Shotgun Wedding is an action rom-com that follows a couple, Darcy (Jennifer Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel), on their unfortunate wedding day. As they have an argument before the ceremony and get cold feet, the event is hijacked by pirates. The film is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Tom, Darcy, and their families gather for an ultimate destination wedding on a private island in the Philippines. However, it is not the most pleasant of affairs.
Tom’s parents, Carol (Jennifer Coolidge) and Larry Fowler (Steve Coulter) meet up with Darcy’s divorced folks, mom Renata (Sônia Braga) and dad Robert (Cheech Marin), leading to an awkward moment.
Tom is obsessed with organizing the perfect wedding and leaves Darcy to handle the situation on the night before the ceremony. Robert’s new girlfriend Harriet (D’Arcy Carden), annoys Renata, and things get worse when he also invites Darcy’s ex, Sean (Lenny Kravitz), to the wedding.
The next day, preparations are in full swing and Darcy starts feeling anxious. She never wanted a lavish wedding and wanted to elope, but she agreed to have one because of Tom. The two meet up before the ceremony and get into an argument, with Tom also getting cold feet.
Unfortunately, the property is infiltrated by dangerous pirates, and a hostage situation arises. They force the guests to get into the swimming pool and identify themselves.
Darcy walks back to her room in anger, and Tom witnesses the chaos from a distance. He runs back to warn Darcy and after much difficulty, explains the situation.
They panic and hide in the bathroom. Meanwhile, the pirates demand $45 million from Robert, stating that they know he’s a wealthy businessman. He initially denies it but then agrees to release the funds after the pirates assure Darcy and Tom’s safety.
The couple is found and captured by a perpetrator in the room but manages to escape as they are taken toward the swimming pool. They rush through the woods, accidentally killing several of their pursuers in self-defense.
Elsewhere, Carol tries to humanize herself in front of the pirates to trigger some sympathy, and the remaining guests follow suit. Unfortunately, it doesn’t amount to anything.
Darcy has a pinless grenade clutched in her hand, which she throws at two more pirates as the couple uses their hand ties to zipline away from the forest. They observe the situation at the swimming pool area and decide to get help.
They enter the kitchen and try to get their ties off, but Tom’s hand is injured in the process. The resulting commotion attracts another pirate as Darcy passes out at the sight of blood. Tom fights off the perpetrator, and they finally spot a decent hiding place.
Shotgun Wedding ending explained in detail:
Who saves the couple?
The owners of the resort, Ace and Margy, guide the disheveled couple into an underground bunker where they treat Tom’s wound. They discuss where the pirates are stationed, and Margy is confused.
She states that the pirates still being here doesn’t make sense. Last time, they looted the rooms and were gone in 20 minutes. This news bothers Darcy. She lashes out at Tom for knowingly picking a place that had been hit by pirates before.
Tom argues that no one got killed last year, and in his conversation with Margy, they both agreed that the chances of it happening twice were very slim. Darcy is upset that Tom didn’t tell her, and he claps back by saying she didn’t tell him about having cold feet.
They argue more, and Darcy accuses Tom of being a self-sabotaging person. This is when pirates enter the room, and everyone goes silent. Thinking that they heard them, Tom decides to surrender himself, leaving his fiancé with the owners.
The pirates grab him and take him to the pool area.
Who hired the pirates?
Rejoining the wedding party, Tom realizes what’s going on. He reveals that Sean is the one who hired the pirates. To prove his point, he shows Sean’s wedding invitation to the others and reveals that he found it on a dead pirate.
Furthermore, he discovers that the pirates are Balinese, and Darcy met Sean in Bali. Sean works for Robert, and it becomes clear that he did this to get a huge ransom from his boss.
Knowing that his game is up, Sean attacks Tom and lets go of the act. He asks him about Darcy’s whereabouts but doesn’t get anything. Sean finally decides to take the chopper to look for her and takes Harriet with him as a hostage.
Elsewhere, Darcy talks to Marge and Ace about making a marriage work and realizes that it is never going to be perfect. Confident that she loves Tom and wants to be with him, she takes a shotgun and heads for the pool area.
There, the couple confesses their love for each other, and Darcy even convinces her family to show Tom some love at gunpoint. The pirates angrily push the guests back into the water, and the group finds that Harriet is in on the plan.
Sean and Harriet are lovers who tried to trick Robert for the money. Coming up with an idea, Tom convinces the two pirates standing guard to let them complete the wedding ceremony.
As the guests sing, the couple tackles the pirates and overwhelms them. Darcy tosses a grenade up in the air and Tom hits it with a club like a baseball toward a perpetrator shooting at them.
The explosion neutralizes him and also sets off the fireworks installed for the ceremony. Tom and Darcy head out to get help as Carol, who is skilled at shooting guns, takes charge of leading the wedding party to safety.
Do Darcy and Tom get married?
The two rush to the dock, take down another pirate and are about to get into a boat when Sean shows up. Darcy berates her ex for turning into a monster.
They run out of ammo, and Tom takes on Sean as Darcy readies another boat. They sail away but Harriett tries to shoot them from the helicopter.
Sean, who had been dragged by a rope with the boat, climbs aboard and fights Tom again while Darcy drives the boat. She accidentally releases a parasail, elevating Tom and Sean into the air.
Fortunately, Tom zips down the line to the boat deck using some of his fiance’s hair extensions. The couple then cut the line, sending the parasail into the helicopter’s rotors. Sean is shredded to bits, and Harriet meets her end as the chopper explodes.
Back on the beach, the authorities take the remaining pirates into custody, and Tom and Darcy finally get married.
Also Read: Lockwood & Co. ending explained: What happens to the bone glass?