What’s Love Got to Do With It leans into rom-com tropes

What’s Love Got to Do With It has a predictable ending so it’s a good thing it’s all about the journey.

What’s Love Got to Do With It is in cinemas now.

Does it matter if a rom-com is predictable?

Does it matter if the ending is telegraphed thanks to a combination of the script and your own expectations? If you know where the story goes, are you still compelled to go along for the journey?

In a genre which so often leans into the tropes, sometimes all there is is the journey. If the journey is charming enough, we forgive a lot.

What’s Love Got to Do With It has a foreseeable endpoint. You would have to be blind to stars Lily James and Shazad Latif’s chemistry to think there was any other way it would go.

But there are enough beats and moments along the way to make it a pleasant amble for its first 100 minutes. The final eight minutes is akin to coming through the door and taking your shoes off.

The formula usually works something like this – two very attractive people can’t yet see their attraction for each other, which they will after the overcome an obstacle that will open their eyes to what was in front of them all along.

In What’s Love Got to Do With It, those two people are Zoe (James) and Kazim (Latif), friends since childhood having grown up as neighbours.

Rom-coms rely on the charms of their leads. Picture: Rob Youngson

Kazim is a successful young doctor from a Pakistani-British family who decides to change up his approach to dating. Rather than the merry-go-round of apps and random encounters, he wants to give arranged marriages a go – or, as they’re also called, assisted marriage.

Kazim tells Zoe that he’s seen it work in his culture and while she’s first thrown by his choice, the filmmaker in her knows a good subject for a documentary when she sees it.

Zoe and her camera follow Kazim on his love-match journey and it becomes clear that through this different lens, she starts to see him in another way.

What’s Love Got to Do With It uses Zoe’s documentary as a framing device to explore the world of assisted marriages, a world most audiences in western countries would be unfamiliar with.

It breaks down some of the myths associated with a practice seen by anachronistic by many, with a more practical view of the advantages and disadvantages. That connection between practice and culture is presented not in mockery or judgment but with genuine interest.

Shazad Latif- and Lily James are friends in real life.

There’s a solid balance between exploring Kasim’s cultural heritage and how it relates to his experiences as a modern man in London, and how his family bonds form who he is.

The casting of well-known South Asian actors including Shabana Azmi, Asim Chaudhry and Sajal Aly fill out a vivid world. While Emma Thompson as Zoe’s enthusiastic mother grounds Zoe’s characterisation.

What’s Love Got to Do With It isn’t subverting conventions, but it has the overflowing charisma of both James and Latif, who are real life friends whose ease with each other’s presence translates wonderfully on screen. It may be the movie’s secret weapon.

It’s rather agreeable.

Rating: 3/5

What’s Love Got to Do With It is in cinemas now