The year's first major foreign film,
John Adair (Preview) calls the film "a truly special movie about the connection, support, and encouragement people can find in and through their families. Issues range from [the bride] dealing with feelings for her ex-boyfriend, to problems within existing marriages, and even past instances of family abuse. The film handles each of these and others effortlessly and, with such reality, that they truly hit home with the audience." But he counts bad language as reason enough not to go see it after all.
Mainstream critics highlighted the film's unique portrayal of modern India. "This may be India, but a lot of it looks familiar," says Mike Clark (USA Today). "Everyone clutches a cell phone, and the TV host's show of hot-button issues could fit in on American cable. Yet this is a ceremony in which traditional rituals are respected and expected. Some of the movie's best scenes … involve musical interludes: an elaborate dance that has been planned as a centerpiece ceremony and a wonderful interlude in which the female guests sing a traditional song."
Owen Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly) observes, "The director … wants to immerse us in the ways that the spirit of the world has changed. Americanization has left the Vermas a little unhinged, but it's also something they embrace. The characters keep whipping back and forth, right in the middle of conversations, between Punjabi and English, and this is more than a matter of multilingualism. The current of technology has jumbled everyone up, speeding forward the pulse of their lives."
Roger Ebert (
It's still impossible to predict what will advance the gospel in Hollywood.
by Andy CrouchChristianity Today, October 2003