Shoot To Marry begins after Steve Markle’s proposal to his then-significant other is turned down… on Christmas day. The forty-something-year-old then goes through a list of contacts looking for “the one” while also trying to find out why he’s still single. Markle’s journey for love leads him through the lives of unique and interesting women, which also means potentially awkward moments.
The very first woman along this road is a blind date. She’s aware that he has a camera, which should be a red flag, but she decides to let him record the whole thing. Everything seems to be going fine until she confesses her weird obsession with poop. Well, we know why she’s single. But Markle does not find that to be a deal-breaker, but as you can imagine, it doesn’t work out. Things just get more and more awkward from here.
Markle then reunites with past flings and friends that he believes might make a good pairing. One meets him wearing a mask, another claims to have psychic abilities to burn out fuses, and one interview even leads him to a sex club where he finds himself watching an orgy… while being naked himself. Suffice to say, Shoot To Marry is populated with strange people and even more awkward dates.
“…looking for ‘the one’ while also trying to find out why he’s still single.”
After a few off-putting encounters, Steve Markle decides to connect with a freelance writer who received backlash after penning a blog explaining that she only goes on dates with men to get free dinners. Her name is Erin Wotherspoon, and funny enough, the two hit it off. They date for a few months until he receives a breakup text because she feels that their age gap makes the relationship a bit weird. Now, this is one issue that I had with the documentary. I felt as though Erin appeared more for publicity, especially after what she did with her blog. After all, it was Markle that contacted her. She just agreed to meet and be a part of the documentary after he explained what he was doing.
When watching Shoot To Marry, I kept asking questions that, oddly enough, Markle also brings up. He questions if his tactic of finding women to be in his documentary while also trying to date them is ethical. He does ask for permission to record their dates, but it just seems like a bizarre request. Markle even compares what he’s doing to a “casting couch.” If you don’t know what that is, Google it with the safe search on as NSFW material may come up. I also noticed that he was attracted to just about every woman he interviewed and wanted to date them all. It comes across as weird and creepy.
Shoot To Marry is funny and interesting, but more out of sheer awkwardness. The embarrassing moments are continuous, which made me want to keep watching, but at the same time, I also wanted to stop watching Markle get himself into these situations. It is akin to watching a car accident. But I found myself pulling for the guy after a while just because I was tired of seeing his misery, even if his tactics are what got him there.
"…funny and interesting, but more out of sheer awkwardness."
