Movie Review…or is it Music Video Review? J-Lo’s “This is Me…Now: A Love Story”

Fan to be serviced or hate-watcher, you owe it to yourself to take a look at Jennifer Lopez’s “This is Me…Now: A Love Story,” an indulgent, album-tie in narrative whose over-the-top visuals and J-Lo explaining J-Lo story are something to see.

Eye candy? Oh my God, yes. Indulgent in the extreme? Sure. But funny? Sometimes.

“I hate that I can’t stop watching,” says Jane Fonda, in character as zodiac goddess Sagittarius. “It;s like a ‘Vanderpump Rules’ marathon, and it’s four in the morning and I stop judging them and I start judging me.”

If we’re judging folks, let’s just note that the Oscar winner is joined by Fat Joe, slightly less convincing as a therapist/marriage counselor than say, Charles Barkley might have been, former “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah, Jay Shetty, science pop star Neil deGrasse Tyson and Keke Palmer.

But there is no judging Keke. Every damned word out of her mouth is funny.

“What IS it with this woman and weddings?” she ponders as Scorpio, another of the zodiacs pondering the fate of the once-and-always “Jenny from the Block” as she passes through the many public romances of her “character’s” life — some tragic, one violent, many ill-advised.

Ben Affleck is seen in an opening image, a breathtaking couple-on-a-motorcycle dash across a sea covered tidal flat, a ride that ends in tragedy. Uh-oh, Benny boy.

Lopez and director Dave Meyers & Co. reimagine the song cycle here in visions of steampunk (a “heart” powered by rose petals factory) and epic nuptials to an abusive showdown in a penthouse prison of chrome, windows and shattering mirrors, to a little tribute to “Singing in the Rain” by our still fly flygirl, Ms. Lopez — in fine form and immaculate makeup and sexy outfits throughout.

“Jenny” weep-watches “The Way We Were,” faces a “relationship addict” intervention from her rainbow coalition of “friends,” endures therapy and declares “What is wrong with wanting to spend your life with someone?”

And for a minute or two, here and there, we take that to heart. It can’t be easy finding love and domestic happiness at that level of fame. The fact that Lopez has made that her brand, that she’s made music and movies about just that subject, that she’s never far from the headlines or another viral moment of couple exposure and over-exposure, most of them calculated by her, wakes us back up.

But “This is Me” is pretty to look at and intriging in ways that similarly indulgent, artsy and “revealing” productions by such contemporaries as Beyonce can’t quite match. Because while her thin voice might be best appreciated over-produced dance numbers, it’s affecting and plaintive in less adorned ballads. And the fact that Lopez is a good actress underneath the “image” (and vanity) makes us believe her, even when we know better.

Rating: PG-13, violence, profanity

Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Fat Joe, Jane Fonda, Keke Palmer, Trevor Noah, Jay Shetty, Kim Petras, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jenifer Lewis and Ben Affleck

Credits: Directed by Dave Meyers, scripted by Jennifer Lopez and Matt Walton. An MGM/Amazon Prime release.

Running time: 1:05

About Roger Moore

Movie Critic, formerly with McClatchy-Tribune News Service, Orlando Sentinel, published in Spin Magazine, The World and now published here, Orlando Magazine, Autoweek Magazine
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