Movie Review

What's Love Got to Do with It? goes deeper than your typical rom-com

For those who aren’t part of a culture that subscribes to the idea of arranged marriage, the concept can seem completely foreign. Who would want to marry someone who’s almost a complete stranger and hope for love instead of falling in love first? The new film What’s Love Got to Do with It? approaches the custom through the guise of a romantic comedy, showing both the good and bad sides of the tradition.

Zoe (Lily James), a documentary filmmaker, and Kazim (Shazad Latif), a doctor, are longtime friends who grew up next door to each other in London. Zoe is looking for her next project, and when Kazim, who is of Pakistani heritage, tells her that he is about to embark upon the process of an “assisted marriage” – one where he is fully engaged in finding a wife instead of one being chosen for him – she convinces him to let her document the journey.

While she’s filming Kazim go through a type of Pakistani speed-dating, engage in Zoom chats with women in Pakistan, and more, Zoe struggles with her own checkered romantic history. Cath (Emma Thompson), Zoe’s well-meaning but overly-enthusiastic mom, does her own bit of arranging, trying to set Zoe up with James (Oliver Chris), her milquetoast veterinarian.

Directed by Shekhar Kapur and written by Jemima Khan, the film is lightweight but still more introspective than your typical rom-com. Though the outcome of the story would not seem to be in doubt, the filmmakers put in a lot of work showing how Kazim believes that an assisted marriage is the right choice for him, chastising Zoe on more than one occasion about her limited worldview.

Zoe’s bad luck in romance is attributed to factors like her being a workaholic and being attracted to men who are bad for her, typical rom-com tropes that are bolstered by the juxtaposition with Kazim. Through a series of When Harry Met Sally-style interviews with characters in arranged marriages, Zoe – and, by extension, the film as a whole – seems to be very cynical about love in general, with both types of marriages not seeming all that appealing.

While the film plays its story relatively straightforward, a few scenes are jarring in their attempt to provide a different tone. Cath seems to have an obsession with being part of Pakistani culture - dressing up in traditional clothes, speaking Urdu, butting in on dances at weddings – actions that may or may not cross the line of cultural appropriation. Kazim’s eventual fiancée Maymouna (Sajal Ali) is also portrayed oddly, going from quiet, shy, and reluctant in most scenes to over-the-top in one anomalous sequence.

James makes for an appealing lead, and the film allows her to explore the more dramatic sides of her character instead of playing her foibles for laughs all the time. Latif does well, although it’s a bit surprising that his character is not given the same depth as Zoe considering the ideas in the film. The supporting actors are mainly there to serve as comic relief, although they are almost uniformly portrayed as realistic people, a refreshing change for the genre.

A bit deeper than your typical rom-com, What’s Love Got to Do with It? is a solid play on the “will friends become lovers?” plot line. By comparing/contrasting the different ways people get married, the film offers interesting yet still entertaining ideas that rarely get explored in this type of film.

Shazad Latif and Lily James in What's Love Got to Do With It?

---

What's Love Got to Do with It? is now playing in theaters.

movies film

Movie Review

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney go off in trashy film The Housemaid

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.

Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.

Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).

After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.

Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.

The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.

Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.

Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.

The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.

---

The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

movies film