This Is Me... Now: A Love Story | |
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Directed by | Dave Meyers |
Written by |
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Story by |
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Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Scott Cunningham |
Edited by | Adam Petrofsky |
Music by | Lenny Wee |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Amazon Prime Video |
Release dates |
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Running time | 65 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
This Is Me... Now: A Love Story is a 2024 American romantic drama musical film and visual accompaniment to Jennifer Lopez's ninth studio album, This Is Me... Now (2024). Directed by Dave Meyers and written by Lopez and Matt Walton, based on the story Lopez, Meyers and Chris Shafer conceived, This Is Me... Now: A Love Story stars Lopez alongside an ensemble cast featuring Jane Fonda, Fat Joe, Kim Petras, Keke Palmer, Post Malone, Sofía Vergara, Jenifer Lewis, Jay Shetty, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sadhguru, Derek Hough, Trevor Noah and Ben Affleck as the Biker.
This Is Me... Now: A Love Story is stylized around a fictional narrative inspired by Lopez's marriage to Affleck and events over the previous twenty years of her life and career. The film is a component of a three-part multimedia project produced by Lopez, which she self-funded at a cost of around $20 million, when funding fell through at the 11th hour. The nature of the film and the funding was explored during part three of the multimedia project, the documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told , where it was revealed that the original studio involved with This Is Me... Now: A Love Story did not understand or have confidence in its direction.
The official trailer for This Is Me... Now: A Love Story was released on January 17, 2024, and sparked a polarizing media discourse; some journalists felt "confused" by the plot, while others commended its unconventional approach to musical films. The film premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on February 12, 2024, and was released worldwide alongside its parent album on February 16 via Amazon Prime Video. It received positive reviews from critics, most of whom admired the production design, cinematography, Lopez's performance, and the film's "chaotic" ambition, although some found it to be nothing more than a commercial for its companion album.
Alida and Taroo, an ancient Puerto Rican legend about two star-crossed lovers from feuding tribes, has greatly influenced Artist's opinions on love and romance. She reflects on their story in a dream where she finds herself enjoying a motorcycle ride with her biker lover. Suddenly, the two suffer a severe crash that leaves Artist's heart ruptured. With the help of factory workers, she attempts to prevent her heart from breaking by using the age-old myth as a central guide, but to no avail ("Hearts and Flowers").
Now in the present, Artist shares her dream with her therapist. He finds her dreams to be eccentric, which she blames on the conflicting astrological signs between him and his wife. The therapist moves on to discuss Artist's abusive relationship with a Libra; she is convinced by astrology that they are a good fit, but her friends are concerned for her well-being ("Rebound"). She leaves him for good following a heated argument that grows violent, while the Zodiacal Council, composed of 10 of the 12 astrological signs, questions the origin of her poor romantic decisions. Before they could piece together an answer, Artist enters three unsuccessful marriages with a Pisces, a Virgo, and a Cancer, respectively ("Can't Get Enough").
The Zodiacal Council is alarmed by how quickly Artist is going through her relationships, as well as by the gossip that is emerging as a result. They conclude that in order for her to break her romantic cycle, she must rise above her physical self by embarking on a self-love journey without their assistance. While Artist continues with her ill-advised lifestyle, her friends stage an intervention. They believe that she might be a sex addict, which she quickly denies by criticizing their own romantic choices. In therapy, she defends her reputation as a hopeless romantic until Joe interrupts her for time. Before Artist leaves, he recommends that she contacts Love Addicts Anonymous; she is hesitant at first, but eventually joins a group session and shares her story ("Broken Like Me").
Artist returns home and burns old love letters and childhood memories while a hummingbird, found in Alida and Taroo, furiously knocks on her window. As she leaves in the morning for a therapy session, Mike, a member of her friend group, invites her to his wedding; given his cynical take on love, the invitation bewilders her. During her session, she tells the therapist about a dream she recently had that follows her through their childhood neighborhood in the Bronx. She encounters a younger version of herself and apologizes through tears for abandoning their needs, causing her heart to be fully restored ("This Is Me... Now"). With a new lease on life, Artist attends Mike's wedding alone and encounters several hummingbirds that lead her to her true love ("Midnight Trip to Vegas", "Hummingbird").
Zodiacal Council
According to Lopez, the film has a humorous tone, saying "not that this [A Love Story] is anything close to a romantic comedy, but those moments for me are the ones in life that show you how important it is to be able to laugh at yourself. [2] You have to, because it's absurd sometimes the things that you find yourself in or that you go through. You think, "I never thought I would be this person." [3] According to Nuyorican Productions, the film went overbudget and this was challenging to Lopez self-financing the project. [3] A number of celebrities were approached to star in the film; Khloe Kardashian turned it down. [4]
"I wanted to do something different. So we embarked upon how to do that in a visual way with singing, dancing and funny in a life-like way."
