All through her profession however notably during the last decade, Jennifer Lopez has earned the title of one of many busiest individuals within the leisure business. From performing on the Tremendous Bowl halftime present to churning out rom-com after rom-com to repurposing “Let’s Get Loud” at a presidential inauguration and headlining a Las Vegas residency, the multihyphenate is really every part all over the place.
It solely is smart that she would tax herself with a superfluous three-part undertaking revamping one among her highest-performing albums, 2002’s This Is Me… Then — not even throughout its anniversary, by the best way — all of which primarily serves to emphasise her persisting dominance in popular culture. (And oh yeah, her present state of bliss together with her husband, Ben Affleck.)
The primary a part of this trifecta, which features a forthcoming documentary and a brand new album out in the present day, is the Prime Video film This Is Me… Now: A Love Story. The trippy musical isn’t the kind of high-brow, experimental enterprise one may count on from a pop star of Lopez’s caliber (assume extra like a wacky Marvel movie than Beyoncé’s Lemonade). If something, This Is Me… Now is a affirmation of the singer/actress’s elite showmanship and her skill to bounce again as a cultural determine and power divorcée. It’s precisely the kind of galaxy-brained undertaking one makes when one has nothing to show and $20 million to spend — and one is excessive on love.
This Is Me… Now is a messy, green-screen fantasia — however to what finish?
From the second the film trailer dropped on social media, This Is Me… Now appeared primed for jokes about Lopez’s theater-kid-level earnestness and no matter Oscar-winner Ben Affleck deliberate on doing within the movie. (He’s nearly unrecognizable as a rambunctious information anchor, along with just a few different cameos.)
On one hand, it’s apparent meme materials. We’re speaking about Lopez right here, who has largely opted for maximalism over subtlety as a performer. (It is a lady who inserted a pole-dancing routine from her position in Hustlers right into a Tremendous Bowl halftime present, in any case.) And because the star of a slew of romantic comedies (Maid in Manhattan, The Marriage ceremony Planner, Second Act, Marry Me), she’s no stranger to reveling in cheesiness.
That being stated, the semi-autobiographical film depends so much on massive metaphors and unsubtle imagery. For instance, in a dream sequence, Lopez’s coronary heart is represented by an enormous, flamable equipment operated by dancing manufacturing unit staff and fueled by rose petals. But it surely in some way feels proper from the mind of such an iconic Leo, recognized for carrying her coronary heart on her sleeve.
The hour-long film opens with Lopez reciting the Puerto Rican delusion of Alida and Taroo, two star-crossed lovers from rival tribes. After Alida’s father forbids their romance, Alida prays to the gods for assist, who then flip her right into a purple flower. When Taroo asks the gods to assist him discover Alida, he’s reworked right into a hummingbird, main him on a continuous seek for his one real love. If you happen to’re fluent within the historical past of Bennifer and all of the tabloid scrutiny that adopted the primary spherical of their relationship, you’ll see the place all this allegory goes.
However earlier than Lopez can reunite together with her Prince Charming, we’re taken on a fantastical musical odyssey by means of her tumultuous, star-studded romantic historical past. Directed by notable music video director Dave Meyers, the movie is admittedly harking back to a few of his later, much less visually interesting work — from the overly shiny, video-game-like sheen to the depressingly gray-and-amber Zack Snyder look of the movie. The always rotating, borderline nauseating digicam angles delivered to thoughts his unlucky collaborations with Ariana Grande.
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In barely extra grounded moments— should you may describe any a part of this movie as grounded — Lopez is ready to overcome a vexing quantity of inexperienced display screen to convey one thing actual and thrilling. In a single notably enjoyable quantity the place she reimagines her three ill-fated marriages, she provides new life to the in any other case middling single “Can’t Get Sufficient.” In arguably the film’s strongest scene, she makes amends together with her youthful self for placing males earlier than her private happiness. That is additionally the place she performs the title monitor “This Is Me… Now,” a standout on an album that doesn’t appear to be brimming with hits.
In fact, Lopez’s penchant for astrology is included all through the movie. One of many funniest and most pleasurable elements is the Zodiac Love Council, who battle to match Lopez together with her one real love. The astrological gods are performed by a random however in some way pitch-perfect ensemble of celebrities together with Lopez’s Monster-In-Regulation co-star Jane Fonda, rapper-singer Submit Malone, actress Sofia Vergara, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, America’s sweetheart Keke Palmer, comic Trevor Noah, display screen legend Jennifer Lewis, and hyper-pop singer Kim Petras.
Oddly sufficient, these supporting characters have extra chemistry than you may count on and are as dedicated to the bit as Lopez is — and actually, isn’t dedication probably the most you possibly can ask for from an overstuffed self-importance undertaking?
