.jpg)
The film starts with media coverage of pop superstar Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez). She is currently promoting her “Marry Me” tour, which features the hit single of the same name that she sings with her fiance, international singer Bastian (Maluma). They are set to exchange vows at an upcoming concert in front of millions of fans. Kat is usually seen with her entourage, which includes her manager Colin Calloway (John Bradley), assistant Tyra (Katrina Cunningham), and secondary assistant Melissa (Michelle Buteau). Kat is excited for the show but a bit nervous about the reported 20 million+ people who are going to watch.
We meet Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson), a math teacher/recently divorced single father to Lou (Chloe Coleman). He tries to prove to Lou that he is a “cool” dad and tries to spend time with her, but she wants to avoid him making her join his math club. Charlie’s best friend is his coworker Parker (Sarah Silverman). He tries to bond with Lou, though she shows clear disinterest.
On the night of the concert, Parker invites Charlie and Lou to go with her since her girlfriend dumped her at the last minute. Charlie reluctantly agrees. They watch Kat perform her song “Church”, with her dancers dressed as sexy nuns. The show comes to its conclusion, where she and Bastian will sing “Marry Me” and then get married. Bastian sees Kat before the big moment, wishing her luck, but Kat notices her team looking nervously at their phones. Before she rises to the stage, she demands to see Colin’s phone, and she finds a TMZ video showing Bastian and Tyra hooking up in a hotel room. A heartbroken Kat is brought up to the stage and must address all the fans at the venue and who are watching at home. She essentially tells them that she is no longer marrying Bastian due to this revelation, and tells them that she has to do something different. She looks into the crowd and sees Charlie holding a “Marry Me” sign, and on a whim, she has Charlie go to the stage to marry him. The entire crowd is stunned, but Charlie agrees to go through with it anyway, at the encouragement of Parker, Lou, and other excited fans. The ceremony goes through, and Kat and Charlie are married. After the show, Tyra tries to explain herself, but Kat shoos her away. Bastian also tries to give his side of the story, but Kat doesn’t want to hear it. She rides home with Charlie and drops him off.
News about Kat’s surprise decision starts to hit, with many confused and others still wishing Bastian would be with Kat. Although Bastian tries to talk to Kat, she refuses to listen to him. Colin offers suggestions for how to handle things with Charlie, but Kat thinks she will stay married to him until they figure things out and the frenzy surrounding the concert meltdown blows over.
Colin visits Charlie, who is with Parker, to guide him through things, even making money offers for him to go along with it, but he just wants things to be fine with Lou. Colin brings the two to the set of “The Today Show” for a press conference for Kat and Charlie to address reporters for what to do and say about the situation. They answer the proper questions and endear themselves to the press as they tell them that they are 100% committed to this new relationship.
Charlie joins Kat on their first “real” date at a bowling alley. He has fun with her but isn’t comfortable with Melissa and Kat’s personal cameraman Kofi (Khalil Middleton) following and recording their every move. They bond together and talk about their past failed relationships. As they spend more time together, Charlie has to deal with overzealous paparazzi, but he has Parker around to get rid of them. Bastian also continues trying to win Kat back, despite still flirting with other women. Kat later goes to Paris for a show, but she talks to Charlie over the phone and genuinely feels good hearing from him, and he seems to feel the same.
Kat surprises Charlie and his students at school while they prepare for an upcoming mathalon tournament, and this is where Kat finally meets Lou. The other students note that Lou cost them a win the previous year because she has stage fright and couldn’t answer her question. Kat shows the students a video of her forgetting lyrics to her song at the VMA’s one time, showing them that everyone has a moment like that. She helps the students prepare for the tournament by answering math questions and doing dance moves.
Kat later goes to Charlie’s apartment and gives Lou a designer bag. Kat and Charlie then talk regarding her potentially getting back with Bastian and how it would be repeating old mistakes. He invites her to the spring semiformal dance, to which she accepts.
At the dance, Charlie arranges for Parker to collect phones so Kat won’t be bothered by the kids and staff who are fans of hers. During the dance, Kat goes onstage to perform an old song her hers, “After Love”, and she gets music teacher Jonathan (Stephen Wallem) to play an instrument for her to sing along to. After the dance, Charlie says it’s his new favorite song. He goes back to the apartment with Kat and plays his old favorite song, “If I Would Ever Leave You” from “Camelot”. Kat says she likes the song, and then she and Charlie share their first real kiss before going to have sex.
Kat and Charlie start dating more and spend time doing things like breaking into a mansion and messing around in there, and then going to Coney Island to ride the Wonder Wheel.
While practicing for the mathalon at school, Bastian surprises everyone by showing up. He goes to tell Kat that “Marry Me” got her a Grammy nomination, and she is being invited to perform the song with him at his concert at Madison Square Garden to potentially influence her garnering a win. Bastian suggests they do the slow ballad version of the song that they would have done after the ceremony. Kat wants to do the show, but Charlie is hesitant because he fears that she may run back to Bastian. He agrees to support her anyway.
The show goes on at MSG, with millions of fans watching the “Marry Me” performance while Charlie watches with Lou and Parker at home until Lou encourages him to go to the show. Charlie gets in to the afterparty, but when he finds Kat, he tells her that he doesn’t think that he can continue the relationship because he doesn’t feel that he fits into her world.
After spending time apart, Kat writes a new song called “On My Way”, which many fans interpret as being written about Bastian. Charlie goes with Lou and the other students to Peoria for the mathalon. Kat and Bastian go on Jimmy Fallon’s show to promote the song and get ready for a romantic duet, but Kat has an epiphany at that moment and tells Jimmy that “On My Way” wasn’t for Bastian. She bids Bastian farewell for the last time as she decides to head to the airport and get a flight to Peoria. Despite the flight being sold out, Colin tells her that he got her the last ticket.
Kat makes it on the day of the tournament and meets with Parker to help get her there on time. They pay a bus driver to get her there, and she makes it just as Lou is up to answer the last question. The other students mock her for her stage fright, but Charlie tries to encourage her by dancing. Although Lou manages to answer the question correctly, she ran over her time, and the other team wins. Lou thinks she cost them another win, but Charlie reassures her everything is fine. Kat arrives to give Lou her own words of encouragement before talking to Charlie about how she really feels about him. She holds up her own sign that says “Marry me…again”. The two admit their love for each other and kiss in front of everyone.
After Kat and Charlie get back together, they are shown still teaching his students how to learn through dance. Before the credits go on, we see videos of random couples talking about how they met, including Colin with a Fallon employee named Annikah (Jameela Jamil), plus Melissa and a mathalon coach named Manny (Utkarsh Ambukar), ending with Kat and Charlie saying they met at a concert.