What Is the Story About?
Pop icon Jennifer Lopez’s This Is Me Now: A Love Story is a fantasy drama and romantic saga rolled into one. Through a metaphorical Puerto Rican folk tale of a hummingbird in search for its beloved flower, JLo recounts her own tryst with love, heartbreak and finding love again.
This Is Me Now: A Love Story is written by Jennifer Lopez and Matt Wilson, and directed by Dave Meyers.
Performances?
As the character known only as ‘The Artist’, Jennifer Lopez turns on the charm like never before. She is dazzling and divalicious; beautiful and brilliant; vivacious yet vulnerable. She hooks you to her mesmerising screen presence and reels you in, until you have nowhere to go but where she wants you to – into the depths of the flighty story unfolding on screen.
The rest of the performances are all in the form of cameos, each more entertaining than the next. Jane Fonda, Trevor Noah, Post Malone, Sofia Vergara, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Keke Palmer, Jenifer Lewis, Kim Petras, Jay Shetty, and our very own Sadhguru are terrific as the lords of different Zodiacs. Fat Joe as The Therapist is excellent, as are the actors that play The Artist’s friends.
Ben Affleck makes several sneaky appearances — or should we say, his very distinctive jawline does. His other cameo appearance is a riot. Tony Bellissimo, Derek Hough, and Trevor Jackson as The Artist’s three husbands are aptly cast.
Analysis
This Is Me Now: A Love Story is a whimsical flight into fantasy, masquerading as a semi-autobiographical saga that recreates JLo’s very public and excessively scrutinized life through the prism of surrealistic fantasy. The movie is designed to be a companion piece to her music album ‘This Is Me…Now’, her first in ten years. The album was also launched today, alongside the film, and is a sequel to her 2002 album, ‘This Is Me…Then’.
Written by Lopez herself, along with Matt Wilson, the one-hour long movie is Jennifer Lopez’s way of putting her much-talked-about love life out on a petridish, for the world to dissect and discuss. This in itself makes This Is Me Now: A Love Story a very enchanting proposition. That it is lavishly mounted and brilliantly visualised is simply cherry on the cake.
The movie begins with a beautifully visualised rendering of a Puerto Rican folk tale of star-crossed lovers, who are forced to separate owing to societal pressure. The grief-stricken girl turns into a flower, while her lover turns into a hummingbird, perpetually in search of his beloved flower. The tale is a barely-concealed nod to Jennifer Lopez’s much-publicised breakup with then-beau Ben Affleck back in 2003, owing to excessive media and public attention.
Then follow several surreal, CGI-saturated sequences that depict The Artist’s slide down the rabbit hole of heartbreak, therapy and multiple love affairs on the rebound. Each phase of her life is showcased through gorgeously shot song-and-dance, each more otherworldly than the next. Of course, all the music comes from Jennifer Lopez’s latest eponymous album.
Sharp dialogue, witty humour and poignant moments lend watchability to the movie. Jennifer Lopez is perfectly shown as the eternal romantic, who watches ‘The Way We Were’ on loop, so much so that she knows Barbara Streisand’s dialogues by heart. Engaging interludes abound – her escapade at “Love Addicts Anonymous”; her fallout and then reunion with her concerned friends; a CGI-driven journey into her childhood; her realization of self-love before external love; and finally an energetic hat-tip to Gene Kelly’s Singin’ In The Rain – all of it is enchanting, except for the heavy use of CGI. The choreography is superb as well.
The best part of This Is Me Now: A Love Story, other than Jennifer Lopez of course, is the inspired casting of the innovatively portrayed Zodiac Council. Jane Fonda as the wise Sagittarius; Jenifer Lewis, with twice the sass, as the Gemini twins; Keke Palmer as the sharp Scorpio; Post Malone as majestic Leo; Trevor Noah as the egoistic Libra; Kim Petras as the good-hearted Virgo, are all well cast.
But the most inventive casting of the lot is that of astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson as the practical Taurus, and Sadhguru (gasp!) as Pisces. Imagine Sadhguru in a Hollywood movie! The entire movie is quirky, unconventional and whimsical, but in a good kind of way.
One might want to dismiss This Is Me Now: A Love Story as Jennifer Lopez’s very expensive ode to herself, and her real-life love story with Ben Affleck. But Lopez has put her heart and soul into the movie, — not to say, her heart out for all to see — and it shows. Just for that, This Is Me Now: A Love Story deserves a watch, if only just for once.
Music and Other Departments?
The music is all from Jennifer Lopez’s new album ‘This Is Me…Now’, and it is consistently good. The songs are lovely to hear, if a tad dated. Scott Cunningham’s cinematography is mesmerising. The electrifying visuals are the highlight of the movie. Adam Pertofsky’s editing is flawless.
Highlights?
Jennifer Lopez
Superb casting
Top notch production values
Mesmerising visuals
Technically brilliant
Drawbacks?
Too much CGI
Music video vibes
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes, mostly
Will You Recommend It?
Yes, as a one-time watch.
This Is Me Now: A Love Story Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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