Written by: Jemima Khan
Starring: Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Emma Thompson, Sajal Ali, Oliver Chris
Rating: [2.5/5]
As no surprise to anyone, the approach to marriage and love varies between various cultures, which fundamentally makes for vast differences in lifestyle because of the legal implications of matrimony. Western culture teaches us to find the person we love the most, find partnership, and get married for the rest of our lives. In some Asian cultures like Pakistan, as explored in What’s Love Got to Do With It, arranged marriages occur as a more carefully crafted approach that may leave Westerners confused. In the attempts to draw some lines of explanation, this film, however, just becomes this grueling experience despite its charming leads.
Having trouble finding the right person for marriage, British-Pakistani Kaz (Shazad Latif) accepts the help of his parents in creating an arranged marriage with a woman in Pakistan. Intrigued on documenting the differences in cultural beliefs regarding this topic, Zoe (Lily James), a lifelong friend of Kaz seeks to create a documentary following him as they travel to Pakistan for him to meet and marry his arranged bride.
Arranged marriages have existed for as long as human existence when they occurred between royals to build alliances and further along a bloodline or when a man simply needed a woman to bear his kids who can tend to a farm. Something done out of necessity and not concerning the feelings of the individuals involved. As much as we have advanced beyond marriages of this nature existing as the predominant way it gets done, arranged marriages do still occur as mostly seen in various Asian cultures such as Pakistan. From the outside looking in, it certainly gives this look of an outdated and horrific way for two individuals to get married by not knowing each other beforehand, this film displays the value that exists with the method. Now, whole essays have been written about this practice and the validity, which this review does not exist as an argument for or against it. We need this as the foundation for the central issue of the story where we have a white British woman trying to comprehend this practice by documenting it through her childhood best friend who will undergo everything about it. With this being a romantic comedy you can quickly pick up that some unearthed love between them will further complicate things and it certainly does.
Therefore, we have this dichotomy between the two where Zoe has a mother who gets on her for not finding a suitable man where Kaz has parents who stand by ready to find him the perfect match through the services provided through their culture. In a sense, this film seeks to answer the question of what type of love will succeed in the long run and as we get to that ultimate answer, the film has some unintentioned hilarious gaffes and elements that just do not make it enjoyable throughout. One of these comedic elements transpire in the hilarity of Zoe actually operating as a documentary filmmaker. Now as someone who has never made a film writing this, I am not the person who can speak on how to operate a camera but when we cut from seeing what her camera captures about Kaz’s experience and then we cut to Zoe standing there with the camera holding it sideways, it just does not add any validity to this whole experience. It only adds to the lack of seriousness in the production of this film as opposed to the content area that does deserve a closer and better examination.
As much as we can appreciate the cast of this film, nothing about it feels earned in even the slightest way. We have moments where it delves into some fascinating elements of this family that make it strange Zoe would feel comfortable in recording. After a while the film then forgets it’s a romantic comedy and needs to shoehorn in this romance between the two leads in a way that feels incredibly forced to the point where you just have to throw your hands up and accept the movie has to movie. This connection between these two just does not have a foundation for us to root for them other than them being childhood friends, which does all of, if not all, the heavy lifting.
All in all, What’s Love Got to Do with It? Feels like a missed opportunity. I give it plenty of credit in trying to delve into a subject area many in the West carry plenty of ignorance about in not fully understanding the legitimate reasons why individuals of a certain culture would agree to partake in an arranged marriage. However, it handles it all in such a clumsily way and an inevitable romance that does not feel like it stands on anything other than the movie dictating it happened. A frustrating experience overall but still with appreciable elements.
Films with Josh 
