Polite Society (2023)
Sometimes the gut begs us to follow. Ria Khan knows she’s going to be a stuntwoman. She also knows her sister, Lena, is going to be a great artist. Their parents, however, have other ideas, and all but set Lena up with Salim, a handsome Pakistani guy who looks like Jim Caviezel.
Lena’s dropped out of art school and thinks nothing of sitting down to eat an entire roast chicken on the street in her sweats, but once Salim notices her, she cleans up and even starts wearing cardigans, which gets Ria suspicious. She doesn’t want Lena to settle and there’s something about Salim that bugs her but she can’t put her finger on it. Ria and Lena’s parents are ecstatic because Salim is rich and handsome, and arranged marriages are still a thing in Asian culture, so quick engagements are not outside the realm of possibility.
Try as they might, Ria and her friends can’t get Lena away from Salim, even after scouring his laptop for dirt and Ria planting condoms filled with lotion on his bed so it looks as if he’s cheating on Lena.
Er, what? Yuck.
Still, there’s something about Salim and his mom, Raheela that doesn’t sit right with Ria. Maybe it’s the way Raheela expresses herself a little too freely. Maybe it’s Salim’s plan to whisk Lena off to Singapore the night of the wedding. Maybe it’s what Ria finds after she runs away from a pre-wedding bikini wax at Raheela and Salim’s house. Either way, there’s something rotten afoot, and Ria is not going to take it lying down.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Polite Society doesn’t let up for a minute. The film reminds me of Rear Window in that Ria notices things her family doesn’t see and there’s this constant bait-and-switch, letting out pertinent information and intrigue at just the right time. We might think for a minute that Ria’s going to calm down and accept that Lena’s in love and happily engaged, but then something else happens and the game is afoot once again.
In some ways, though, Polite Society is a wee bit exhausting. Every one of these characters are ready to throw down at a moment’s notice as if they’re in a Jackie Chan movie, which means things are getting smashed, broken, and bloodied constantly and it’s completely normal. I thought for sure Lena and Ria would get in trouble after a knock-down drag-out fight breaks Ria’s bedroom door and shatters mirrors, but Mom apparently doesn’t care too much.
Some of the comedic elements seem a little over the top, like the condom thing, and the third act feels almost too crazy. There is frank talk about menstruation in a few scenes that may make some people uncomfortable, and believe it or not, the phrase, “heavy flow” becomes a plot device. I can’t say too much without giving too much away, but logic takes a break for a bit and no one says anything about it.
Overall, though, this doesn’t hurt the movie. What seems random at first makes sense all at once, and once that ball gets rolling it’s very cool. I like the humor and the relationship between Ria and Lena, although I think their parents could have done their due diligence better instead of beating the “Tradition” drum as hard as they did.
Polite Society is definitely not for everyone, but it’s also refreshingly sincere and a lot of fun. It’s all too rare when a movie dares to crack the mold a little bit, which is why Polite Society deserves to get noticed.
Polite Society is currently in theaters. Rated PG-13.
My grade: B
Principal cast: Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Renu Brindle, Seraphina Beh, Ella Bruccoleri, Sally Ann, Jenny Funnell, Shona Babayemi, Shobu Kapoor, Nimra Bucha, Sophie Aisling, Su McLaughlin, Jeff Mirza, Akshay Khanna
Written and directed by Nida Manzoor.