ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Family

The Magnificent Meyersons – Wandering Wisdom

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“Sometimes, I wish God would just reach down and give the world a big old shake, you know?”

One day. One family. And it all gets shaken up a bit. Evan Oppenheimer’s The Magnificent Meyersons is a peripatetic search for understanding what it means to live in a world that may or may not have a god, in which right and wrong may or may not be relative, in which the future and the past may or may not hold the answers. And it’s a comedy (sort of).

We wander through the streets of New York along with four upper middle class adult siblings: Daphne (Jackie Burns), the older daughter, who is struggling with not being quite fulfilled as a mother, wife, or at work; Roland (Ian Kahn), the older son, who is a confident businessman, but perhaps a bit overprotective of his daughter; Daniel (Daniel Eric Gold), the younger son, a rabbinical student who may or may not have faith; and Susie (Shoshannah Stern), the younger daughter, who is deaf and seeking to make her way as a realtor. There are also interludes involving their mother (Kate Mulgrew) and memories of their absent father (Richard Kind).

Note that the term “peripatetic” means to walk around, to wander. As the day progresses, each of the siblings sit or stroll through the city talking to friends or family about any variety of things. The subjects are just as wandering as the people in the film: the existence of God, what makes man [sic] unique among the animals, what it means to be successful, what makes us happy, and if the past can be forgiven.

There is a philosophical bent to this film similar to what is found in the biblical book Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes, the author (often referred to as Qoheleth) ponders the meaning of life and what makes life worth living. Qoheleth is also a bit peripatetic. He wanders through various approaches in search of the answers to his questions. The four siblings, along with the parents to a lesser extent, all have different understandings of life. The film and all the talking are not so much about finding the answers as it is about all the questions. That too is a bit like Ecclesiastes.

Because the discussions are so diverse, there are many interesting things said along the way. There is an ontological proof of God set side by side with an ontological disproof. At another point, Roland says, “You know what makes man unique? He’s the only animal who can’t take care of himself.” When Daphne admits to being “selfish, vain, and lazy”, her husband concurs, and adds, “like everybody else”. Perhaps the deepest wisdom expressed is “Everything matters”.

The theme line of Ecclesiastes is “Vanity of vanities! All is Vanity.” That refers to the ephemeral nature of life. That concept is also central to the musings of the characters in The Magnificent Meyersons. As they all try in their own way to deal with the life, there is an understanding that things are constantly changing. But how we deal with all those changes can open new ways for us to live in vain lives.

The Magnificent Meyerson is playing in limited theatrical release and on virtual cinema.

Photos courtesy of Argot Pictures.

My Wonderful Wanda – Win-Wins?

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“This is a family matter.”

Bettina Oberli’s My Wonderful Wanda is about family—and about the ways families become intertwined without planning to. It also serves as a bit of social commentary of the relationship of the haves and have nots of society.

Wanda (Agnieszka Grochowska) is a Polish caregiver who has come to a lakeside Swiss home to care for Josef Wegmeister-Gloor as he recovers from a stroke. Wanda comes for three month stents while leaving her children at home with her parents. This is perceived (at least by the Wegmeister-Gloors) as a win-win. They get inexpensive care for their husband and father; Wanda makes more money than she could at home. But it is also a strain on Wanda’s family in Poland.

The Swiss family has two adult children with their own foibles. Gregi has been groomed (against his will) to take over the family business, but prefers birds (mostly stuffed). He’s also a bit in love with Wanda. Sophie is married to a lawyer, but is unsatisfied with her life. Elsa, the family matriarch, is controlling, but often in ways that seem very kind. Wanda is skilled at negotiating the various personalities and is especially good at making Josef happy.

When Wanda becomes pregnant, it raises a number of issues in both families. How does this affect inheritance? Is Wanda just trying to extort money from the family? What truths have been hidden through the years that must now be addressed?

The film is a bit uneven in its movement back and forth between comedy and drama, but it does create an interesting look at what makes up family. Even though the Polish and Swiss families are very different in outlook, Wanda has managed to bring them together, even if in an adversarial way. Each family is concerned with its own well being, but also with how Wanda’s child will be incorporated in each.

The rub comes when the child comes to be seen as a commodity. There are solutions to the problem that are proposed that seem like everyone benefits, but as with the idea that the use of cheap Polish labor is “win-win”, it fails to take in the personal cost that these solutions create.

In the end, it is Wanda who must struggle against all the attitudes of both families to decide what will become of her child. And in that decision it may be that many other issues will find new solutions as well.

