Certificate: 12A (infrequent strong language, moderate sex references, drug references). Running Time: 109 mins. UK Distributor: Studiocanal
WHO’S IN IT?
Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Emma Thompson, Sajal Aly, Naufal Azmir Khan, Oliver Chris, Asim Chaudhry, Jeff Mirza
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Shekhar Kapur (director), Jemima Khan (writer, producer), Nicky Kentish Barnes, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (producers), Nitin Sawhney (composer), Remi Adefarasin (cinematographer), Guy Bensley and Nick Moore (editors)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A filmmaker (James) documents the process of her best friend’s (Latif) arranged marriage…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Coincidental though it may be, I cannot ignore the fact that within the span of a week, I have seen two romantic-comedies named after popular songs that have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the movie, the first being Somebody I Used To Know (thanks, Gotye), and now What’s Love Got to Do with It? which of course borrows its title from the classic Tina Turner track, and was even used for the title of Turner’s 1993 biopic with Angela Bassett.
Honestly, though, jovially thinking about this oddly specific new category of film is more of an endearing experience than watching the entirely mediocre film that Turner’s otherwise unrelated song lends its name to.
Directed by Shekhar Kapur (returning to features after a fifteen-year absence) and written by Jemima Khan in her screenwriting debut, What’s Love Got to Do with It? quickly introduces us to Zoe (Lily James), an award-winning documentary filmmaker – which I remember specifically because the script awkwardly repeats this exact job description a couple of times within the opening scenes – and a reluctant romantic, who has decided that she’s better off without a man in her life. Her best friend is, naturally, the handsome and charming man from next door, a doctor named Kaz (Shazad Latif) who announces to Zoe that he’s opting for an arranged marriage to keep with his Pakistani family’s tradition. She successfully pitches Kaz’s quest to find a wife as her next film, and soon she’s capturing everything on film, from his family’s interference in finding a match, to meeting the eventual young bride Maymouna (Sajal Ali), to the couple’s wedding in Lahore – all which weighing her own feelings about love, including the one she may in fact have for the subject of her documentary.
Like many rom-coms before it, it plays into the regular rulebook and delivers most if not all the outcomes you would expect from a film like this, which is fine. The thing is, though, Khan’s script for What’s Love Got to Do with It? is constantly under the apprehension that its heavy focus on different cultures and their views on love gives it the right to feel more progressive than it actually is, when in fact it forces all-too traditional Western tropes into a narrative that clearly wants to fully embrace its deeper roots. Make no mistake, the strong representation of Muslim and British South Asian culture, particularly in the largely diverse cast, is encouraging to see in a mainstream film like this, but Khan – who is white – angles her script too much from a white perspective, positioning Lily James’ Zoe as the de facto protagonist rather than Shazad Latif’s Kaz, ends up diluting the intended embrace of multiculturalism, depicting some characters as conventional archetypes seen many times over in films like East is East and Bend It Like Beckham, and backing away from certain traditions of this faith to give its WASP audience an outcome that’s more in line with their own ethics. It’s impossible to say that Khan didn’t have good intentions – she was, after all, once married to former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan – but her earnest and oddly naïve take on different cultures leaves her whiteness on full display.
It is also a strangely paced film, throwing you right into the story with barely any time to properly introduce its characters, except through unnatural expository dialogue they share between each other that’s entirely for the benefit of the audience (as mentioned before, Zoe is specifically described as an award-winning filmmaker within minutes of screentime), and rarely slowing down beyond that. So much goes by in a flash, including character set-ups, location establishments, and even moments of physical comedy, that it’s hard to keep up with it all, and after a short while you realise that there’s very little emotional attachment to most things because they’ve been given almost no chance to make themselves feel worthy of the audience’s attention. Even when it does start to slow down well into the film’s second half, too much has already happened in this story that you’re way past the point of becoming invested this late into the game, and it leaves you oddly unsatisfied with what it does try and introduce but rarely ever follows up on (at one point, Zoe’s producers express doubt that her film will sell because she is white – a possible meta-commentary about Khan’s script that is never mentioned again).
Also, and I know this is a nit-pick which I often try and avoid in my reviews, but I really do want to mention it here: during a major scene, Zoe screens a rough cut of her film at what is clearly the Curzon Mayfair cinema in London, which I have been to many times in my life (and it’s a lovely cinema, by the way, so go and visit it whenever you’re next in the capital) and know exactly where it’s located, but at one point characters step outside for a conversation and are suddenly standing by the Southbank, which I know for a fact is nowhere near this venue, so it just looks like they’ve just suddenly warped there in their own off-screen TARDIS. If, like me, you’re very familiar with the geography of certain London cinema locations, you’ll be thinking the exact same thing when you watch this, and will come out just as irritated as I was.
It’s not like the film is entirely without merit, though, for it does feature some good scenes between James and Latif (though their chemistry is more believable when they’re just friends), there are some fun supporting turns by Emma Thompsons as Zoe’s mother and Asim Chaudhry as a professional matchmaker, and again it’s nice to see major studios backing films with this level of multicultural talent. I just wish that What’s Love Got to Do with It? took the time to properly embrace its multiculturalism rather than just cater exclusively towards white, undemanding audiences.
SO, TO SUM UP…
What’s Love Got to Do with It? is a harmless but underwhelming rom-com, which denies itself the opportunity to fully embrace its multicultural narrative by tailoring its decidedly Western tropes more exclusively to white audiences, and sets itself an oddly fast pace that moves everything along at breakneck speed that it leaves little time to actually care about what is happening and to whom.
