It’s not a music video gets repeated over and over again as the camera’s follow Jennifer Lopez as she attempts to bring together her creative process as an artist, write a new album and then choreograph, perform the music and star in her own self funded movie to somehow try and tell a great love story.
I would say I am a big fan, even way back in the Jenny from the block days I always loved J Lo.
In the movie, I watched to the end but I did feel like ICK, it was slow, a bit cringe. Ben Affleck is in it, the documentary, but very relieved at the end the movie he doesn’t feature.
The movie tracks the writing and performing of the new album, the first for Lopez in years, although it is obvious the strain of the media, the project being misunderstood and her relationship with Affleck, reunited after 20 years and a break up days before a lavish Santa Barbarawedding plan in September, 2003 that never happened.
The film isn’t cohesive, it doesn’t come together in the way I think J Lo would have hoped. It gets a bit confused as it appears it’s about Ben and Jen’s love affair, which doesn’t feel that warm and fuzzy in the edit, more two ships that collided, smashed into each other and just couldn’t pull apart for whatever reason.
Affleck even talks on camera about how uncomfortable he is with his role as the muse in his artist wife’s need to express herself.
We also see J. Lo taking a lot of Criticism about her motives, and the stars she tries to cast to perform alongside her, including Monster in Law co star Jane Fonda, appear reluctant to participate. It’s certainly an uphill struggle when producers tell her the studio backing has pulled out and the 30 million needed to make it even on a shoestring budget Jennifer has to pay for herself to carry on.
I think fans will watch for all the unseen footage as J Lo battles with her demons inside her love story.
If you want to hear the album strangely you don’t find it here. There was a tongue in cheek suggestion: question why would a studio pay J Lo to make a marketing film for her new album. And I guess if she gave you the music, so selling the film by
Director Jason Bergh has been on it’s own merit I guess as a reality documentary drama.
To sum up, and I LOVE J. Lo and all she has achieved I don’t think it packs the punch her talent and creativity warrant.
I haven’t read other reviews. Would I want to listen to the album after watching if I wasn’t already a fan, not sure.
Image credit Unsplash https://gilribeiro.com/