This Is Me... Now

Scrolling through Prime for something to watch and came across "This Is Me... Now: A Love Story by J-Lo. I went in with an open mind; not having read any reviews, so had no preconceptions.

It started off OK, pretty visuals, but I quickly realised (within the first 10 minutes or so) that this was some cringe-worthy, self-indulgent, vanity project (thank goodness for the fast forward button!!!)

I did press 'play' at regular intervals to see if (by some miracle) things had improved, but no... my time & intellect was wasting away with each passing minute!!!! ...Dramatic? Nope; it really was THAT bad!!! In addition, I felt nothing but second-hand embarrassment for her as she danced her way through each mind-numbing scene (not to mention the God-awful soundtrack!)

I mean,who actually advised her that this project was a good thing to do? ...must have been the same people who advised Beyonce that her "Black Is King" garbage was a good idea 🙄

If I had to describe this 'film' in 3 words, it would be: Egotistical. Tedious. Cringe-worthy.

I was looking forward to this documentary because I read her book when it first came out and I liked it. I think this documentary should have explain why she does not allowed workers to look at her. Why she makes her manors work 16 hours 7 days a week and why she took money from the waitress after Ben Affleck gave a good tip to the worker. I thought this film was going to be about empowerment of women still growing through difficulty but it was more about trying to find sympathy for herself. Which in that case she should have explained why she miss treat the staff and her back up dancers. OMG.

Bless her heart, the second-hand embarrassment while watching this is just painful. I just couldn't watch it-other than snippets here and through after fast-forwarding through most of it. I can't imagine how hard it must be to find oneself again after the level of fame Jennifer has achieved and I'm sure it must feel impossible for her people (friends, agents, publicists, etc) to face Jennifer and tell her something is a bad idea. But if they loved her-REALLY loved her-they would've shot this idea down quickly and tell her it's time to act humble and with grace and to find a way to plant her feet firmly back on the ground. And she may actually enjoy it-it's really great down here.

What was she thinking? The creative direction is scattered and everything about this is contrived and over the top for no reason. There's nothing wrong (imo) with entertainers making artistic works like this one but it falls flat in this case. The visuals are stunning so that's a plus but it's not enough to make this widely likeable or a huge success. To the films credit, it could have gotten much, much better towards the middle/end but I had to tap out after about 25 minutes. It's one note/boring even with all of the glitz and glam. I will give her kudos for going for it and trying something new. But even all the cameos couldn't lift this heavy rock.

One last thing - WE KNOW THAT IT'S NOT A MOVIE. Stop thinking that those of us that don't care for it are mad because we thought it was a typical movie. We know that it isn't and we can still not like this project. As deep as she wanted this to be, it's not.

Lastly (I promise): Jennifer. Sweetie. You are not in your 20's or 30's anymore as much as you would like to be. Age with grace, please. It is laughable that you continue to push this narrative that you are young. You aren't and that is perfectly ok. You can be in your 50's, 60's and 70's and be sexy, fun, and REAL. Step into that and stop playing yourself.

There's no denying the magnetic energy of JLo's music or her mega babe status. But as to what fresh madness this film is, I have no bloody clue. Best guess is that it's a string of music videos linked together by random celebrity cameos and cringey dialogue. I'm sure audiences will vibe the glitz, glamour and hypnotic dancing, which is ridiculously extravagant. I don't believe this film requires much of your attention, I used it as background music while I cleaned the dining room. Thankfully it's only an hour long, so if you vibe JLo and her music then watching it won't be a waste of your time.