''Shotgun Wedding'' is a 2022 American

romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

action comedy 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, Sônia Braga,

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 and the Dominican Republic, ''Shotgun Wedding'' was released in Singapore on December 28, 2022, and was released on January 27, 2023, by Amazon Studios via Prime Video.

Plot

Tom, Darcy and their families gather for an ultimate destination wedding 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 attached to star, '' Pitch Perfect''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 and David Hoberman of Mandeville Films would produce the film alongside Reynolds through his production company Maximum Effort. Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and Benny Medina joined as producers of the film through Nuyorican Productions in October 2020.

Casting

On October 27, 2020,

was cast as the female lead. Armie Hammer 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, Josh Duhamel entered early negotiations to replace Hammer, with his casting confirmed the following month. Sônia Braga and

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

, D'Arcy Carden, Selena Tan, Desmin Borges, and

Alex Mallari Jr. Alex Mallari Jr. (born 19 February 1988) is a Canadian actor of Filipino ancestry. He is known for his performances in the Syfy television series ''Dark Matter'' (2015–2017), Netflix feature film ''The Adam Project'', and the Netflix series '' ...

were cast. On May 7, 2021, Callie Hernandez and Steve Coulter 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 Boston and the Dominican Republic. Lopez announced on

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that principal photography had officially wrapped on April 22, 2021.

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released theatrically by Lionsgate on June 29, 2022. In March 2022, Amazon Studios acquired the rights to the film for a streaming release on Prime Video, 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