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what's love got to do with it movie reviews

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What's Love Got to Do With It

Where to watch.

Rent What's Love Got to Do With It on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

With a fascinating real-life story and powerhouse performances from Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, What's Love Got to Do With It? is a can't miss biopic.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Brian Gibson

Angela Bassett

Tina Turner

Laurence Fishburne

Ike Turner, Sr.

Vanessa Bell Calloway

Jenifer Lewis

Zelma Bullock

RaéVen Larrymore Kelly

Young Anna Mae Bullock

More Like This

Related movie news.

What's Love Got to Do with It

When it came right down to it, in the divorce court, Ike Turner didn't even want Tina Turner to keep her name. Born as Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tenn., she was given her stage name by Ike early in their relationship. At the end, she was so eager to get away from him that she surrendered any claim to record royalties, publishing rights, and anything else, except "Tina Turner," which she told the judge she had worked very hard for. "That name's got my daddy's blood written all over it," Ike protested. But it would be more accurate to say it was written in Tina's own blood.

"What's Love Got to Do With It" ranks as one of the most harrowing, uncompromising showbiz biographies I've ever seen. It is a tradition in the genre that performers must go through hard times in order to eventually arrive at fame, but few went through harder times than Tina Turner. The movie shows Ike, jealous of her talent and popularity, turning into a violent wife-beater, and it shows her putting up with a lot more than she should have, for a lot longer.

The movie begins with a prologue in which little Anna Mae can sing louder than anyone else in the Nutbush church choir. A few years later, in St. Louis, she sees Ike Turner onstage and is intoxicated by his slick charm. Part of his act consists of inviting women from the audience to sing with his band. A few notes, and he shoos them away.

But when Anna Mae Bullock got up on that stage, she came to stay. And soon, an innocent who hardly understands the world she is entering, she's on tour with Ike and his band.

The movie stars Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne as Tina and Ike. They played the parents of the hero in " Boyz N the Hood ," but here they are in another universe -- Bassett fiery and convincing as Tina; Fishburne, in a powerful performance, able to show us both Ike's charm and his violent side.

The singing on the movie's sound track is by Tina Turner, but Bassett's performances of the songs are so much in synch - not just lip-synch, but physically, and with personality and soul -- that it always seems as if we're watching Tina at work.

As the two of them reach the heights of show business, with platinum records and big Vegas bookings and lots of money, their personal life turns into a nightmare. The movie shows Ike strung out on cocaine, flaunting his endless string of girlfriends, and subjecting Tina to verbal and physical abuse. A few friends advise her to walk away. Most of the people around them, intimidated by Ike or grateful for a generous drug supply, are enablers.

The most harrowing scene in the movie comes one night as Ike beats Tina yet once again, and bleeding and battered she walks out of their hotel and down a highway and into a Ramada Inn, where she says, "My name is Tina Turner, and my husband and I have had an argument. I have 32 cents in my pocket. If you give me a room I promise you I will pay you back as soon as I can." The manager gives her a room.

The Ramada Inn roadside sign is prominent in the scene because, as Tina wrote in her autobiography, I, Tina, she will forever be grateful to the motel for taking her in.

But what is amazing is that the scene isn't the end of Tina and Ike's relationship. The movie is unflinching in its willingness to show that Tina, like many battered wives, made excuses for her violent husband and believed his apologies and gave him more chances, long after she should have walked away.

Finally she finds the strength to resist through Buddhist meditation techniques, and there is an unforgettable scene late in the film where she is about to open a big engagement and Ike slips past security and into her dressing room with a gun, and she finds the inner strength to face him down and not cave in, and go onstage like a professional.

"What's Love Got to Do With It" has a lot of terrific music in it (including a closing glimpse of the real Tina Turner), but this is not the typical showbiz musical. It's a story of pain and courage, uncommonly honest and unflinching, and the next time I hear Tina Turner singing I will listen to the song in a whole new way.

what's love got to do with it movie reviews

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

What's Love Got to Do with It

what's love got to do with it movie reviews

  • Laurence Fishburne as Ike Turner
  • Angela Bassett as Tina Turner
  • Cora Lee Day as Grandma Georgiana
  • Jenifer Lewis as Zelma Bullock

Directed by

  • Brian Gibson

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What’s Love Got to Do With It? review: Jemima Khan’s big-hearted debut is proof British romcoms aren’t dead

Arranged marriages, emma thompson, and inexplicably nice lodgings are a winning formula in this future classic, article bookmarked.

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Think about it: when did you last see a great British romcom? Can you even remember the last time anyone achieved that perfect alchemy between wistful longing, self-deprecating humour and characters who live in incredibly nice houses? There’s been endless fretting about whether the genre can adapt to a more inclusive, feminist age – but with the big-hearted What’s Love Got to Do With It? , we can call off the search party. The first feature film written by Jemima Khan is a charming cross-cultural comedy that can be ranked alongside British classics like Bend It Like Beckham , and has the confidence of a Richard Curtis classic.

Boy, here, does not meet girl – he’s known her since they were kids, their families living next door to one another. Zoe ( Lily James ) now makes documentaries and Kaz (Shazad Latif) is a doctor; they are best friends, having long been part of the fabric of one another’s lives. Kaz has decided that he wants to have an arranged marriage, meaning boy will actually meet girl once she’s also met his Pakistani parents. Zoe, searching for her next project, convinces Kaz to let her film his journey, and explore how arranged marriages have evolved.

The tone is distinctly feelgood, but the film, directed by Shekhar Kapur, thoughtfully explores the different ways that relationships can be built, and what cultures can teach one another. Is it, in fact, more sensible to be pragmatic about relationships, rather than blindly led by the tempers of passion? And do western relationships owe more to the idea of arranged marriage than we realise? What about dating apps or, say, the royal family? A clever scene references the moment Prince Charles shattered a thousand fairytale dreams with his dismissive “whatever in love means” comment upon his engagement to Diana; these ideas are closer to home than we think.

James and Latif are a magnetic pair of leads, with Zoe wedded to her independence and Kaz gently challenging her preconceptions. (Zoe does live on an inexplicably nice houseboat for a freelance documentary filmmaker, which, as we know, is a crucial staple of British romcoms.)

The film, too, is a brilliant showcase for British comic talent, with Asim Chaudhry as a wheeler-dealer matchmaker, and comedy duo Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen as a pair of TV commissioners who compulsively come up with silly ideas. And as Zoe’s mum Cath, Emma Thompson delivers a winningly funny, frantic performance, constantly thrilled by her growing knowledge of cultural differences. (When told that an arranged marriage can be dissolved by simply saying, “I divorce you,” she remarks, “I wish we had that here.”)

The Son review: Hugh Jackman drama is ugly, ridiculous and inexplicably terrible

Towards the end, the film moves into more expansive territory as a bittersweet family drama, delivering a gentle message about acceptance. But What’s Love Got to Do With It? shines best as a crowd-pleasing comedy, and a sign that British romcoms aren’t dead: they were only sleeping.

Dir: Shekhar Kapur. Starring: Lily James, Shazad Latif, Emma Thompson, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly and Jeff Mirza. 12A, 109 mins

‘What’s Love Got to Do With It?’ is in cinemas from 24 February

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  3. Classic Review: What's Love Got to Do with It? (1993)

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