Amazon’s ‘Shotgun Wedding’ a fun movie with explosions

By Matt Pascarella

Rated: R

Runtime: 1 hour, 40 minutes

A destination wedding can stressful; relatives don’t always get along or certain ones are driving you crazy. Throw in pirates who take everyone hostage, threaten their lives and now things are more than a little stressful.

On the day of Darcy and Tom’s wedding, tensions and nerves are running high. When pirates invade before the start of the ceremony, the two must figure out how to save their guests and themselves, while dealing with some pre-wedding jitters. This action-packed rom-com was good, clean – make that messy – fun.

“Shotgun Wedding” stars Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, Lenny Kravitz, Jennifer Coolidge, Cheech Marin, D’Arcy Carden, Callie Hernandez, Selena Tan, Alberto Isaac, Sonia Braga and Desmin Borges.

It’s the night before Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel) are supposed to get married. Tom is trying to make everything perfect. They are in the Philippines and the rehearsal dinner is already a lot. Darcy’s mom, Renata, (Braga) is telling her she doesn’t want her ex-husband’s girlfriend, Harriet (Carden) to smile at her. Tom is having trouble connecting with Darcy’s dad, Robert (Marin). On top of all this Darcy’s ex-fiancé, Sean (Kravitz) arrives unexpectedly.

Back in their room, Darcy tells Tom she would have been happy eloping. Carol (Coolidge) insists Tom spend the night apart from Darcy because it’s bad luck otherwise.

The ceremony hasn’t started and there is unknown trouble about to inhabit the island.

Tom is worried Darcy might call off the wedding because that’s what happened to her and Sean. Tom and Darcy get into an argument, but quickly set that aside when pirates attack and take the guests hostage.

Darcy and Tom escape but are being pursued by a few pirates. Once Darcy and Tom are caught, the pirates cuff the couple’s hands together.

Quick thinking on Darcy’s part and they are able to escape two of the pirates, but this puts them in a very close call.

The guests are making pleas with the pirates. Darcy and Tom catch up to the rest of the guests. They are able to separate themselves from each other and fend off an attacker.

A sincere moment shows maybe Darcy and Tom aren’t as sure about their relationship.

Tom surrenders to the pirates in order to keep Darcy and the resort owners (Tan and Isaac) safe. Tom takes a hostage and some truths come out. Those who are thought to have perfect marriages reveal they are not so perfect.

The pirates are mad, and things get worse.

After some intense action, Darcy tells Carol she really likes one of the gifts Carol gave her and Tom.

This was a great action movie that was funny, kind of bloody, but also kind of sweet. It does have mild language and violence. It took a few turns I did not see coming, which was part of the fun. Despite this very solid cast, I agree with Darcy that pirates or no pirates eloping may have been the way to go here.

Two cake knives up!

Available to stream on Amazon Prime. <