According to Lopez, early in the album's production, a $30 million deal for the project was pulled. As told by Benny Medina in the accompanying documentary, an "on paper" deal was pulled, with Medina relaying what was told to him: "they were blown away by [Lopez]; uh, you know, the dynamic in the room; [they] thought that there was too much that was being bitten off, uh, the quality was gonna be potentially compromised." [5] Lopez debated just filming a single video and before ultimately deciding to do the full visual companion (This Is Me Now... A Love Story); in the end, the project was self-financed. [6] Lopez's production partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas thought she was crazy to self-finance the project but understood the importance of the story to both Lopez and the album. The script was written by Lopez's husband, actor Ben Affleck, Matt Walton, Dave Meyers (who also directed it) and Chris Shafer. According to Lopez, once the album was complete it felt special and "like a moment" so "throwing a video out" did not feel right. She called Meyers to play him and sing him some of the music. [3] She said "I told him that I made this album 20 years ago, and now we're here". Meyers reported to want to tell the story of Affleck and Lopez's rekindled romance but instead Lopez wanted a story based on their love but not a biographical mirror of her lovelife.
Contrary to many media reports, This Is Me.. Now: A Love Story is not about Lopez's relationship with Affleck. [7] The album and the film are about Lopez learning to love herself. [7]
Affleck features in some of the scenes. A teaser for the project was unveiled, featuring a snippet of the album's title track. [8] The official trailer was released on January 17, 2024. [9] Commenting on the trailer, Tim Jonze from the Guardian remarked that Lopez's approach to a film accompanying her album differed from her peers Taylor Swift ( The Eras Tour ) and Beyoncé ( Renaissance ), both of which were concert films. [10] Instead, Jonze posed that Lopez was instead inventing a new genre of music films, the "therapy-musical biopic", noting that Lopez's approach comes from a different place as her career had revolved around music and films from the start; it was also noted that although Affleck stars in the film, Lopez "plays a strange version of herself" suggesting that the film's protagonist is based somewhat on Lopez's life. [10] This was confirmed during an interview with the AU Review, where the film was described as semi-biographical and "stylized and fictionalized". [11]
Upon release, the film reached the number one spot on Amazon Prime Video in numerous countries such as the United States, Belize, Cambodia, Georgia, Jordan, Latvia and Tanzania. [12] It appeared in the Top 10 list in over 30 countries. [12]
Upon release the film was met with generally positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 75% of 55 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.4/10.The website's consensus reads: "An extravagant ode to the titular emotion, This Is Me... Now: A Love Story is an over-the-top delight for fans seeking a dose of J.Lo at her most earnest and unrestrained." [13]
Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph was positive, describing the film as "bonkers" but noting: "What's most exciting about it, though, is that behind the lunacy, so much of it works." Collin found Lopez's performance "endlessly watchable". [14] Coleman Spilde of The Daily Beast characterized it as a "Marvel-grade spectacle" and "Beyoncé's Lemonade for ivory tower romantics", adding: "Lopez is aiming for relatable, not insightful. By doing this, she becomes the everywoman, an antithesis of Beyoncé's unattainable perfection." [15] Writing for Entertainment Weekly , Kristen Baldwin wrote: "A curious blend of Hallmark movie, music video, and self-help seminar, Love Story is enjoyably bizarre and will serve as a fun fling for die-hard Lopez fans." [16] Tom Gliatto from People magazine described the film as "a pull-out-all-the-stops musical — wildly, deliriously ornate — that sweeps us through a string of extravagant fantasy numbers, all of them showcasing the album’s infectious songs". [17] Johnny Oleksinski of New York Post described the "tell-all musical flick" as "bonkers", in which "the star is really Lopez’s brain, and how she earnestly determined that the best way to tell the story of the past thirty years would be to have Kim Petras and Post Malone play talking constellations." [18] Courtney Howard of The A.V. Club was positive, calling the film a "deeply personalized work of artistic bravura" and a "genuinely moving, absurdist autobiography of a dynamic persona in flux that's as campy as it is charming" and "preposterous as it is profound." [19] Louis Staples of BBC noted that "the most interesting thing about This Is Me... Now: A Love Story is its format and the creative control it has given Lopez," and that "[Lopez] is ensuring she finally gets her flowers" after being "frequently overlooked throughout her career." [20]
In a less positive review, Benjamin Lee of The Guardian wrote that the film "it's not really much of anything in the end, and feels most like a stitched together collection of pre-filmed awards show bits", describing the film as a "bizarro trainwreck the trailer might have suggested". [21] Kate Erbland of IndieWire found "J.Lo's love letter to romance is too glossy and bizarre to ever get to the heart of the matter", calling it a "a 65-minute music video" rather than a film. [22]
Jennifer Lynn Affleck, also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential Latin entertainers of her time, credited with breaking barriers for Latino Americans in Hollywood and helping propel the Latin pop movement in music. She is also noted for her impact on popular culture through fashion, branding, and shifting mainstream beauty standards.