The film isn’t as confessional as it’s possible you’ll assume
This Is Me… Now is extra disorienting than revelatory. The fast-paced, CGI-on-steroids ingredient seems like a purposeful distraction from the truth that viewers won’t be taught something about Lopez’s love life and psyche that she hasn’t been open about earlier than. If you happen to haven’t seen, she and Affleck have been extraordinarily public about their rekindling. Since reuniting in April 2021, the 2 have posed on quite a few purple carpets collectively, gushed over one another in interviews, starred in Dunkin’ commercials, and even recreated a second from the “Jenny From the Block” music video on a yacht for paparazzi.
The remedy scenes between Lopez and fellow Bronxite Fats Joe are nearly solely performed for laughs, revealing nothing novel, regardless of an ideal alternative within the movie for deeper introspection. Plus, the narrative explored in This Is Me… Now feels just like lots of her albums exploring her mishaps in love, together with Love?, her 2011 comeback album.
In her 2014 memoir True Love, she takes readers on the identical self-love journey, investigating her regrettable approaches to her previous relationships and what she describes as a bent to mistake ardour for real love. Even a hanging sequence within the movie the place Lopez dances with a risky accomplice inside a glass home isn’t notably stunning, on condition that in her guide, she writes about being “mentally, emotionally, verbally” abused by an unnamed ex.
A uncooked, extra clear piece of artwork would seemingly confront the general public’s therapy of her love life, on condition that the media’s ridicule and different exterior pressures, in accordance with Lopez, had been such an enormous a part of her and Affleck’s preliminary estrangement. It may no less than embody just a few enjoyable, lighthearted Easter eggs. Maybe she’s saving extra private anecdotes for her documentary, The Biggest Love Story By no means Advised, out February 27, however This Is Me… Now looks like a primary automobile for some juicy particulars about her previous.
This Is Me… Now is extra about J. Lo’s energy as a celeb than an artist
It’s a bit ironic that the factor Lopez’s character overcomes on this movie — a necessity for exterior validation — is what appears to be driving its existence. It’s onerous to not view the film inside the bigger context of Hollywood failing to take her severely as an actress, regardless of being some of the bankable film stars and turning over some genuinely good performances all through her profession.
For instance, Lopez has been open concerning the disappointment that was her failed Oscars marketing campaign for the 2019 film Hustlers, even capturing her tears throughout nominations morning in her Netflix documentary Jennifer Lopez: Halftime. Whereas the actress earned different massive awards nominations that yr, together with for the Display screen Actors Guild Awards and the Golden Globes — she already has a Golden Globe nomination for the 1997 movie Selena — the Hollywood institution appears hesitant to see her as way more than a industrial star. Such therapy has presumably triggered her to really feel like an “outsider” in Hollywood.
Regardless, it’s onerous to level to a second in time since her breakthrough within the late ‘90s when Lopez’s identify has not been within the public dialog, whether or not for her private life or skilled ventures.
Even initially questionable movie and tv roles, like starring within the NBC cop present Shades of Blue or lending her voice to the Ice Age franchise, now really feel like needed stepping stones in her trajectory. As an example, regardless of having a spotty, typically poorly reviewed filmography, her selections in tasks — notably rom-coms and two-handers — have no less than contributed to her particular model as a film star. Followers know what to anticipate from a traditional J. Lo film. It’s why she will star in a chaotic, objectively unhealthy rom-com, like 2022’s Shotgun Marriage ceremony, with none expectations past being usually entertaining and delivering nostalgia.
The identical resilience and ingenuity will be seen in her bumpy music profession, which noticed a downturn in 2007 following the discharge of her Spanish-language album Como Ama una Mujer and her return-to-pop-R&B album Courageous. Her choice to evaluate American Idol in 2011 — a stunning gig for a pop star at her degree of fame — gave her a platform to regain the nation’s curiosity in addition to promote new music. Plus, her Las Vegas residency, All I Have, from 2016 to 2018 would additionally set the stage for a revival of her musical catalog.
All in all, Lopez’s profession has demonstrated reinvention and, extra importantly, redemption that not many can emulate. Her dedication is, in fact, the results of a celeb tradition that enjoys constructing ladies up till they’re deemed previous their prime. For ladies of coloration, this cycle will be extra brutal. Nonetheless, it’s traditionally resulted in a few of our most fascinating divas and pop cultural tales.
This Is Me… Now is an announcement of Lopez’s cultural resilience, if not simply her skill to rebound from a foul relationship and discover herself in one other attention-grabbing energy couple. She’s the sort of superstar who could make sense out of any inventive choice, together with funding a self-important long-form music video based mostly on her remedy periods. There’s a degree of shamelessness (and megalomania) required in crafting a film like this, but it surely’s the kind of unabashed confidence that makes our superstar ecosystem go spherical.
