film actors of all time, with a worldwide box-office gross of over billion. He began his career starring in the Canadian teen ...

attached to star, ''

Pitch Perfect ''Pitch Perfect'' is a 2012 American musical comedy film directed by Jason Moore and written by Kay Cannon. It features an ensemble cast, including Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Skylar Astin, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Hana Mae Lee, Alexis Knap ...

''s Jason Moore directing and Mark Hammer writing the screenplay alongside

Liz Meriwether Elizabeth Hughes Meriwether (born October 11, 1981) is an American writer, producer and television showrunner. She is known for creating the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'', and for writing the play ''Oliver Parker!'' (2010) and the romantic comedy film ...

Todd Lieberman Todd Darren Lieberman (born February 20, 1973) is an American film and television producer. He founded Hidden Pictures Media in 2022 and won an Emmy for Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers in 2022. He co-founded Mandeville Films and Television with ...

and

David Hoberman David Elliot Hoberman (born September 19, 1952) is an American film and television producer, best known as the co-creator and executive producer of the USA Network television series ''Monk'', and the founder and co-owner of Mandeville Films. He h ...

Mandeville Films Mandeville Films is an American film production company headquartered in Burbank, California. Founded in 1995 by film producer David Hoberman, the company re-formed as Mandeville Films and Television in 2002 after a short hiatus for three years, ...

would produce the film alongside Reynolds through his production company Maximum Effort. Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and

Benny Medina Benny Medina (born January 24, 1958) is an American record executive, talent manager, and television producer. Early life and education Medina was born in East Los Angeles, California, of Dominican parents into a poor family. The death of hi ...

joined as producers of the film through

Nuyorican Productions Nuyorican Productions, Inc. is an American production company founded by Jennifer Lopez and Benny Medina. History Lopez owns the film and television production company Nuyorican Productions, which was launched as early as 2001. It was co-foun ...

in October 2020.

Casting

On October 27, 2020,

was cast as the female lead.

Armie Hammer Armand Douglas Hammer (born August 28, 1986) is an American actor. Hammer began his acting career with guest appearances in several television series. His first leading role was as Billy Graham in the 2008 film '' Billy: The Early Years'', and ...

replaced Reynolds (who eventually served as executive producer for the film) as the male lead in the film before dropping out in January 2021 in the wake of abuse allegations against him. On January 19, 2021,

entered early negotiations to replace Hammer, with his casting confirmed the following month.

and

were also cast in starring roles. On February 16, 2021,

D'Arcy Carden D'Arcy Beth Carden (born Darcy Beth Erokan, January 4, 1980) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her starring roles as Janet in the NBC sitcom ''The Good Place'' (2016–2020) and Greta Gill in the Prime series ''A League ...

Selena Tan Selena Tan (born 1971) is a Singaporean executive producer, director, writer and actress. She is best known as one of the cabaret trio, the Dim Sum Dollies. In 2000, Selena founded Dream Academy, which produced a variety of performance shows. E ...

Desmin Borges Desmin Borges (born 1983/1984) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Edgar Quintero on the FX (TV channel), FX/FXX comedy-drama ''You're the Worst''. Borges grew up in Chicago and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater at DeP ...

, and Alex Mallari Jr. were cast. On May 7, 2021,

Callie Hernandez Callie Marie Hernandez (born May 24, 1988) is an American actress known for her roles in the films ''Blair Witch'' (2016), ''La La Land'' (2016), '' The Endless'' (2017), and '' Alien: Covenant'' (2017). Early life Hernandez was born in Jacksonvi ...

and

Steve Coulter Steve Coulter is a team owner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.Covitz, Randy (2003) "NASCAR trucks season preview: Rookie Kvapil moves in to championship truck", ''Kansas City Star'', 2003-02-16 His team, Xpress Motorsports, won the Truck Seri ...

joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Filming was originally planned to commence in the summer of 2019, but was later rescheduled to February 22, 2021, with shooting taking place in

and the

. Lopez announced on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

that

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

had officially wrapped on April 22, 2021.

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released theatrically by

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

on June 29, 2022. In March 2022,

acquired the rights to the film for a streaming release on

, released on January 26, 2023. Lionsgate retained international theatrical rights for the film due to US regulations on theatrical policy. It was released in Singapore (via Encore Films), and was released on the streaming service on January 27, 2023.

Reception

References

External links

* {{Jennifer Lopez 2022 action comedy films 2022 romantic comedy films 2020s romantic action films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films American action comedy films American romantic comedy films American romantic action films Films about dysfunctional families Films about hostage takings Films about interracial romance Films about weddings Films directed by Jason Moore Films impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films produced by David Hoberman Films produced by Todd Lieberman Films scored by Pinar Toprak Films set in the Philippines Films shot in Boston Films shot in the Dominican Republic Girls with guns films Lionsgate films Mandeville Films films Nuyorican Productions films Pirate films