My Wonderful Wanda is in theaters and available via virtual cinema.

Photos courtesy of Zodiac Pictures

5.13 The Mystical Science of DUMBO

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You’ve seen a horsefly. You’ve seen a dragonfly. You may have seen a house fly… but you’ve never seen an elephant fly… in live action that is. With the release of DUMBO, Disney continues it’s string of live-action remakes of it’s own animated properties (the first of in the next 4 months alone). Directed by Tim Burton and starring Colin Farrell, Danny Devito and Michael Keaton, the film is offers a different spin on the material but does it still carry the same endearing charm as the original? ScreenFish veterans Shelley McVea and Allen Forrest return to talk about family, the merging of science and mysticism and power within the film.

You can also stream the episode above on podomatic, Alexa (via Stitcher), Spotify or Soundcloud! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts or Google Play!

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

5.13 DumboDownload

Thanks Shelley and Allen for joining us!

Shoplifters – A Twisted Family Tale

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Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, Shoplifters is a part of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s examination of family’s place within society. This is a topic he has looked at from various angles in other films, notably Like Father, Like Son; Our Little Sister; Nobody Knows; and I Wish. (I recommend them all.) He always brings a bit of a twist into the idea of family, leaving us to consider our own views.

In Shoplifters, we see what seems to be a fairly traditional family: father, mother, grandmother, a daughter on the verge of adulthood, and a young son. The family lives in near poverty conditions. The father works occasionally and the mother has a low paying job. The grandmother gets a pension. But to make ends meet, they do petty crimes, especially shoplifting. On the way home from one of their “shopping” sprees, the father Osamu and his son Aki see a five year-old girl who seems to have been abandoned. They take her home with the idea of feeding her, but mother Nobuyu notice evidence of abuse. They decide to keep the child with them. When the parents don’t report her missing for some time, it seems the decision was right.

We may think this family is immoral with its focus on theft. They justify it to themselves by saying that something that hasn’t been bought doesn’t really belong to anyone. We know that is not true, but it helps them in their difficult situation. Soon, Aki is teaching the girl how to steal. When a shopkeeper spots her, he tells Aki to not make her do that (implying that he’s been aware of Aki’s practices all along.)

But there is also a moral sense that they exhibit—especially in taking in this girl who can offer nothing in return. The love that is evident in the family is shared with this stranger who they have rescued from a dangerous place.

As with all of Kore-eda’s films, Shoplifter provides us with very human characters that are easy for us to care for. We know this family struggles and that their actions are less than admirable, but because of the love they share and the happiness they find in one another, we sense that in many ways they are a family that we would like to be a part of. But in time the family bonds are to be severely tested, and perhaps irrevocably broken. It may cause us to question not their lives, but the society that has put them in this position.

As they get used to the girl as a part of their family, they reflect a bit about the idea of picking one’s family rather than just having it be about biology. Those thoughts keep coming back as we learn just how this family came together. Soon we come to realize that Kore-eda has again brought us a family that is not as simple as we assumed. It is here that we might want to give thought about our own definition of family. The society has given us an idea of what a family should be, but is it really clear cut? In recent years, the functional definition of family has undergone many transitions. This film gives us a new perspective to consider our own idea of what it means to be a family.

Shoplifters is Japan’s official entry for Oscar consideration as Best Foreign Language Film.

Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Beautiful Boy – Love in the Time of Addiction

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Addiction can tear apart families and ruin lives. Often the bonds of love lead people to try to help in whatever way they can. But those bonds can be fragile. Beautiful Boy is the story of a family that had to deal over a period of years with an addict who just couldn’t seem to be able to break away from his dependency. The film is based on two memoirs by father and son: Beautiful Boy by journalist David Sheff and Tweak by Nic Sheff.

Oakley Bull as Daisy Sheff, Maura Tierney as Karen Babour, Timothée Chalamet as Nic Sheff, Christian Convery as Jasper Sheff, and Steve Carell as David Scheff star in BEAUTIFUL BOY

David (Steve Carell) and Nic (Timothée Chalamet) are a happy and loving father and son. Nic is about to leave for college, but decides to take some time off first. The family is well off and there are firm bonds with Nic’s stepmother Karen (Maura Tierney) and young siblings. Soon, it is discovered that Nic is addicted to crystal meth. The rest of the film chronicles Nic’s and the family’s struggle with that addiction. It takes place over a period of years and many rehabs, relapses, promises, and deceptions. At times Nic is close to death, but that fact in itself is not enough for him to overcome his addiction.

