Polite Society is a British teen comedy aimed at young Asian women who love teen comedies and full on action movies, but wish they weren’t so white.
So, writer-director Nida Manzoor stepped up to the plate.
Nida Manzoor of course stands on the shoulders of giants - Gurinder Chadha, of Bend It Like Beckham fame, Mira Nair, who made Monsoon Wedding and TV writer Meera Syal, who made Anita and Me.
Photo: Working Title Films; Parkville Pictures
But they were a previous generation of teen comedy writers, more inspired by Jane Austen and Thackeray than by Bruce Lee. That’s certainly not Nida Manzoor.
Manzoor is millennial, UK punk-rock. Following her rock and roll TV comedy We Are Lady Parts, this is her first feature – the story of two sisters with vague but intensely-held dreams.
Lena wants to be an artist, sort of. Though she prefers to go out partying with her equally unemployed mates.
Younger sister Ria worships her though, and has her own dream – to be a stunt-woman. Her sister thinks this is a perfectly cool ambition, and shoots videos of Riar practising.
I have no idea whether Ria’s line “I am the Fury!” is an actual quote from an actual Kung-Fu movie, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is the two Khan sisters won’t stop until they fulfill their dreams.
Or at least that was the original idea.
Ria is shocked when Lena starts dating a smug, middle-class doctor called Salim. Shocked or jealous, wonders Lena?.
But when Ria meets Salim’s slightly scary mother, all her rather vague doubts are confirmed.
Ria has two other friends – I suppose I should call them “besties” to get into the high-school vibe – who are essentially a double act. One is black, the other’s white, possibly Italian.
The story reaches its first-act climax when Lena – now wearing highly respectable clothes to Ria’s disgust – announces to her delighted parents that she and the wealthy Salim are engaged.
This clearly means war.
Ria and the two besties plot and plan all sorts of hilarious methods to extricate Lena. The question is is it all in her head? Is Salim totally harmless and in fact, a perfect fit for the new, improved Lena?
As if! What sort of movie would that make?
Instead the film suddenly takes a turn for a sort of spoof Mission Impossible, with clumsier stunts.
Ria keeps coming up with a new plot. She and her friends carry it out with disastrous consequences. And Salim’s evil mum gloats.
But unlike Mission Impossible there are endless parties, Bollywood-style dancing and singing, some dazzling, colourful outfits and banquets.
There are also plenty of teen jokes about condoms, periods and bikini waxing. Did I say it was all a bit punk rock?
The best thing about Polite Society is the star performance. Priya Kansara who plays Ria is on screen most of the time – acting, joking, singing, dancing, fighting, falling over - and generally owning the film.
Her scenes with Ritu Arya as Lena are delightful.
Polite Society cleaned up at the recent Sundance Festival – surprisingly for such a British comedy. It suggests there’s an untapped audience for movies – particularly comedies – featuring young women of colour right now.
It’s loud, glossy and very silly. Maybe that’s the point - a film about sisters, not politics.
