om’s perfect wedding on a small island near Philippines is invaded by a band of pirates. The bride and groom have to find a way to save their parents and the wedding party. A film by Jason Moore.

Darcy (Jennifer Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel) gather their families for their wedding in a beautiful resort on a small island near Philippines. Darcy never wants to have a big or even a formal wedding, but she reluctantly agrees to let her fiancé, a former minor-league baseball player, manage the wedding ceremony, the party, and everything.

Darcy came from a wealthy family, mostly her divorced dad Roberto (Cheech Marin) who left her mom Renata (Sônia Braga) for a yoga teacher Harriet (D’Arcy Carden). And they all show up at the wedding party.

Tom’s parents Carol (Jennifer Coolidge) and Larry (Steve Coulter) gives Darcy “something borrowed” cake knives which have been used by everyone in their family on the wedding day. It’s a symbol of good luck.

The awkwardness is getting worse when Sean (Lenny Kravitz), Darcy’s ex-fiancé lands his helicopter at the party. Tom is very much surprised to know that Darcy invited her ex. Darcy explains that her dad insisted on inviting Sean because he loves Sean like his own son, but Sean never RSVP’d.

The next morning, Tom gets a message from Darcy saying that she needs to talk with him before the wedding. They meet secretly outside the resort and get into a big fight. Darcy calls off the wedding and runs away.

On the other side of the island, a band of pirates invades the ceremony party and takes all wedding guests hostage. They demand 45 million dollars from Roberto but he refuses to pay unless they can prove that his daughter Darcy is still alive and safe.

Ryan Reynolds was first attached to star as lead in SHOTGUN Wedding in 2019 but he later left due to schedule conflict with Netflix’s project. Armie Hammer was selected to replace Ryan Reynolds in 2020 before dropping out in the wake of abuse allegations. Josh Duhamel was cast to replace Armie Hammer in 2021 with Ryan Reynolds served as executive producer. It didn’t look like a good start though.

This film is quite fun to watch. It’s romantic comedy with a twist on wordplay “Shotgun Wedding” which means an enforced or hurried wedding, especially because the bride is pregnant. But there’s literally a bride holding a shotgun in this film.

Although there’s almost nothing new in the plot. We all have seen something like this before and we can speculate the real villain from miles away. Don’t people think Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel are a bit too old for their roles? They look alright, but it may be better if they cast thirty-somethings instead.

Jennifer Coolidge once again successfully steals the show as always. I can’t just stop laughing every time she says nonsensical things. And how can Lenny Kravitz look like that at the age of 58?

SHOTGUN Wedding premiered in Singapore on 28 December 2022. Amazon Studio acquired the rights to the film and released on Prime Video on 26 January 2023.