Recently, it has seemed like every trailer is giving away the whole movie. Why do I have to see it if you just compressed the entire plot into two minutes? Thankfully, Jennifer Lopez has bucked that trend with the trailer for her upcoming movie musical–album companion piece, This Is Me … Now: A Love Story. The theme of Lopez’s film seems to be chaos, and you know what? I will be watching.
Right off the bat, you see half of Ben Affleck’s head as he and Lopez ride a motorcycle through a salt flat. Awesome. Then J.Lo monologues about being a hopeless romantic, people dance in some kind of steampunk flower-petal factory, Bennifer gets thrown from the motorcycle, and Fat Joe appears as the singer’s therapist. All of this happens in about 20 seconds, which gives it a real “dream you can’t even begin to explain” vibe.
It’s hard to discern whether there’s a real plot to This Is Me … Now: A Love Story. It may just be a collection of music videos with scenes in between, and who’s to say that’s not a movie? What’s certain is that Lopez does not feel any need to stick to one genre. In the two-and-a-half-minute trailer, there are comedic beats, a serious scene in which Lopez is in some kind of self-help group, a homage to Singin’ in the Rain, and an image of Lopez in a hazmat suit that looks an awful lot like Amy Adams in Arrival.
And then there’s the cast. In addition to Affleck — who was originally announced as co-writer but seems to have lost that credit — the trailer promises appearances from actors such as Keke Palmer and Jennifer Lewis. We’re also told to expect astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and life coach–Bennifer wedding officiant Jay Shetty. Lopez’s commitment to keeping me on my toes is admirable.
“I have not been this nervous, excited, scared and thrilled to share something with you in years,” Lopez wrote today in her newsletter, On the JLo. “The story of the journey from This Is Me … Then to This Is Me … Now is the most personal thing I’ve ever done.” So does that mean the movie tells the story of the journey between those two albums? Don’t tell me. I want to be surprised … or confused.