Because the film is based on the two memoirs, it becomes essentially a father and son movie. Although there is also a good deal of interaction involving Nic’s siblings, stepmother, and birthmother (Amy Ryan). The relationship between David and Nic is the driving force of the story. David would do anything to help Nic. But as the story progresses he learns that there is really nothing that he can do to help Nic conquer this demon—except to love him. That is not said lightly or as saccharine. To love Nic in the midst of his addiction is a challenge. How does one continue to love someone who lies to you, steals from you, and deceives you year after year? Even when David turns down Nic’s pleas for “help”, we can see it is evidence of David’s real love for Nic.

Maura Tierney as Karen Barbour and Steve Carell as David Scheff star in BEAUTIFUL BOY

Screenwriters Luke Davies and Felix von Groeningen (who also directs) have made a seamless story of the two perspectives. It never seems like just David’s story or just Nic’s story. The two stories are not just different viewpoints, but a whole that reflects the bond between father and son—a love that runs so deep that even when it seems it must be beyond salvaging, it continues to hold them together in some way.

Timothée Chalamet as Nic Sheff and Steve Carell as David Scheff star in BEAUTIFUL BOY

It must be said that this is a painful movie to watch. There is a raw emotional honesty to all the relationships in the film. Emotion is a key element of the story. At one point David is doing everything he can to intellectually understand addiction. But Nic’s addiction has a very emotional center to it. It is only by entering into the emotions within the relationship that we understand just how painful this is for all involved.

Photos courtesy of Amazon Studios.

Incredibles 2: Together We Rise

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It’s been a while.

The goal of a film critic is to encourage people to go and see high quality movies while steering people away from titles that aren’t very good. To do this, the critic watches a film, then dissects it like an expert surgeon, analyzing it for plot holes, characterization, quality of CGI, music selection, theme, and at least a hundred additional items.  With so many variables, a film can receive vastly different reviews depending on the reviewer.  And to make things even more interesting, theater-goers may feel differently than the critic when the credits roll.

In the case of director Brad Bird’s latest film Incredibles 2, I believe the two groups will agree the film is a fantastic way to spend a couple hours in an air-conditioned theater.  Whether I2 holds up to fourteen years of waiting will depend on your personal perspective.

If you recall, the end of The Incredibles found the Parr family—burly Bob (Craig T Nelson), Stretch-Armstrong-like Helen (Holly Hunter), teenager Violet (Sarah Vowell), lightning-fast Dash (Huck Milner), and baby Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile)—preparing to take on a burrowing villain called the Underminer.  In Incredibles 2, we finally get to see how the battle turns out.

It’s not pretty. At least half the town is destroyed, including cars, freeway overpasses, buildings, and at least one character’s emotional stability. As a result, the Supers are forced underground yet again (and the Parr family into living out of a hotel room). But there may be some hope in the form of Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk), a multi-billionaire who has been fascinated with superheroes his entire life (even singing their theme songs). He meets Bob, Helen, and Frozone (Samuel L Jackson) in order to reveal a plan to get Supers back on the good side of the general public. But in a surprise to Bob, Winston wants Helen to be the face of positive public perception, leaving him to stay home and take care of the kids.

Helen Parr (AKA Elastigirl) meets some new Supers.

Helen, in her Elastigirl outfit, immediately has to deal with a runaway monorail in New Urbem that showcases her talents as well as the new motorcycle Winston’s sister and uber-talented Evelyn (Catherine Keener) designed.  Her success leads to more Supers coming out of hiding, including Void (Sophia Bush), a superfan of Helen’s who creates interdimensional portals out of thin air. But there’s a more sinister villain than the Underminer on the loose—one that always seems to be a step ahead of Helen.  The Screenslaver hypnotizes people who are looking at video screens into obeying their commands, threatening to destroy Supers once and for all.  Helen thinks she’s got the villain figured out—but is sorely incorrect.

Meanwhile, Bob struggles mightily to be an effective full-time dad. Dash can’t figure out his math homework; Violet is an emotional mess regarding a boy; and Jack-Jack keeps Bob up at all hours while harboring multiple superpowers that are beginning to manifest themselves.  It all exhausts Bob, leaving him gruff and unshaven, and in one of the craziest scenes in the film, asleep while Jack-Jack combats his new arch enemy—a territorial raccoon.  Thankfully, the kids intervene in the form of Frozone and a diminutive yet pugnacious fashion designer named Edna Mode (Brad Bird himself).

