The past year has been monumental for pop music, with Taylor Swift and Beyoncé lighting up theaters with their respective Eras Tour and Renaissance concert films, and now Jennifer Lopez is getting in on the fun with her own creative endeavor. The icon has released a “musical experience” with the film This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, which can be streamed with an Amazon Prime subscription to accompany the release of her This Is Me… Now album. Critics had the chance to see the movie that spotlights her relationship with Ben Affleck, and they feel pretty strongly about it, even if they don’t all agree.
Fans weren’t quite sure what to expect after the “unhinged” trailer for the visual album featured a mix of sci-fi, romance and plenty of celebrity cameos for the deeply personal follow-up to JLo’s 2002 album This Is Me… Then. Lupe R. Haas of CineMovie calls the film “impressive” with its setting changes and interesting musical numbers, but says the music itself hits all the familiar beats of Jennifer Lopez’s past albums. Haas continues:
Musical artists are changing the way they promote their new album releases. Beyonce supported her new album with a feature-length film, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. Lopez takes it up a notch with a fantastical musical that hits on a personal note. The ambitious project is big in scope and visuals. Lopez, the performer, delivers the spectacle but also brings a vulnerability we haven’t seen before. The artist shares something very personal with the world. It humanizes the public persona in a very relatable and human way.
Tanya Hussain of Collider rates it a 7 out of 10, saying the visual aspect heightens JLo’s raw, emotional lyrics with “stunning” costumes and choreography, although the critic thinks the supporting cast of familiar faces distracts from her vulnerable message. Hussain writes:
This Is Me… Now: A Love Story does a fantastical job of creating striking visuals that blend with Jennifer Lopez’s music. While it’s not as cohesive as it could be through a series of interconnected music videos, director David Meyers helps create a strong and profound experience that unfolds visually through symbolism. It’s this cinematography of sprawling vistas and bright color palettes that make the film feel epic and cinematic without compromising the music’s heart and emotion. Meyers’ vision helps heighten and tell her story through the lens of some very sharp imagery across steady camera moves and deliberate lighting that elevates the emotion.
Mashable’s Kristy Puchko calls This Is Me… Now: A Love Story “A+ celebrity work,” writing that JLo’s visual album is unapologetically and intentionally indulgent. It’s simply “marvelous,” the critic writes, saying:
This Is Me…Now: A Love Story is a celebration not so much of romantic love, but of Lopez's journey of self-acceptance and self-love. It's bursting with the kind of confidence more often allowed to rock stars (and usually only male ones at that). But Lopez is not one to shrink herself for the comfort of others. She is this movie's gravitational pull, drawing us all into her bombastic fantasies. And it's easy — nay, it's a pleasure — to be pulled into their sway. In the end, This Is Me…Now: A Love Story is as grandiose as it is thrilling, its audacity cackling at haters with every over-the-top bit. If you wanted feigned humbleness, don't look to pop icons. Look to politicians. JLo isn't playing that game.
However, not all of the critics are as blown away by Jennifer Lopez’s product. Kate Erbland of IndieWire grades it a C-, saying there are highs and “nightmarish” lows to this “film,” which the critic says is actually just a series of music videos. This Is Me… Now: A Love Story is “too glossy and bizarre” to dig too deep into JLo’s psyche. Erband writes:
Lopez’s interest (compulsion?) in sharing her ‘love addiction’ with the world is oddly compelling, even if the general story here is quite basic — she loves love! — and it’s only ever insightful when it gets really silly (like a sequence in which her group of friends, their own bonds never explained, try to push her into an intervention). The best bits are when Lopez winks hard at the public perception of her love life (a sequence that sees her flip through three random husbands at the same wedding is a highlight), even if she never says anything deeper about what this all actually means.
Nicholas Hautman of Page Six seems to agree, calling the album/video duo “cringe” as he rates it 1.5 out of 4 stars. Hautman points out the difference between This Is Me… Now and musical projects we’ve seen recently from other artists:
To put it bluntly, it’s as watery as the iced coffee Affleck picks up from Dunkin’ every morning. While pop powerhouses like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga reinvent themselves with each era of new music, Lopez is bogged down in her glory days, recycling uninspired sounds and stories from a quarter-century ago.
Overall This Is Me… Now: A Love Story is garnering mostly positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, earning 79% from 19 critics but an impressive 94% Fresh audience score from more than 100 viewers. Both the album and film are available now for you to experience for yourself. While this movie can be enjoyed via streaming, be sure to check out our 2024 movie calendar to see what’s hitting theaters soon.
