“What’s Love Got to Do with It?” (And no, not that one) is a 2022 British romantic comedy film directed by Shekhar Kapur, from a screenplay by Jemima Khan. The film stars Lily James, right, and Shazad Latif.
You don’t have to look far to see the carbon-copied tropes from other rom coms: The kooky, overbearing mother (Emma Thompson) pushing a successful daughter (Lily James) toward men.
Having made a few successful documentaries, Zoe Stevenson (Lily James) turns the camera on her childhood next-door neighbor Kazim (Shazad Latif). He’s a successful doctor in London, with a close-knit Pakistani family, who has decided to embrace the old tradition of arranged marriage.
“What’s Love Got to Do with It?” (And no, not that one) is a 2022 British romantic comedy film directed by Shekhar Kapur, from a screenplay by Jemima Khan. The film stars Lily James, right, and Shazad Latif.
Robert Viglasky/StudioCanal
You don’t have to look far to see the carbon-copied tropes from other rom coms: The kooky, overbearing mother (Emma Thompson) pushing a successful daughter (Lily James) toward men.
Robert Viglasky/StudioCanal
Having made a few successful documentaries, Zoe Stevenson (Lily James) turns the camera on her childhood next-door neighbor Kazim (Shazad Latif). He’s a successful doctor in London, with a close-knit Pakistani family, who has decided to embrace the old tradition of arranged marriage.
Director Shekhar Kapur’s last full-length feature film was the Oscar-nominated sequel “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2007). The Pakistani director built his entire career on the success of working with Cate Blanchett in the dark, elaborate period pieces. He trades the costume drama for a not-so-dramatic return with the romance “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”
It’s a modern-day look at arranged marriage in Europe, wrapped in a plot we’ve seen in every romantic comedy for the past thirty years. Instead of “Love, Actually,” the characters’ joke this story is “Love, Contractually.” It’s one of a slew of unfunny jokes that plague the script. The casting isn’t much better; the plotting is horrendous and as the film tries to tackle too many subjects, it loses all entertainment value.
Having made a few successful documentaries, Zoe Stevenson (Lily James) usually gets introduced as an award-winning documentarian. She doesn’t mind, because she’s shrugged off friends and relationships for her career. Attempting lighter fare for her next project, she turns the camera on her childhood next-door neighbor Kazim (Shazad Latif). He’s a successful doctor in London, with a close-knit Pakistani family, who has decided to embrace the old tradition of arranged marriage. Zoe follows Kazim along the process, realizing of course he is the only man she could ever fall in love with. She tries to date other men, freeze her eggs and focus on work but eventually is faced with ruining his potential match, selected by his parents or telling the truth about her feelings.
Screenwriter Jemima Khan, who has no previous experience in the romantic comedy genre, borrows tropes from successful British films like “Bridget Jones’s Diary” as a template. You don’t have to look far to see the carbon-copy impressions or the kooky, overbearing mother (played by Emma Thompson) pushing a successful daughter toward men. Despite having played Cinderella in Disney’s 2015 live-action adaptation, James is miscast here. Nothing about her performance sells the idea she is a serious documentary filmmaker, a career woman or even that she had an entire childhood with this guy. Her portrayal of Zoe is never likable. She doesn’t have sympathy from the audience and only serves as a mediocre marquee name pushing this story toward the inevitable outcome.
“What’s Love Got to Do With It” is fairly ambitious for a romantic comedy, tackling racism, feminism, cultural traditions, culture clash and cheating, only to name a few. It’s unfocused and at times the characters don’t resemble real people in real situations. In other scenes the comedy evaporates, the moment turns very serious and it’s as if we are watching two separate stories. The sense of time is also quite confusing — only when Zoe meets different partners do we have a sense of time passing. The direction is uneven, without ingenuity or creative flair. James and Latif have little on-screen chemistry, neither as friends nor as potential romantic partners. Worst of all, the film isn’t entertaining. It’s not funny enough, it’s not romantic enough. Its single redeeming value is the subplot on forgiveness and acceptance.
Final Thought: It’s My Best Friend’s Big Fat Pakistani Wedding Diary.
Dustin Chase is a film critic and associate editor with Texas Art & Film, which is based in Galveston. Visit texasartfilm.com.
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Real names required. No pseudonyms or partial names allowed. Stand behind what you post.
Keep it clean. Don't use obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don’t knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be brief. Keep posts to 150 words or less.
Edit yourself. No more than two posts per thread and stay on topic. Do not link to sites outside galvnews.com.
Be aware. All posts are property of The Daily News and may be republished in print.
Be proactive. Use the "Report" link on each comment to let us know of rule violations.