Billed as a romcom, 'What's Love...' is an interesting little movie, from a social commentary point of view. It may, hopefully, represent a turning point in the zeitgeist - as it gently mocks, rather than indulges many woke attitudes and, consciously or inadvertently reintroduces some rather conservative and old-fashioned liberal ideas and presents a reasonably balanced, if highly glamourised, view of multi-cultural Britain.
As for the entertainment value, it's bright, colourful, features a decent cast, has some splatterings of gentle humour and ticks most of the boxes for a romcom. I don't think it's a classic. In many ways it's obsession with self-identity undermines the central pretext of a romcom - we never quite escape the feeling these are all atomised individuals with the romance simply papering over the cracks - but romcoms have a tendency to heavily reflect the age they are made in. Whether this one ages well remains to be seen.
The basic story arc is entirely predictable, but this is a genre known for that.
Lily James, plays Zoe a successful filmmaker and 'independent young woman' but with definite emotional insecurities. Feeling constant pressure from her, somewhat overbearing mother, played by Emma Thompson, and also the sense of a biological clock ticking down - she begins to question her dating methods and search for the 'ideal man'.
Meanwhile, Zoe's neighbours, a Muslim family of Pakistani heritage, include her childhood friend Kazim, who suddenly announces he is going to pursue an arranged marriage, with the assistance of his family.
This is an interesting subject for a romcom, allowing exploration of the broad differences between contemporary dating in the liberalised West and a more traditional religious approach. This is neatly sewn into the narrative as Zoe suggests filming the proceedings for an investigative documentary.
I didn't find the comedy aspect convincing, Emma Thompson is possibly the worst thing in the movie - despite being a capable actress, she just isn't great in this type of role and comes across as a patronising caricature for much of the film.
I think she was intended to be the light relief, but I found her performance a bit toe-curling.
Shazid Latif was very good and likeable for the most part (bar a cringey diatribe about feeling 'Brit-ish' - which sounded straight out of the Critical Social Justice playbook and was out of character - Zoe and Kazim have been friends all their lives, yet this topic has never previously been raised?).
The film is not afraid to portray the ethnocentric smallmindedness of some of the older generation of British Pakistanis - here Kazim's mother and father stipulate that a potential bride must be of a certain lightness of skin colour and of the 'correct ethnic origin', and Kazim's grandmother comments on the skin colour of a mixed-race baby.
Meanwhile, Zoe's employers a couple of young entrepreneur types are gently mocked for their blatant hypocrisy and virtue signalling with the 'diversity' message.
A significant scene revolves around freezing eggs for women who aren't ready for motherhood. Here Zoe's rather naive presumptions come into contact with the reality. It seems the filmakers are questioning some of the potentially misleading messages that young women may have received ('you can 'have it all' to order').
The film also features a running 'joke' where Zoe reads traditional fairy stories to a couple of younger girls - she changes and adapts them to fit a 'feminist' spin - they are strikingly close to what Disney has been producing in recent years (see their forthcoming deconstruction of the Snow White story) - but the narrative unwinds to reveal the potential problems inherent in such a worldview.
'The princess doesn't need a prince, she's perfectly happy without one...' Or is she?
As for the entertainment value, it's bright, colourful, features a decent cast, has some splatterings of gentle humour and ticks most of the boxes for a romcom. I don't think it's a classic. In many ways it's obsession with self-identity undermines the central pretext of a romcom - we never quite escape the feeling these are all atomised individuals with the romance simply papering over the cracks - but romcoms have a tendency to heavily reflect the age they are made in. Whether this one ages well remains to be seen.
The basic story arc is entirely predictable, but this is a genre known for that.
Lily James, plays Zoe a successful filmmaker and 'independent young woman' but with definite emotional insecurities. Feeling constant pressure from her, somewhat overbearing mother, played by Emma Thompson, and also the sense of a biological clock ticking down - she begins to question her dating methods and search for the 'ideal man'.
Meanwhile, Zoe's neighbours, a Muslim family of Pakistani heritage, include her childhood friend Kazim, who suddenly announces he is going to pursue an arranged marriage, with the assistance of his family.
This is an interesting subject for a romcom, allowing exploration of the broad differences between contemporary dating in the liberalised West and a more traditional religious approach. This is neatly sewn into the narrative as Zoe suggests filming the proceedings for an investigative documentary.
I didn't find the comedy aspect convincing, Emma Thompson is possibly the worst thing in the movie - despite being a capable actress, she just isn't great in this type of role and comes across as a patronising caricature for much of the film.
I think she was intended to be the light relief, but I found her performance a bit toe-curling.
Shazid Latif was very good and likeable for the most part (bar a cringey diatribe about feeling 'Brit-ish' - which sounded straight out of the Critical Social Justice playbook and was out of character - Zoe and Kazim have been friends all their lives, yet this topic has never previously been raised?).
The film is not afraid to portray the ethnocentric smallmindedness of some of the older generation of British Pakistanis - here Kazim's mother and father stipulate that a potential bride must be of a certain lightness of skin colour and of the 'correct ethnic origin', and Kazim's grandmother comments on the skin colour of a mixed-race baby.
Meanwhile, Zoe's employers a couple of young entrepreneur types are gently mocked for their blatant hypocrisy and virtue signalling with the 'diversity' message.
A significant scene revolves around freezing eggs for women who aren't ready for motherhood. Here Zoe's rather naive presumptions come into contact with the reality. It seems the filmakers are questioning some of the potentially misleading messages that young women may have received ('you can 'have it all' to order').
The film also features a running 'joke' where Zoe reads traditional fairy stories to a couple of younger girls - she changes and adapts them to fit a 'feminist' spin - they are strikingly close to what Disney has been producing in recent years (see their forthcoming deconstruction of the Snow White story) - but the narrative unwinds to reveal the potential problems inherent in such a worldview.
'The princess doesn't need a prince, she's perfectly happy without one...' Or is she?