Rom-coms are like comfort food. They fill our bellies and keep us warm, but sometimes the formula can get a little stale. We need something that approaches the subject with a new perspective to keep things fresh. And the latest rom-com What’s Love Got To Do With It? does exactly this with its subject matter. It’s not without its faults, but its endearing cast and overarching questions surrounding love and marriage give it a necessary charm.
Let’s start with the plot, shall we?
The story fits the mold of rom-coms with our would-be couple. Zoe (Lily James) is a talented documentarian in search of her latest subject and love match. A cynic in the love department, she is constantly batting away her eccentric mother’s (Emma Thompson) attempts to set her up. No, Zoe wants to fall in love (and, also have a baby but that’s a blip and you’ll miss it moment that never gets revisited in the film).
When she finds out her best friend and neighbor Kaz (Shazad Latif) is investing in an arranged marriage, Zoe becomes confused. Why would someone marry a stranger, let alone a person they don’t love? Inspired by this topic, Zoe pitches a documentary focusing on Pakistani arranged marriages to producers and is met with approval. The course of the film follows her process of capturing Kaz on his journey and – subsequently – going through a journey of her own. The core question of the film is right in the title – What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Lily James is no stranger to the romance world. She won our hearts as Cinderella in Disney’s first live-action attempt (and, honestly, the most successful film of their live-action fixation). From Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, she’s proven time and time again that romance is a successful niche. In What’s Love Got To Do With It?, James succeeds in bringing the cynical Zoe to life and gives her extra depth that is missing on the page.
As the more reserved Kaz, Shazad Latif plays it safer in his performance. This can sometimes render his Kaz a bit bland, even with the knowledge that he smokes as his private act of rebellion against his parents. The reality is that the character is oscillating between the realms of tradition and his own needs. Forgoing love in pursuit of doing what’s expected is the crux of the question that the film poses, and it is Kaz’s journey that we see, even if it comes across at times through a filtered i.e., Western lens. When James and Latif are together, their chemistry is undeniable.
Part of the magic in What’s Love Got To Do With It? is how endearing the actors are in their performances and Shekhar Kapur’s direction. Even in a character’s most self-destructive moments, there’s a charm and charisma to each actor that makes all sins redeemable. Sajay Ali is a particular standout as Maymouna and is someone to keep an eye out on. Her character also provides the most compelling argument to the love vs tradition question in pursuit of marriage but, for spoiler’s sake, I’ll stop here.
It should be noted, though, that no matter how charming an actor is, their performance can’t camouflage poor character development. Emma Thompson’s Cath is the best example of this, giving nothing more to do than get lit and constantly harass her daughter to get married. In general, the characterization of the bulk of the characters across the board is notably weak in What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part of this is that plot is prioritized over actual development, and even then, it could have used tightening. There’s a baby-related subplot that shows up for a scene and is never revisited again. An easy cut to make. There’s just enough sketched out to get us going, but the resolution by the end feels a bit half-baked. We know the outcome going into the film, but the journey doesn’t quite mesh up with what we see between Zoe and Kaz onscreen. Thankfully, James and Latif do enough to make us forgive the path to the inevitable conclusion.
I can’t speak for the accuracy of the cultural representation featured in the film. The representation and the cultural inclusion, however, are a refreshing change of pace from most rom-coms. Utilizing the assignment Zoe has, the audience is learning alongside her. We’re with her as she captures the various steps of Kaz’s arranged marriage from Zoom calls to Lahore. It makes the process of answering the film’s questions feel more organic.
What I can critique is how What’s Love Got To Do With It?, whether or not it was intentional, still reads from a Western perspective. Because we’re experiencing the bulk of the story through Zoe’s lens, that’s part of why it reads this way. With her focusing on love and Kaz focusing on tradition in the film’s debate, it pits one perspective against the other rather than finding a complete marriage of the two philosophies. With that said, this note does get touched upon in a lean-in moment onscreen much later in the film.
What’s Love Got To Do With It? isn’t perfect, but it provides something new within the generally predictable rom-com realm. Lily James proves once again that she’s the rom-com heroine for our generation. Shazad Latif provides a new type of romantic hero, working to bring honor to the family in a more restrained fashion. Ultimately, the film’s success resides in the questions it asks on the way and in having the audience debate alongside our couple onscreen.
What’s Love Got To Do With It? is now available in theaters.
