Why So Blu?

Marry Me (Blu-ray Review)

Romantic comedies started getting a bit of a bad rap somewhere in the 00s. Sure, there were plenty of them, and yes they have their tropes. But, that’s really what they are. We are fine with action films, comic book films and horror movies having them, why are romantic comedies such low hanging fruit? Re-inventing them or making them ironically can get tired as well. Low and behold, here comes Marry Me, which just jumps in and makes a straight up (I guess…”old school”) romantic comedy and doesn’t look back. It arrived on Blu-ray on March 29th, coming with plenty of featurettes for the film which did a day and date theater/Peacock release. You can order yourself a copy of the film by using the paid Amazon Associates release following the review.

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Film

Kat Valdez (Lopez) is half of the sexiest celebrity power couple on Earth with hot new music supernova Bastian (Maluma, making his feature-film debut). As Kat and Bastian’s inescapable hit single, “Marry Me,” climbs the charts, they are about to be wed before an audience of their fans in a ceremony that will be streamed across multiple platforms.

Divorced high-school math teacher Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson) has been dragged to the concert by his daughter Lou (Chloe Coleman, Big Little Lies) and his best friend (Sarah Silverman). When Kat learns, seconds before the ceremony, that Bastian has cheated on her with her assistant, her life turns left as she has a meltdown on stage, questioning love, truth and loyalty. As her gossamer world falls away, she locks eyes with a stranger—a face in the crowd.

If what you know lets you down, then perhaps what you don’t know is the answer, and so, in a moment of inspired insanity, Kat chooses to marry Charlie. What begins as an impulsive reaction evolves into an unexpected romance. But as forces conspire to separate them, the universal question arises: Can two people from such different worlds bridge the gulf between them and build a place where they both belong?

Marry Me is a throwback romantic comedy to the early 2000s early in the most charming and refreshing of ways. The film doesn’t set out than to be anything more than just a movie and doesn’t make any apologies for the kind of film it is and the story and characters it is embracing. There’s a desire to follow along and dive deep into the tropes and blueprints of the films that came before or it, but not in an ironic way and without a character or lines of dialogue to the audience to belittle it to make someone feel comfortable for taking it in. Nope, this one says “deal with it” and feels like a nice fully formed, honest movie because of it.

If there’s any edge or interesting factor here, its comes from director Kat Coiro, She’s handled a lot of more interesting television in more recent years, and soon is to be handling She-Hulk over on Disney+. Her ideas pop on the screen with the use of intercut footage of a more “news” or “reality” based look to it. But, she’s also playing with lenses throughout the film. And Coiro’s film isn’t like a lot of our franchise blockbusters now-a-days from TV people jumping to feature film, she knows how to make this thing feel much bigger and shows that she just can’t direct TV when doing film. I know that sounds silly, but there’s a difference, and many of our blockbusters are just passing off glorified TV productions as big films nowadays.

The film fills out the cast with more than capable people who ace whatever it is asked. Sarah Silverman is always welcome and newcomer Maluma is pretty impressive. Lopez not only brings her rom com master chops to this, but she provides and performs some songs in the film that are both of quality and (intentional) parody. They give the movie a nice mark of credibility and something to beef it up and really make her character bankable. And of course, Own Wilson does his Owen Wilson thing, but he’s a consummate professional in playing the straight person and allowing others to get silly around him. His performance allows for the film to have some ground to it.

Amidst a crowd of colleagues, Marry Me would just be that season’s flavor. But in a world where we have to be ironic or call out tropes or narrative styles in order to be okay with going through them again, the fact that Marry Me carries it with a badge of honor makes it something more special in 2022. No, its not the bees knees, but its honey tastes just fine and you’ll have yourself a pretty good time.

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: Marry Me arrives on Blu-ray for the very first time with a pretty solid presentation but does feel like it could have some room for improvement. Its a crisp and clear image with great moments, but nothing too striking. Details and textures are pretty pertinent in the information on display. Colors could be a bit more vivid, but they are above average. A solid transfer, but for a new movie, it could have been better, looking more akin to some digitally shot straight to video movies.

Depth: Depth of field is pretty solid with good separation and spacing but indoors and out. Movements are smooth and natural with no issues with an sort of rapid motion related distortions.

Black Levels: Black levels can get pretty decently deep though sometimes appear as a more light gray. Not much in the way of information getting swallowed in darker corners or patterns and textures not being discernible. No crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction: Colors are decently bold, but also somewhat a bit muted or slightly washed out. Some moments can’t help but radiate, like the concerts and such.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent from start to finish of the film. Facial features and textures are plenty discernible in close ups and most medium shots.

Noise/Artifacts: None

Audio

Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD MA, French 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English Descriptive Video Service

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Dynamics: Like the video transfer, this 5.1 mix is enough to do the trick, but leaves plenty of room to be much better. Its not a very impactful one on the low end. And you’ll also be tempted to turn it up. Sure, its a rom-com, but this one has many concert moments that could have brought a lot more to the experience.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer does merely fine. The bass is a bit light on the concert scenes as well as the score/music used in the film. Regular foley effects for things is solid but moreso lightly brushed into scenes.

Surround Sound Presentation: This mix does come to play in terms of building up ambiance or filling your viewing space with some effective sound. It travels accurately and sometimes playfully.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp.

Extras

Marry Me comes with the DVD edition and a redeemable digital code.

Audio Commentary

• With Director Kat Coiro and Producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas

Deleted Scenes (HD, 5:27)

Gag Reel (HD, 1:45)

Jennifer Unveiled (HD, 11:49) – Jennifer Lopez talks about the film, how she relates to it, what it  represents for her as a celebrity and so on and so forth.

Behind The Camera: The Making of Marry Me (HD, 5:28) – Kat Coiro opens talking her attraction to the film being an old school romantic comedy. The idea of “Roman Holiday meets Notting Hill” being the backbone of the movie as we get a quick tale of the production of the film.

Turn It Up: The Music Of Marry Me (HD, 5:52) – Talks about the songs provided in the film and how Jennifer Lopez and Maluma provided music that was fitted to be for the characters and their working on the material.

Live At Madison Square Garden (HD, 4:41) – This featurette goes over Jennifer and Maluma’s work together on the film. Coiro says the authenticity of them is key to making the film work. It then shifts to the use of Madison Square Garden in the film and how it came be.

Married With Style (HD, 5:03) – This piece focuses on the pop shows that appear in the film and what went into producing them.

“On My Way” Lyric Video (HD, 3:09)

Summary

Marry Me is a pretty charming, delightfully straightforward romantic comedy. It embraces its genre and comes with plenty of fun from its cast. Universal brings it to Blu-ray with a solid presentation, both in audio and video. Extras are kind of fluffy, but there’s plenty of material here (The commentary by Kat Coiro is a good touch for more introspective material) to make for a rock solid package for those picking up the movie.

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