Polite Society [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray]

Director: Nida Manzoor Nida Manzoor

Overview

When her demure older sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), announces her impending nuptials, Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) vows to thwart the marriage by whatever means necessary, believing she is saving her sister from an uncertain and grim fate. Armed with an overactive imagination and a ragtag gaggle of loyal friends, Ria concocts an outlandish heist to protect her sister's independence in the name of feminism. Nida Manzoor writes and directs the action comedy. Co-starring Renu Brindle.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/20/2023
UPC:	0191329245903
Original Release:	2023
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Universal Studios
Language:	English
Time:	1:43:00
Sales rank:	22,805

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Priya Kansara	Ria
Ritu Arya	Lena
Renu Brindle	Mrs. Nawaz
Rekha John-Cheriyan	Mrs. Abbas
Seraphina Beh	Clara
Ella Bruccoleri	Alba
Sally Ann	Edith
Jenny Funnell	Ms. Spence
Shona Babayemi	Kovacs
Nimra Bucha	Raheela
Sona Babayeva	Kovacks
Sophie Aisling	Mrs Iqbal
Akshay Khanna	Salim Shah
Su McLaughlin	Mrs. Ahmed
Ryan Laccohee	Sensei 1
Tia Dutt	Jezah
Ulli Ackermann	Security Guard
Tom Bonington	Registrar
Eunice Huthart	Self
James McNicholas	Head Waiter
Sania Shireen Haq	Dancer #1
Hemali Patel	Dancer #2
Anjlee Bathia	Dancer #3
Aliya Meghjee	Dancer #4
Pritom Ahmed	Wedding Guest
Nina Kumar	Wedding Guest
Rajesh Kalhan	Wedding Guest
Sue King-Spear	Lavish Party Guest
Rachel Kwok	Chinese Restaurant Staff
Nancy Lowe	Student

Technical Credits

Nida Manzoor

Eric Fellner	Producer
Nida Manzoor	Screenwriter
Olivier Kaempfer	Producer
Tim Bevan	Producer
Nida Manzoor	Director
John Pocock	Producer
Cecilia Frugiuele	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

"There's a reason tropes are tropes. It's because they work." This single line, uttered by a side character toward the end of Polite Society's runtime, inadvertently summarizes the film's greatest flaw. Despite countless attempts by writer-director Nida Manzoor (Doctor Who) to send up tired action tropes throughout the film, she frequently succeeds in little more than replicating them. In fact, once another character provides a meta commentary on classic film structure early on, every twist the movie has in store begins to feel infinitely more telegraphed than it already had-a sad feat for a movie in which predictable twists dominate practically every other beat within the back half of the second and third acts. The basic story itself is charming enough. Pakistani high schooler Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) desperately wants to be a stuntwoman, yet she finds herself beset when every attempt at learning her favorite move-the flying reverse spin kick-leaves her quite literally flat on her face. Meanwhile, her art school dropout sister Lena (Ritu Arya) spends all day battling depression, only experiencing brief glimpses of happiness when engaging with Ria. Enter female villain Raheela (Nimra Bucha), and it's important to note that she's a woman because the movie itself curiously forgets this at multiple turns. Despite lamp-shading her matriarchal wickedness in a tense stare-down not long after her introduction, the film then goes on to blame every single one of the world's problems on the patriarchy. This attitude ultimately pays off in a scene where Raheela's son Salim (Akshay Khanna) takes excessive abuse after the true, twisted nature of Raheela's plan to marry Salim and Lena is revealed. Raheela gets off easy by comparison. Manzoor's decision to bog her movie down in the same tired anti-male tropes seen in far too many otherwise brilliant girl power movies does more than ostracize half the film's audience. It also betrays the rather synthetic nature of the film's political themes. For instance, an early scene in which Ria is told during career week to abandon her dreams of becoming a stuntwoman in favor of being a doctor because she "looks like one" highlights a common stereotype about south Asians. In fact, this racial remark lands a double punch when one considers this stereotype is more commonly applied to Indians, not Pakistanis such as Ria. It's hard to connect with this irony, however, when distracted by the fact that half the Pakistani characters in Polite Society are played by actors of Indian descent. It gives Manzoor the impression of wanting to receive credit for inclusion without properly implementing it. Nonetheless, the movie's focus on Pakistani culture does wonders for its aesthetic by the end. While the fight scenes begin intentionally cheesy for successful comedic effect, the final sequence in which the characters battle while adorned in traditional south Asian wedding attire gives the film a delectably unique visual appeal unlike anything seen in most mainstream action films to date. Moments like this serve to highlight just how wonderful the film might have been if it simply embraced its own uniqueness rather than fixating on recycled tropes and plot devices. At the end of the day, the average moviegoer should enjoy Polite Society well enough. It's funny, if not comedically brilliant. The characters are charming and engaging, if aggressively archetypical. And the fights, while not as numerous as some might prefer, deliver both comedically and dramatically. A particularly fine example occurs during a midpoint fight between the Khan sisters, which leads up to a heartbreaking character moment while still retaining just enough levity to end the scene on a punchline. If audiences can tolerate a few pandering political lines, a handful of recycled jokes, and nearly two hours' worth of predictable plot twists, Polite Society will still give them just enough unique flavor to enjoy the ride.