Jennifer Lopez 'This Is Me...Now: A Love Story' review: Romance with Ben Affleck
The "narrative-driven cinematic odyssey" explained
When early teasers for the Jennifer Lopez film This Is Me...Now: A Love Story, described the Prime Video project as "a narrative-driven cinematic odyssey," we'll admit we really just didn't understand what this was going to be.
Watching the hour-long film, from director Dave Meyers, we can now describe it as a musical trip through Lopez's personal journey following her breakup with Ben Affleck in 2004, to rekindling their relationship more than 15 years later. A sort of love letter to their love story, and learning to love yourself.
Where to watch Jennifer Lopez movie 'This Is Me...Now: A Love Story'
This Is Me...Now: A Love Story will be released on Prime Video Feb. 16.
Watch 'This Is Me...Now: A Love Story' with a 30-day Prime Video free trial, then $9.99/month
What is 'This Is Me...Now: A Love Story' about?
The film begins with Lopez telling us a story her mother used to tell her, the Puerto Rican tale of Alida and Taroo, two star-crossed lovers who were forbidden to wed. When Alida is forced to marry someone else, she asks the gods to save her from this fate, so they turned her into a red flower. Taroo then begged the gods to help him find Alida, and they turned him into a hummingbird. As the story goes, anytime you see a hummingbird flying from flower to flower, it's Taroo searching for his love, Alida.
That story is really the guiding light for the one-hour spectacle, as we see Lopez as the Artist, riding on the back of a motorcycle, driven by Affleck. They face an unexpected crash, representing their breakup.
"I learned the hard way, not all love stories have a happy ending," Lopez says in a voice over.
She's working with her therapist, played by Fat Joe, who's helping her with traumatizing dreams she's been having about heartbreak and loss of love, while she also can't seem to be on her own, even with guys who are completely bad news. One is even abusive.
Despite guidance from her friends, we see Lopez have three subsequent weddings, all ending in divorce.
But watching from above is the Zodiacal Counsel, who have plenty to say about the Artist's approach to her love life, trying to figure out how she can get back on the right path. This includes Jane Fonda as Sagittarius, Post Malone as Leo, Keke Palmer as Scorpio, Trevor Noah as Libra, Neil deGrasse Tyson as Taurus, Kim Petras as Virgo, Jenifer Lewis as Gemini, and Sofia Vergara as Cancer.
As the story continues, with several musical moments weaved into the story, Lopez as the Artist explores her "addiction" to love and the necessary element of loving yourself, including going back to the Bronx.
But she never fully gives up on true love.
Entertainingly, Affleck also plays a TV anchor called Rex Stone, almost unrecognizable as the character, that inserts a few key quotes of wisdom.
From 'Gigli' and 'This is Me…Then,' to 'This Is Me...Now'
There is something really appealing about watching Lopez address all the criticism about her extensive relationship history, almost poking fun at herself at times. We love a self-aware celebrity.
While this is most likely something that will succeed specifically with the core J.Lo fanbase, and anyone who remembers the spectacle around her starting to date Affleck, her then Gigli co-star, it's a nice walk down memory lane for any pop culture buff.
Some will remember back in 2002, the album This is Me…Then had a song called "Dear Ben," when Lopez sang that she'd never leave him. Ultimately, she was kind of right, with the couple getting married, albeit decades later in 2022.
The star power in the Zodiacal Counsel scenes is immense, each one of the stars bringing their own uniqueness to their respective zodiac sign, and really some very needed fun in an otherwise emotional story.
There's definitely a lot going on in an hour, with references to Singin' in the Rain, and musical numbers that lean into high production value we've come to expect from Lopez. She is a performer after all.
It's quite a chaotic and frenzied narrative road to go down, with maybe some questionable CGI choices, but Lopez still makes this whole thing completely fascinating and exciting to watch.
This is definitely an innovative way to promote a new album, This is Me…Now (which will also be released on Feb. 16).