In order to defeat the Screenslaver, it’s going to take more than Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl.  As a result, the final portion of the film is an action-packed spectacle I won’t spoil for you.  When the credits rolled, the crowd applauded and cheered loudly.

In the end, I felt Incredibles 2 was just as good as the original film.  Michael Giacchino’s score delivered the right amount of gravitas while keeping pace with the action onscreen. All the actors did well with their roles, but I’ll single out Vowell for her emotional portrayal of an uncertain, surly, yet teenage Violet who needed some form of support from her parental unit.  Animation has always been one of Pixar’s hallmarks, and Incredibles 2 is no exception.  They’ve come a long way in fourteen years with gradation, shading, water effects, and sense of speed.

“We’re all in this together.”

As for the film itself, Dash seemed to fall to the wayside on a few occasions and was a bit one-note with his performance.  Jack-Jack stole each scene he was in, but was surprisingly tame in the final sequences.  But when he and Edna were on the screen together, it was absolutely electric.  I wanted more.  The Screenslaver was a worthy villain and provided caution for each of us about devoting our lives to video screens—be they televisions, tablets, phones, or computers.  Another line that struck me was when Evelyn said, “People will trade quality for ease every time.”  Perhaps we all need to up our standards in our daily activities and not settle for second best when something better is available.

The focus of Incredibles 2, despite the superhero title, remains the family.  In many ways, I saw in the Parrs a microcosm of my own family.  Not everything in life goes the way we would like it to (and often doesn’t).  We struggle, we run away, we argue, we lose hope, but we always fall back on each other when the day is over. And in that, the Bible reminds us to “encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception” (Hebrews 3:13 HCSB).  The world can be a very evil place, so we must make sure we’re not falling captive to the issues around us while making a difference for good wherever we go. Together we rise; apart we fall.

That’s something all film critics can agree with.

Incredibles 2 – Family Bonds

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Incredibles 2 continues the story of the Parr family from The Incredibles. While it is ostensibly a superhero story, at its heart this is a film about family and especially about parenting as children go through all the changes of growing up.

As in the original, superheroes are still illegal, but with the supervillain The Underminer on the loose, the family of superheroes goes into action—rather heavy-handedly, creating a mess of the city and being relocated. Forced to live in a motel, the family tries to think about what the future will hold for them. The parents, Bob, aka Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson), and Helen, aka Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), know that one of them will need to get a job to support the family. Meanwhile, their middle school aged daughter Violet (Sarah Vowell) is attracted to a boy at school, son Dash (Huckleberry Milner) struggles with his homework, and toddler Jack-Jack is a handful just in himself.

But Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and their friend Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) get an offer from industrialist siblings Winston and Evelyn Deavor (Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener). They want to improve the world’s opinion of superheroes and make them legal again. Their plan is to use Elastigirl to stop some crimes (she does far less damage in the process that Mr. Incredible or Frozone). So Helen goes off to the big city while Bob stays home with the kids.

It turns out that Bob is a stereotypical incompetent father. He tries, but he can’t grasp new math, has no idea how to help Violet with the boys, and Jack-Jack is impossible to get down for the night. Plus, Jack-Jack now is manifesting his own superpowers—a wide array of powers.

Helen is busy doing battle with The Screenslaver, a villain who uses screen (TV, computer, whatever) to hypnotize people and have them do his will. She feels bad that she isn’t with her family, but relishes the opportunity so show off her skills. It’s not unlike the juggling of priorities that many parents experience. But when The Screenslaver gets the upper hand, Bob and the kids head off to save the day and the world (mostly it’s the kids, including Jack-Jack, that get their parents out of hot water).

What is charming about the Incredibles films is that they give us a chance to see superheroes who aren’t sullen loners, but rather people with happy family lives—happy even when the going is hard. The film, I think, allows parents to be reminded that the job they do matters.  As the diminutive designer to the superheroes Edna Mode (Brad Bird) says, “Done properly, parenting is a heroic task.” As Bob mopes about being left out while Helen is fighting crime, this is a reminder of what the really hard job is. Parents aren’t gifted with super strength and powers—only with the love they have for their children. With that, parents face years of problems but also years of joy.

For the Parrs, a family where everyone has special powers, what really ties them together is not being strong, fast, elastic, invisible, or having lasers shooting out of their eyes. The connection they have is really the bond that can exist in the families of all those who go to watch the movie together.

