What's Love Got to Do with It?

2023 1h 49m EN

😐

6.1

MID

🍅

71%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.3

IMDB

★6.1TMDB · 252🍅71%Rotten Tomatoes●59Metacritic★6.3IMDB · 12,739

RomanceComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Two childhood friends now in their thirties must decide whether to follow their heads or their hearts once the man decides to follow his parents' advice and enter into an arranged marriage in Pakistan.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Lily James
Zoe Stevenson
Shazad Latif
Kazim Khan
Shabana Azmi
Aisha Khan
Emma Thompson
Cath Stevenson
Sajal Ali
Maymouna
Oliver Chris
James
Asim Chaudhry
Mo the Matchmaker
Jeff Mirza
Zahid Khan

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Shekhar Kapur
Writers: Jemima Khan
Languages: Urdu, English, Portuguese
Countries: France, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 3 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Urdu, English, Portuguese.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: France, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Shekhar Kapur, shot by Remi Adefarasin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nitin Sawhney. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Guy Bensley shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Lily James and Shazad Latif and Shabana Azmi carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt13430858 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Shekhar Kapur directs. Remi Adefarasin behind the camera. Nitin Sawhney scores. Guy Bensley cuts. Produced in France, United Kingdom. Dialogue in Urdu, English, Portuguese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 3 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Urdu, English, Portuguese.
3International production across 2 countries: France, United Kingdom.
4Directed by Shekhar Kapur, shot by Remi Adefarasin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Nitin Sawhney. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Guy Bensley shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Lily James and Shazad Latif and Shabana Azmi carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt13430858 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Remi Adefarasin
Original score: Nitin Sawhney
Editing: Guy Bensley
Production design: Simon Elliott
Makeup / hair: Sally Tynan
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $10,898,395
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: What's Love Got to Do with It? (2023)
Rotten Tomatoes: 71% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 59/100
IMDB rating: 6.3/10 · 12,739 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Also by

Shekhar Kapur

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-03-26
★ 6/10
If you remember "Last Christmas" (2019) then you will have a rough idea of what to expect here with this rather formulaic, if colourful, drama. It all centres around a film being made by "Zoe" (Lily James) about the forthcoming "assisted" marriage of her lifelong friend "Kaz" (Shazad Latif). Her mother "Cath" (Dame Emma Thompson) lives next door to his family and so is relishing the family trip to Pakistan for the traditional wedding. "Zoe" is (as, I suspect, are we) pretty sceptical of the whole arrangement - getting married to someone you've only met on Skype, but proceed we do through a lively ceremony that allows Dame Emma to don her sari and dance for all she is worth (gin-fuelled!) whilst the predictable love triangle melodrama slowly, but predictably, plays out. It all comes to an head when they have returned home and she shows her film to all concerned and, just like this, it receives mixed and divisive reviews. I found this all very twee, middle class and vaguely judgmental which after a while I felt rather defeated the purpose in the first place. It is pretty clear from the start what is going to happen, and although the route to that conclusion isn't exactly a straight line, this leaves very little room for jeopardy to a plot you can see from Mars. Latif has a degree of charm to him, and some of the scenes with Lily James are quite engaging in a cheesy sort of way, but for the most part this is eminently forgettable fayre that will do fine on telly at Christmas.
r96sk2023-08-23
★ 6/10
Largely underwhelming, even if <em>'What’s Love Got to Do with It?'</em> holds a few redeeming qualities. It's all competently shot and all that, the music for example is excellent - nice work, Nitin Sawhney & Co. The level of acting is also all good, though I wouldn't say there is necessarily anyone that stands out individually. On that note, Emma Thompson: As usual I like her, but her character isn't the best - I feel like I've seen her play the same (similar, at best) character one or two times before recently-ish, <em>'Last Christmas'</em> for example. She's merits more to work with. The story is one that is almost as old as time, like with the aforementioned I feel like I've seen this plot play out many a time. It has a couple of unique elements I guess, but overall it's pretty derivative. I'm also not sold on Lily James' Zoe being 'Player 1', so to speak... like, her character is fairly meh. In fact, I'd go as far to say that Mariam Haque's Jamila should've been the film's key - that part of the story interested me the most of anything else portrayed onscreen. Haque and Michael Marcus's portion only features relatively smally, so I kinda wish they used them two instead as their bits are the most touching. All in all, it's fine - but is too mundane and predictable to be definitively enjoyable, in my opinion of course.
Sam-Alien2026-07-04
A film for elderly 3O4s! Disrespectful to other cultures and traditions. Petitions that it is normal to disrespect and break families for nonsense validation. What was true: phone addiction and repeated wrong choices for external validation! This movie is a waste of time and a disgrace to mens intelligence by selling that 304s should be swept up. They do not. No, in real life the 3O4 does not get the guy, she gets used up and settles for cats. Any guy who settles for dump-pump girls is betting on a failed illusion!