REVIEW: Polite Society [2023]

Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 104 minutes
Release Date: April 28th, 2023 (UK/USA)
Studio: Focus Features
Director(s): Nida Manzoor
Writer(s): Nida Manzoor

Biscuits are nice.

It was an unwritten pact between sisters Lina (Ritu Arya) and Ria (Priya Kansara) that they would fight back against the stereotypical demand of Pakistani parents the world over to escape the pressures of becoming doctors or housewives. Lina would pursue her passion in the arts. Ria would train to achieve her dream of becoming a stunt woman. They would live happily ever after doing what they wanted, proving everyone wrong in the process.

And they hold strong to that desire even if their parents (Shobu Kapoor and Jeff Mirza) begrudgingly grant the freedom to do so under an assumption that they’ll fail and pivot to more traditional futures anyway. They might be correct too as an existential crisis hits Lina and drives her to slash her canvases, quit school, and return home with a hopeless sense of failure.

The question writer/director Nida Manzoor poses in the aftermath is whether Ria’s intensity will fall prey to that same futility or if it might prove powerful enough to sustain her and Lina both. Polite Society therefore moves into glimpses of their unshakeable bond of friendship and cheerleading.

Ria keeps trying to land a spin kick on-camera and keeps falling with a thud each time. But no matter how depressed Lina feels, her little sister always drags her out of bed (literally) to hold the phone and deliver earnest platitudes straight from the heart. Getting her outside and active seems to be working too. Maybe Lina won’t suddenly re-enroll in school, but she’s starting to smile again and perhaps get inspired to create when the richest Pakistanis in town (Nimra Bucha’s Raheela and Akshay Khanna as her son Salim) invite them over to celebrate Eid.

What follows is obvious as love soon fills the void left by Lina’s waning creativity. Or is it something else since Lina and Salim aren’t an evident match? Has Mr. Perfect really picked the neighborhood Bad Girl? Has Lina always been a cardigan-wearing prospective wife and mother ready to uproot herself and move to Singapore? Well, despite both parties’ parents buying it, Ria smells something fishy.

Maybe it’s just her idealism. Maybe Ria can’t cope with the fact Lina could toss aside their shared dream so quickly after one bump in the road (rendering her own a fantasy). Or maybe she never knew her sister like she thought. Either way, Ria (with help from Seraphina Beh and Ella Bruccoleri as her BFFs Clara and Alba) seeks to sabotage the inevitable nuptials with a series of hilariously misbegotten schemes that drives a wedge between the sisters they may never repair.

That would be enough for most filmmakers to craft a heartfelt familial dramedy, but Manzoor sees the potential for more. With Ria’s penchant to embellish every verbal and physical skirmish (she’s always left bloodied and bruised in the moment, but rarely afterwards) and a left-field plot reveal that’s straight out of a Bond villain handbook, this ride has only begun.

The action leaves a lot to be desired (it’s mostly running with limbs flailing through a barrage of edits), but there are a couple good sparring sessions that push us through (Ria against Raheela and Ria against Shona Babayemi’s “school bully” Kovacs shine). It’s the style that stands out instead—dialogue, chapter headings, expertly awkward comedic timing. Add the authentic love shared by Kansara and Arya and it’s tough not to come aboard for a madcap adventure that cements Manzoor’s talent as someone worth following.