FILM REVIEW: "Polite Society" is an unhinged action comedy
I didn’t enjoy Polite Society for the ways in which it was good, but rather in how it was a well-intentioned mess. Don’t get me wrong, there are a handful of genuinely clever gags sprinkled throughout. On the whole though, while not totally successful, ‘Polite Society’ is still an admirable meld of over-the-top Bollywood action and dry British humour.
Written and directed by Nida Manzoor, ‘Polite Society’ follows two sisters, Ria and Lena Khan. Ria is a high-schooler with aspirations of being a stuntwoman. Lena is an art school dropout who’s engaged to a geneticist. When Ria uncovers a sinister plot unbeknownst to her engaged sister, she plans a wedding heist.
With young Ria as the main character, ‘Polite Society’ is a great example of a story being shaped by the point of view of a teenager burdened (or gifted) with an overly active imagination. It’s even laced with that Edgar Wright flavour, sans his wonderfully exact comic timing. This means scenes tend to risk being either hilarious or flat. Even when ‘Polite Society’ is good it lacks in scene-to-scene consistency. Nonetheless, I appreciate the commitment to nuttiness.
Sadly as it goes on, particularly in the last 30 or so minutes, the aesthetic loses steam and what started out endearing becomes perfunctory.
Still, the genre-mixing and wild tonal shifts Nida Manzoor brings, if further refined, could result in a truly great flick someday. ‘Polite Society’ might be a thin proof-of-concept of this kind of thing, yet I recommend it if you’re looking for something light on its feet and occasionally delightful.
