An all-male musical band, having been hired to perform on a posh cruise ship, needs to hire a female singer. After some rushed trials, the band does find a suitable singer : a charming nightingale called Polly. During the following weeks, the musicians busy themselves with entertaining the guests and discovering their new surroundings. However, the presence of beautiful Polly causes a lot of mutual rivalry and intrigue...
"What shall we do about love ?" is based on Jeroom Verten's book of the same name, which I read as a child. The book made me laugh a lot ; several decades later I remember whole parts, to the point where I can still describe the sad incident with the snake charmer number.
So what about the movie ? Here you've got a black-and-white Belgian romantic comedy that comes very close to being a musical comedy - if another reviewer wants to describe it as "a musical" I won't quarrel with him (or her). Now the description "a Belgian musical comedy" is enough to make seasoned movie lovers shake in their shoes, since Belgium tends to be bad, even very bad, at this particular genre. I'm a Belgian myself, so this is coming from a place of love, but : in terms of sheer unsuitability, asking a Belgian to tackle this specific genre is somewhat like asking a sumo wrestler to dance "Swan Lake" or like asking a Mother Superior to design a sizzling lingerie collection. Still, "What shall we do about love ?" turns out better than expected : while it's no cinematic masterpiece, it can be watched with a certain degree of pleasure. The music isn't bad at all and it turns out that the actress playing Polly actually can sing. Moreover, the setting is interesting.
(Unless I'm mistaken the said actress, having played in this movie, went on to have an international career which included singing in Las Vegas and doing musical shows all over the world. She also went on to perform on cruise ships - now tell me that life doesn't imitate art...)
There's quite a good joke involving a fight in a North-African bar. As frenzied, general fighting breaks out, involving European visitors, locals, sailors and tourists, police rush in, only in order to discover... Well, I leave you to see that for yourselves...
However, the movie is not notable for its respectful depiction of other countries and cultures ; on the contrary, it seems to think that foreigners are weird and/or funny, by definition. For instance, there are two "sultan" characters that are both superfluous and insensitive. From this point of view, the movie feels definitely dated.
"What shall we do about love ?" is based on Jeroom Verten's book of the same name, which I read as a child. The book made me laugh a lot ; several decades later I remember whole parts, to the point where I can still describe the sad incident with the snake charmer number.
So what about the movie ? Here you've got a black-and-white Belgian romantic comedy that comes very close to being a musical comedy - if another reviewer wants to describe it as "a musical" I won't quarrel with him (or her). Now the description "a Belgian musical comedy" is enough to make seasoned movie lovers shake in their shoes, since Belgium tends to be bad, even very bad, at this particular genre. I'm a Belgian myself, so this is coming from a place of love, but : in terms of sheer unsuitability, asking a Belgian to tackle this specific genre is somewhat like asking a sumo wrestler to dance "Swan Lake" or like asking a Mother Superior to design a sizzling lingerie collection. Still, "What shall we do about love ?" turns out better than expected : while it's no cinematic masterpiece, it can be watched with a certain degree of pleasure. The music isn't bad at all and it turns out that the actress playing Polly actually can sing. Moreover, the setting is interesting.
(Unless I'm mistaken the said actress, having played in this movie, went on to have an international career which included singing in Las Vegas and doing musical shows all over the world. She also went on to perform on cruise ships - now tell me that life doesn't imitate art...)
There's quite a good joke involving a fight in a North-African bar. As frenzied, general fighting breaks out, involving European visitors, locals, sailors and tourists, police rush in, only in order to discover... Well, I leave you to see that for yourselves...
However, the movie is not notable for its respectful depiction of other countries and cultures ; on the contrary, it seems to think that foreigners are weird and/or funny, by definition. For instance, there are two "sultan" characters that are both superfluous and insensitive. From this point of view, the movie feels definitely dated.
