Meet the Patels (FILM REVIEW)
Meet the Patels
Film
Review
by Kam Williams
Indian-American Bachelor Searches for Wife with Help of Traditional
Parents in Dysfunctional Family Documentary
29 year-old
Ravi Patel's parents, Champa and Vasant, are Indian immigrants who
have begun pressuring him to find a wife in accordance with
traditional courting customs. That means that they should be an
intimate part of a process which would only consider a woman from the
same caste, and preferably one already sharing the family surname.
However,
because Ravi was was born and raised in the United States, he had
little interest in choosing a mate in such a limited fashion,
especially since for the past couple years he's been secretly dating
a white girl, Audrey, a ravishing redhead he's already in love with.
Nevertheless, he not only decided to allow his folks to play
matchmakers, but to let his big sister, Geeta, film his comical
attempt to find Ms. Right via a series of carefully orchestrated
introductions.
Can a
thoroughly-American college grad turn on a dime and agree to an
arranged marriage when it's time to settle down? That is the basic
proposition posed by Meet the Patels, a delightful documentary
co-directed by siblings Ravi and Geeta.
The picture
is relentlessly hilarious, thanks to Champa and Vasant's
well-intentioned, if overbearing style of helicopter parenting. It is
clear that they just want the best for their son, even if their
concerns reflect their values, not ones he ever embraced.
They escort
Ravi to the subcontinent to attend a Patel Matrimonial convention
where he has an opportunity to speed date a profusion of eligible
bachelorettes. When he fails to make a love connection, they return
to California where there is a much smaller pool of appropriate
potential paramours to pick from.
“We're
paying the price, culturally, for moving to the U.S.,” his mother
moans when her son rejects an overweight engineer she found for him
at an online biodata website. Meanwhile, comments from relatives
like, “I need a marriage this year; I might die soon,” only serve
to ratchet up the tension. And patiently waiting in the wings is his
ex, Audrey, who confesses “I have an interest in being your
partner.” So, something's gotta give.
Ravi's
difficult decision ultimately rests on whether ethnicity matters more
to him than compatibility in the selection of a life mate.
Excellent (4
stars)
Rated PG for mature themes,
suggestive images and smoking
In English and Gurjarati with
subtitles
Running time: 88 minutes
Distributor: Alchemy
To see a trailer for Meet
the Patels, visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPLQ4sadJDQ
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