Let me also put in a word here for Bao, the short directed by Domee Shi (the first woman to direct a Pixar film), playing along with Incredibles 2. It is a delightful story of a woman whose handmade dumpling comes to life. We watch as she and the dumpling go through the years. The dumpling passes through all the phases of childhood and into being a young adult. It is hard for the woman to let go of her baby dumpling, but in the end, we see just how wonderful it is to see your child grow into an adult.

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

4.18 DEADPOOL 2 and the New F-Word

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The Merc with the Mouth is back… and he’s got babies on his mind! In DEADPOOL 2, the hero without rules wants to settle down and start a family with Nessa, the love of his life. However, when tragedy strikes, Deadpool must try to rescue a young mutant who’s being hunted by Cable, a deadly assassin from the future. (Insert Terminator 2 joke here.) This week, Peter Adourian joins Steve to tackle the new F-Word (family), Deadpool’s cultural relevance and his God-complex.

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

4.18 Deadpool 2

Thanks Peter for joining us!

Tully – A Bit of Help to Find Happiness

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When writer Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman collaborate (as they did earlier in Juno and Young Adult), the result is always an interesting bit of social philosophy set within the institution of family. Tully is their latest work, with a special emphasis on the trial and meaning of motherhood in today’s world.

We meet Marlo (Charlize Theron) shortly before her third child is born. She already is struggling to cope with the first two children and the romantically cooled off relationship with her husband Drew (Ron Livingston). Her brother, Craig (Mark Duplass), offers to pay for a night nanny to help Marlo get rest after the new baby is born. But Marlo resists the idea of having someone come in at night to care for the baby. Soon, however, it’s just too much for her, so she finds her brother’s note and a young woman named Tully (Mackenzie Davis) arrives.

(l to r.) Mackenzie Davis as Tully and Charlize Theron as Marlo star in Jason Reitman’s TULLY, a Focus Features release.

Tully is full of energy, just as Marlo is worn out. Tully is bright and perky, where Marlo is sullen and depressed. Yet the two women have a great deal in common and soon create a bond that allows Marlo to unburden herself of all the things she has been holding inside. This seems a wonderful therapeutic relationship that touches all the difficulties in Marlo’s life. Except…. (Yes, there is something more that I will not spoil here.)

Although a driving force in the story is Marlo’s post-partum depression, that can easily be expanded to the sense of ennui that often fills people lives just as they are reaching the point in life where they may think they should be finding happiness and fulfillment. It is not uncommon to instead discover life has become routine, perhaps even boring. We may miss the excitement of falling in and out of love and discovering new relationships. The responsibilities of family and work may fill our days so much that we fail to appreciate the treasures that might be there.

Mackenzie Davis stars as Tully in Jason Reitman’s TULLY, a Focus Features release.

The wisdom that Tully brings to Marlo’s life is the truth that finding such a boring place in life is really the sign of success. That boredom comes from having a life where love and security are so common that they go unnoticed. The search for love and security may seem exciting as we consider our earlier lives, but when we have reached those goals, we may, like Marlo, not recognize the gifts that are in our lives.

I think a case could easily be made that Qoheleth faced a similar ennui which led to his search for meaning that fills Ecclesiastes. Throughout that search, in all he finds along the way, he constantly returns to his “vanity of vanities” refrain, noting that wealth, religion, sensuality, and knowledge all fail to bring him satisfaction. It is the discovery of enjoying his life, as “vain” as it may be, that he finds his fulfilment. Marlo has a chance to make a similar discovery through her interactions with Tully.

Photos courtesy of Focus Features

The Big Sick – All The Feels

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Recently, Steve Norton and I were lucky enough to attend an advance screening of The Big Sick in Toronto, which had two surprise guests – Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily V. Gordon!

This film had already been released in select cities in the States at the time of the advance screening, and will have a wide release this weekend.  This particular independent film just keeps expanding, and it’s not difficult to see why.

Image result for the big sick

Based on the true story of Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily Gordon, The Big Sick gives us a glimpse into how they met, their cultural differences and the life altering experience they went through.  Written by Nanjiani and Gordon themselves, this film was directed by Michael Showalter and produced by Judd Apatow and Barry Mendel.  Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017, the film next won the Audience Award: Festival Favourites at South by Southwest in March.

If you’re unfamiliar with Kumail Nanjiani, he is a stand-up comedian and actor.  He’s currently on the HBO comedy series, Silicon Valley.

