There are celebrity couples, and then there’s Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. Affectionately named Bennifer, the pair of A-listers were the hottest couple in the early 2000’s prior to their breakup. The public was shocked when they reunited recently, especially so shortly after her break-up with A-Rod. Bennifer 2.0 has officially tied the knot in Vegas, with JLo and Affleck’s wedding getting compared to Netflix’s Persuasion as the movie trends.
Persuasion was released on Netflix a few weeks ago, and has been on the streaming service’s top movies during this time. There’s been some backlash surrounding the Jane Austen adaptation, specifically related to the modern dialogue. And now some folks are comparing JLo and Ben Affleck’s marriage to that well-known story on social media outlets like Twitter. One such person posted their thoughts, saying:
The real 2022 update to Persuasion is JLo and Ben Affleck eloping in Vegas.
Touche. Persuasion is about a woman named Anne (in this new movie played by Dakota Johnson), who reunites with her former fiancee Captain Frederick (Cosmo Jarvis) years after their split. A second romance blooms between the two protagonists, in the way that epic Jane Austen stories so often do. And since Ben Affleck and JLo have made such a blissful second go of it, there are plenty of folks sounding off online about these similarities.
The comparisons have also happened thanks to the mixed reviews of Netflix’s movie Persuasion. While it stars Fifty Shades icon Dakota Johnson, there’s been a fair amount of criticism thrown the streaming projects’ way. That’s seemingly helped increase the comparisons to Bennifer’s recent nuptials, as another Twitter user posted:
Netflix should do a new Persuasion adaptation entirely using JLo/Affleck found footage.
Honestly, I’d watch. Considering just how wildly popular they were in the early 2000’s, smart money says there would be a wealth of footage to cobble together into the storyline of Persuasion. The couple has been open about how much of a struggle it was to deal with the attention at the time, but now they’re seemingly in a much better place to handle this type of coverage. Another funny comparison to Persuasion that made its way online reads:
So you are telling me JLo & Affleck just happened to elope the weekend Netflix dropped Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the best book about love getting a second chance? ‘You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope...I have loved none but you’ is the male version of #DearBen.
“Dear Ben” was a track from Jennifer Lopez’s 2002 album This Is Me... Then. The song was obviously written for/about Ben Affleck, one that some younger fans are only just discovering now that Bennifer is back. Their love story continues to be compared to Persuasion online, which another user simply putting it:
The Bennifer saga is a better adaptation of Persuasion than Persuasion (2022)
Shots fired. But as previously mentioned, the reception for Persuasion was a mixed bag from critics. It’s currently sitting at a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, although the audience score is a bit more forgiving with 67%. And it certainly seems like the movie is getting a ton of views on Netflix.
Persuasion is streaming now on Netflix, as is Jennifer Lopez’s documentary Halftime. Be sure to check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
