Director Dave Meyers in stands the art of a music video and what makes it so confounding yet hypnotic surrounding the lyrics or best of a song. Meyers has paired his directorial style with some of the most iconic music of our generation: "Humble." (Kendrick Lamar), "Havana" (Camila Cabello), "Bad Guy" (Billie Eilish) and so many more that this list would collapse in on itself. So Meyers has the talent to conjure up a stylish music video and he even has a feature horror film on his resume out of 2007 called Hitcher so it’s not his first foray into features either. So when you take an album in its entirety, have the lead be the singer and have her co-write the screenplay - This is Me… Now could have been an utter disaster.

 

Thankfully Lopez pours her heart out on screen in the form of transformative dance numbers, emotionally driven tracks and a visual treat through and through. Narratively the film focuses on Lopez as "Artist" and the therapeutic nature inside her songwriting and a visual feast, showcasing her consistently broken heart through flawed relationships. The film is light on the dialogue, it’s essentially a feature length music video to cover an entire album - a musical in some eyes and within that POV, This is Me... Now has its significant highs and lows within that thriving genre. 

 

The film is centered around a fictional version of herself going through all the necessary repetition and life choices to bring her to her current secure position. Lopez doesn’t have a ton of dialogue, but she works with what she has to get to the next music drop and once she goes from actor to on-camera performer J.Lo is absolutely electric. Throughout the film is is supported by some interesting cameos that I won’t spoil here but they all play personified versions of astronomical signs. One I will spoil is the inclusion of Lopez’ flame, Ben Affleck in a silly role in the backdrop of one of the most clever, and dare-I-say iconic segments.  

 

This is Me… Now has some phenomenal dance numbers and songs to go with them, however Lopez' internal view of how her romantic life has gone up to today lacks some much needed depth. While entertaining from the jump and emotionally gripping, narratively it’s easy to lose interest in the constant jump from each track on the record. It’s essentially a group of incredible music videos cut together into a fantastic premise of a feature but an enormously flawed one - namely because there’s just not enough time with its 65 minute run. If you’re a significant fan of Lopez, both in her music and her publicized life, then This is Me… Now will work as a fascinating experiment that takes an entire album and transforms it into a narrative tale. Not entirely original but in its execution, in its visual storytelling at the very least it excels, even if by the credits you’re easily left wanting more.