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<em>This Is Me… Now streams exclusively on Amazon Prime.
DIRECTED BY: Dave Meyers
FEATURING: Jennifer Lopez
PLOT: “The Artist” searches for a soul mate while discussing her past with her therapist as the Zodiacal pantheon oversees her difficulties.
COMMENTS: Having little experience with Jennifer Lopez until watching this film, her, now, is all I have to work with. Fortunately for J-Lo, and director Dave Meyers, I’m a sucker for vanity projects, music videos, and random experiences. This Is Me… Now dances energetically atop a certain floor of competence, jerkily zapping with defiance, then (jerkily) tilting into romantic melancholy. Ladies and germs, what we have here is a semi-operatic music video feature, likely to please any fan of the artiste behind the songs and dances.
For those not particularly interested in Ms. Lopez or her music, there are still a cache of fun little flourishes to keep you amused over the hour-long experience. The biggest rests amongst the stars—whence comes all life, light, and hope, as might be declared by none other than Neil DeGrasse Tyson, onscreen here as the Zodiacal sign of Taurus. No less impressive is Jane Fonda, leading the team of star signs—proving she’s as fun and full as ever. (I’ll leave it you to check out the celebrity checklist for the other astrological persona, but it is a motley and… star-studded bunch.) Ben Affleck, ever his woman’s fellow, dons a ridiculous hairpiece and a brash schmuckery as a nebulously right-wing TV personality. And I am told that Fat Joe is something of a heavy hitter, and his performance as Jennifer’s therapist makes me curious to explore his career further.
Perhaps more than any other film which has crossed my plate, This Is Me… Now plays to its audience; it is a loving gift from the singer-celebrity (evidenced in particular by her own personal outlay of some twenty million dollars to get it off the ground). From the opening steam-punk dystopian heart factory metaphor power ballad (gotta keep feeding petals into the core, lest that heart becomes broken), to the decent-to-impressive late era MTV-style set pieces (quirky-jerky dance routines featuring dozens), right through the closing maneuvers, This Is Me… Now delivers J-Lo on her own terms, and that was good (enough) for me.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:
Giles is kinder than I would have been. I found J-Lo’s music obnoxious and cliche-ridden; had similar feelings about the plot. I will concede the technical aspects—choreography, mise-en-scene, camerawork, editing, etc.—were top notch, and the zodiac council was amusing. I also concede that self-indulgent movies are generally more fun than pandering ones, and there was a degree of bravery on display here: it could have been much, much worse.
I was hoping to take this bullet so that you wouldn’t have to.
I tend to be kind, but cannot argue with any of the points you raise. I’ve wasted an hour of life on worse things, though, and not being a fan of the music, I was satisfied with how much I didn’t mind sitting through it.
Astrology has claimed the minds of so many young women. I’ve seen too many friends cut down in their prime. If Taylor had made this film, we may have lost an entire generation.
Honestly though, I can at least respect anyone trying to max out their personal weirdness potential. I didn’t like it, but for a normie like J-Lo who is essentially a weirdness void, this is her Holy Mountain…now.