Five of JLo’s best romcom movies from the past 20 years

Take a look back at Jennifer Lopez’s best roles over the years as she returns to the romcom genre in the upcoming film Marry Me.

Since her debut 25 years ago, she’s been a triple threat, delivering chart-topping records, epic choreography, and enthralling silver screen performances.
While Jennifer Lopez recently made a comeback in the 2019 film Hustlers with a career-defining spin around a stripper pole, Jenny from the Block will always be the queen of romantic comedies in our eyes.

This year, the Bronx superstar is making a return to the genre in Marry Me, which tells the the heartwarming story of a famous Latin pop star (Lopez) who elects to marry a random stranger (Owen Wilson) in the crowd after learning that her fiance (Maluma) has been having an affair behind her back.

Ahead of the movie’s release in time for Valentine’s Day, we’ve rounded up five of JLo’s best performances that prove why she’s the undisputed patron saint of romcoms.

The Wedding Planner (2001)

At the turn of the millennium, JLo gifted us one of her best romcom performances in The Wedding Planner. Naturally, she plays the titular wedding planner, Mary, who is saved from a runaway bin in a joyously implausible meet-cute by a handsome paediatrician, Steve (Matthew McConaughey). There’s just one little problem: he’s the groom in the next wedding she’s planning.

Maid In Manhattan (2002)

Merely one year after the success of The Wedding Planner, JLo went full steam ahead with a classic Cinderella love story that became the number one film in the US at the same time as her second studio album, J.Lo, became number one in the charts. In Maid In Manhattan, she plays a lowly cleaner named Marisa who is mistaken for a guest at a glamorous hotel by a wealthy senatorial candidate, Chris Marshall (Ralph Fiennes). The pair are worlds apart, obviously, and Marisa has to go to some lengths to keep up appearances before the rags-to-riches romance comes good. Look out for star turns for Natasha Richardson, Stanley Tucci and Bob Hoskins, too.

Shall We Dance? (2004)

Thanks to JLo’s smash hit Shall We Dance?, the song everyone was listening to on repeat in 2004 was undoubtedly The Pussycat Dolls’ cover of the Dean Martin classic Sway. The film follows lawyer John Clark (played by Richard Gere), who decides to take up ballroom dancing after passing a dance studio on his commute home and spotting a beautiful dance instructor, Paulina (JLo). The pair create some serious chemistry, and John even decides to enter a dance competition. If only the whole thing wasn’t a secret to his wife, Beverly (Susan Sarandon).

Monster-In-Law (2005)

It’s a blessing that Oscar-winner Jane Fonda came out of retirement to lock horns with JLo in Monster-In-Law, because the pair created true comedy gold. JLo stars as Charlotte, who endures an endless string of disastrous blind dates until she meets the perfect man in Dr. Kevin Fields (Michael Vartan). Unfortunately, her prospective mother-in-law Viola (Fonda) will do anything she can to jeopardise her chances of making it down the aisle.

What To Expect When You’re Expecting (2012)

Inspired by the 1984 New York Times bestseller of the same name, What To Expect When You’re Expecting follows five couples whose intertwined lives are turned upside down by the challenges of impending parenthood. JLo plays Holly, a dolphin photographer who is prepared to travel the globe to adopt a child, but her husband Alex isn’t so sure, and tries to quiet his panic by attending a “dudes” support group, where new fathers get to tell it like it really is. It’s hilarious and heartfelt, and features allsorts of fun appearances from the likes of Cameron Diaz, Elizabeth Banks and Anna Kendrick.