Jennifer Lopez is 52, and he or she’s not shy about it. She’s even engaged on a documentary with Netflix concerning the yr she turned 50. That was the yr her Oscar contender “Hustlers” got here out, she obtained CFDA’s Fashion Icon Award, and he or she went on tour for “It is My Celebration.” And she or he’s been fairly busy ever since, headlining the Super Bowl halftime show with Shakira, performing at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, and making a number of motion pictures. These are all issues girls her age within the trade are advised they cannot do. However Lopez has all the time made defying the foundations work for her, and he or she’s not stopping now.
In her newest movie, “Marry Me,” she’s doing it once more. This time round, the main target is on age and the methods ageism tries to restrict girls and their sexuality. Within the movie, she performs an alter ego, Kat Valdez, a “north of 35” pop famous person who manages to look glamorous and comfy in her personal pores and skin regardless of what she’s wearing. And she or he does go from over-the-top Woman Gaga-esque getups to yoga pants and a sports activities bra. When the movie opens, Kat is engaged to Maluma’s Bastian, and her continued pull towards him serves as the first impediment to her discovering happiness with Owen Wilson‘s Charlie.
Maluma is 28, making him greater than 20 years youthful than Lopez. However nobody has stated something about it. Within the movie, they by no means comment on it. And in the reviews, I’ve seen some laments that “Marry Me” may have been a extra considerate exploration of affection at center age, however nothing noting and even calling into query the age distinction between the 2 fiancés. And that is a giant deal in our society that also punishes girls for getting older, significantly in the event that they accomplish that within the public eye. When “Sex and the City” rebooted this yr with “And Just Like That,” a lot of the dialog was round how the celebrities had aged, as in the event that they should not dare to be on tv after 40. And the new additions to the forged felt the necessity to remind us that girls of their 50s nonetheless have intercourse, date, and discover love. It should not be such a uncommon factor to see on display — however it’s.
Lopez remembers being advised her profession was over at 40, however she refused to go away and as a substitute grew to become much more related. Now she’s singing duets on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” reunited with Ben Affleck, and nonetheless taking the world by storm. Now, I am not going to fake that Lopez is a traditional 52-year-old. She’s not a traditional something. Regardless of award present recognition eluding her (like Kat in “Marry Me”), she is an extremely gifted triple risk.
And she or he’s additionally extremely lovely. We’re speaking concerning the girl whose pink carpet look inspired the invention of Google Images. Individuals are nonetheless creating think pieces about her butt. The web seems to imagine she would not age in any respect. Possibly if she appeared extra like what’s anticipated for her age, there could be some commentary round her relationship somebody a lot youthful, even whether it is simply fictional. That stated, when the gender is reversed, nobody says a lot. Within the iconic rom-com “Fairly Girl,” Julia Roberts and Richard Gere are 18 years aside, and their ages are simply one in every of a number of power differentials (together with his wealth and standing). And the ’90s noticed the 2 paired up greater than as soon as, exhibiting how everybody took their age distinction as regular. Hell, when Leonardo DiCaprio performed a person married to an age-appropriate girl, with grown sons no much less, everybody could not cease yapping about it. It was the funniest thing about “Don’t Look Up.”
And when “Grey’s Anatomy” premiered, there have been a number of plot traces the place younger residents dated, married, or attached with their older attendees. Within the first few seasons, the youthful ones have been virtually all the time girls, with Kate Walsh‘s Addison Montgomery simply not having the ability to be as cavalier about relationship somebody with much less energy when the chance arose. Now, after all, 18 years later, we have seen a number of plot traces the place the genders are reversed, and nobody a lot remarks on it.
Which is to say, we have come a good distance, even when we’re clearly not all the best way there but. In “Marry Me,” Lopez finally ends up with a person nearer to her age than Maluma. Wilson has simply seven months on her, however their relative closeness of age is not what brings them collectively. The truth is, they by no means even talk about it. As a substitute, their bond is about what they study from one another and the way they’re prepared to struggle for the opposite individual. And Lopez continues to be preventing for love, for recognition, and for pleasure. It is an inspiration.