Jersey Girl is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written, co-edited and directed by Kevin Smith. It stars Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler with George Carlin, Stephen Root, Mike Starr, Raquel Castro, Jason Biggs and Jennifer Lopez in supporting roles. The film follows a widowed man who must learn how to properly take care of his precocious daughter after her mother dies during childbirth.
Rebirth is the fourth studio album by American singer Jennifer Lopez. It was released on February 23, 2005, by Epic Records. Following the release of her third studio album This Is Me... Then (2002), which was dedicated to her fiancé at the time Ben Affleck, Lopez decided to focus on her film career. After her engagement to Affleck ended, Lopez put her career on hiatus, as she felt that it had been on a "roller-coaster" ride for years. She soon married fellow Hispanic recording artist Marc Anthony, and professed that she had entered "phase two" of her life, signifying a new beginning.
This Is Me... Then is the third studio album by American singer Jennifer Lopez. It was released on November 25, 2002, by Epic Records. Prior to its release, Lopez began a high-profile relationship with Ben Affleck and a media circus ensued. Her relationship with Affleck served as her main inspiration for the album, which is dedicated to him. Initially scheduled to be released the following year, This Is Me... Then's release date was quickly pushed forward after its lead single, "Jenny from the Block", was purposely leaked by Tommy Mottola, the head of Sony Music Entertainment.
J.Lo is the second studio album by American singer Jennifer Lopez, released on January 16, 2001, by Epic Records. Lopez began recording the album in April 2000, enlisting producers such as Cory Rooney, Troy Oliver, Dan Shea and Sean Combs, all of whom she had worked with on her debut album On the 6 (1999). The album's title refers to the nickname given to her by fans, with Lopez describing it as an homage to her supporters. Drawing from her own experiences, Lopez included more personal songs on this album, which deals with themes of relationships, empowerment and sex. J.Lo is a primarily dance-pop, Latin and R&B album which encompasses Latin pop, retro and contemporary pop.
"I'm Real" is the name of two songs recorded by American actress and singer Jennifer Lopez, both primarily for her second studio album, J.Lo (2001). The original song was released as the album's third single; Ja Rule of Murder Inc. Records wrote and was featured on a newly-written song with completely different lyrics and production titled "I'm Real (Murder Remix)", which was featured on a re-issue of J.Lo in July 2001, on Lopez's remix album, J to tha L–O! The Remixes (2002), and on Ja Rule's third studio album, Pain Is Love (2001).
"Jenny from the Block" is a song by American singer Jennifer Lopez, which features American rappers Jadakiss and Styles P, both members of the Lox. It was released by Epic Records on September 26, 2002, as the lead single from her third studio album, This Is Me... Then (2002). The song, first leaked online, was written by Lopez, Troy Oliver, Mr. Deyo, Samuel Barnes, and Jean Claude Olivier. Cory Rooney, Olivier, Barnes, and Oliver produced the song. Another version of the track features solely Lopez, which was part of the Brazilian edition of the album.
"I'm Glad" is a song by American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez for her third studio album, This Is Me... Then (2002). It was written by Lopez, Troy Oliver, Cory Rooney, Mr. Deyo and Jesse Weaver Jr. and produced by Oliver and Rooney. It was released as the album's third single on April 7, 2003.
"Baby I Love U!" is a song recorded by American singer Jennifer Lopez for her third studio album, This Is Me... Then (2002). It was written by Lopez, Cory Rooney, Dan Shea and John Barry and produced by Rooney and Shea. The song contains an interpolation of the theme for the film Midnight Cowboy (1969).
Como ama una mujer is the fifth studio album and first Spanish album by American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. It was released on March 23, 2007, by Epic Records. After including some Spanish songs on her first two albums, Lopez initially became interested in recording a full-length studio album in 2004 when she recorded a song with her then-husband Marc Anthony for his ninth studio album. After releasing her fourth studio album, Rebirth (2005), Lopez started working heavily on the album with Anthony, Estéfano and Julio Reyes Copello in a period of two and a half years. Composed entirely of ballads, Como Ama una Mujer talks about love and heartbreak, being organic in its instrumentation and introspective in its lyrics.