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This movie has a fantastic cast.  Each actor captured the essence of their character extremely well.  Zoe Kazan plays Kumail’s girlfriend, Emily Gordon.  Holly Hunter and Ray Romano are cast as Emily’s parents; and Zenobia Shroff and Anupam Kher as Kumail’s parents.

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Fun fact: We found out at the Q&A that Kumail asked his father in real life who he wanted to play him in the movie.  He said Anupam Kher, who is a big Hindi film star.  They didn’t think it was possible but asked anyway.  Anupam said yes!  And this was his 500th movie!  (Incidentally, the film legend was also in the American film, Silver Linings Playbook).

The Big Sick takes us on Kumail and Emily’s journey of courtship, including navigating their cultural differences and what their parents expect of them.  During a rocky period in their relationship (in fact, they were broken up at the time), Emily fell ill with a very serious infection.  The doctors needed to put Emily into a medically induced coma and had to operate to remove the infection.  Emily was in a coma for 8 days.  She was diagnosed with adult-onset Still’s disease which is a rare form of inflammatory arthritis that can seriously affect your organs, if left untreated.

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While Emily was in a coma, Kumail was at the hospital constantly, anxiously awaiting news of her condition and hoping she would be able to wake up soon.  During this time, Kumail had many interactions with Emily’s parents, who were not his biggest fans.  But as time went on, they got to know each other better and they realized that Kumail was in love with Emily and had nothing but the best of intentions.

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Simultaneously, Kumail’s parents, who are devoted Muslims, were trying to arrange for a Pakistani woman that Kumail could marry.  On every visit to his parent’s house, Kumail had to meet a new woman.  He was also expected to pray to Allah.  This presented a huge conflict for Kumail as he was in love with Emily and his parents didn’t even know it.  He was also struggling with his faith and trying to figure out what he believed.

This movie raises so many intense topics.  While they were very honest about these subjects, they were also very respectful.  During the Q&A we attended, Kumail spoke about the effort that was made to cover the different perspectives without making it seem like one perspective was right or wrong.  I found it to be very inclusive of different points of view.

One of the first themes I picked up on was traditionalism.  Kumail and his family are from Pakistan and he was raised Muslim.  He was expected to pray daily and have his marriage arranged by his parents.  His brother’s marriage was arranged and Kumail received encouragement from him to follow the Muslim traditions.  Kumail lived a fairly western life in that he did not wear traditional clothing, he dated non-Muslim women and he chose an unconventional career – stand-up comedy.

I also noticed some stereotypes.  For a good portion of the movie, Kumail’s family appear to portray a stereotypical Muslim family and they’re almost made to be a joke (which is not unexpected given that at the core, this is a comedy film).  But there is a scene where Kumail confronts his parents with his truth and we finally get to see a more serious side of them.  We get a sense of their struggle and what they had to go through to give their children a good life.  Kumail’s mother said she hadn’t seen, I believe, her mother in over a decade.  And his father had to completely retrain in his occupational field when he came to America.

Kumail’s confrontation to his parents was largely about his faith, or lack thereof.  He admitted that he hadn’t been praying.  He would go to the basement and play video games during prayer time.  He admitted that he did not want an arranged marriage and, in fact, had been dating an American.  He told his parents that he needed to figure out what he believed on his own.

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Another aspect was that Kumail was often judged based on the way he looks.  In the film, he’s heckled on stage with racial slurs telling him to “go back to ISIS”.  Although Kumail says this particular scene didn’t happen in real life, he has actually been racially heckled on numerous occasions.

Lastly, there is a large theme of family in this film.  There is a striking scene close to the end of the movie which happens after Kumail confronted his parents and had been kicked out of the family.  Here, he returns to his parents house and tries to pretend everything was the same as it used to be by talking about how he refused to be kicked out of the family. (After all, no matter what, ‘they’ll always be family’.)  He promises to never give up on them and refuses to let their differences ruin their relationship.  For Kumail, his family matters, despite the tensions and differences that lie between them.

We also see a different family dynamic in how Emily’s parents stuck by her every second while she was in the hospital and at home recovering.  They were very protective over her when Kumail came around as they believed he was no good for Emily.  And then when they realized that Kumail was the right mate for her, they tried to encourage that relationship.

I experienced so many emotions while watching this movie.  It was genuinely funny–and not all of the funny scenes were in the trailer which is unfortunately what happens a lot these days.  (I even almost cried a few times.)

Bottom line – it’s a great movie.  It’s witty, smart, and eye opening.  I would highly recommend it.