Love? is the seventh studio album by American singer Jennifer Lopez. It was released on April 29, 2011, by Island Records. Produced during the pregnancy of her twins Emme and Max, Love? was cited by Lopez as her most personal album to date, taking inspiration from the birth of her twins and her own experiences with love.
Jennifer Lopez has starred in over thirty-five feature films during a career that spans four decades as an actor and a producer. With critical and commercial success across numerous genres, Lopez has been nominated for Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globes and Film Independent Spirit Awards, alongside accolades from the likes of the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
"One Love" is a song recorded by American entertainer Jennifer Lopez for her seventh studio album, Love? (2011). The R&B song was written by Lopez, Anesha Birchett, Antea Shelton and Emile "D'Mile" Dernst II, the song's producer. "One Love" was initially written and presented to Lopez by A-Plus and D'Mile to record, however, upon hearing the demo of the song, she was not pleased with its verses. Liking the chorus and idea of the song, Lopez wrote new verses to the song with the song's original writers.
Bennifer and Bennifer 2.0 are the names given by the media to the high-profile relationship between American actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck and American singer Jennifer Lopez. The pair had a widely publicized 18-month romance from 2002 to 2004, and were engaged to be married. After their breakup, they maintained a friendship. They rekindled their romantic relationship in early 2021 and got married in July 2022. However, Lopez filed for divorce after only two years, on August 20, 2024. They have starred in two films together, Gigli (2003) and Jersey Girl (2004), and appeared in two music videos together, "Jenny from the Block" (2002) and "Marry Me" (2022).
American actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck began his career as a child, appearing in several television shows, including the PBS educational program The Voyage of the Mimi (1984). He played an antisemite in the sports film School Ties (1992) and featured as a regular on the television drama Against the Grain (1993). He gained attention for playing the supporting part of a high-school senior in Richard Linklater's cult film Dazed and Confused (1993), after which he had his first leading role in Rich Wilkes's comedy Glory Daze (1995). In 1997, Affleck played a comics artist in Smith's art-house success Chasing Amy. He co-wrote the script and starred with Matt Damon in Gus Van Sant's drama film Good Will Hunting, for which they won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Marry Me is a 2022 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Kat Coiro, with a screenplay by John Rogers, Tami Sagher, and Harper Dill. Based on the 2012 graphic novel of the same title by Bobby Crosby, it stars Jennifer Lopez as Kat Valdez, a superstar, who decides to marry Charlie Gilbert, a math teacher holding a "Marry Me" sign, after learning that her on-stage bridegroom, Bastian (Maluma), has been having an affair.
"Marry Me" is a song by American singer Jennifer Lopez and Colombian singer Maluma. It was released through Universal Studios and Sony Music Latin on February 2, 2022, as the third single from the soundtrack to the 2022 romantic comedy film of the same name. Two versions of the song were recorded: a ballad version and an uptempo version denoted as "Kat & Bastian Duet".
Marry Me is the soundtrack album to the 2022 film of the same name, performed by its stars Jennifer Lopez and Maluma. It was released on February 4, 2022, by Universal Studios and Sony Music Latin, marking Lopez's first full-length release since A.K.A. (2014) and Maluma's first since Papi Juancho (2020).
This Is Me... Now is the ninth studio album by American entertainer Jennifer Lopez. It was released on February 16, 2024, via Nuyorican Productions and BMG Rights Management, marking her first release under this partnership. The album is heavily inspired by the rekindled romance between Lopez and Ben Affleck as well as their subsequent marriage, with themes of love and self-healing throughout. It is a sequel to Lopez's third studio album This Is Me... Then (2002) and her first studio album in a decade since A.K.A. (2014). It was recorded between May and August 2022 and completed on June 29, 2023. It is the first Lopez album to feature no rappers on its standard edition since J.Lo (2001). Lopez contributed rap verses to three of the album's songs and co-wrote every one on the album, with production primarily from Rogét Chahayed, Jeff "Gitty" Gitelman and Angel Lopez.
"Can't Get Enough" is a song by American singer Jennifer Lopez. It was released on January 10, 2024, by Nuyorican Productions and BMG as the lead single from her ninth studio album, This Is Me... Now (2024). The song was written by Lopez, Alton Ellis, Andrew Nealy, Angel Lopez, Atia Boggs, Rogét Chahayed, Dennis Coffey, Christopher "Chrishan" Dotson, Jeff "Gitty" Gitelman and Chauncey "Hit-Boy" Hollis Jr., with production by Chahayed, Hit-Boy, Gitty and A. Lopez. Ellis is credited for the inclusion of a sample of his 1967 single "I'm Still in Love With You" and 1977 single "Uptown Top Ranking”.