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A NICE INDIAN BOY
“I think some people find Bollywood a bit much,” proclaims heartfelt Jay (Jonathan Groff), who is white. “But I think it’s because we’re all embarrassed by the bigness of love.” Roshan Sethi’s latest romantic comedy, A Nice Indian Boy, based on the play of the same name by Madhuri Shekar, follows a reserved, Hindu doctor Naveen (Karan Soni) as he strikes up a romance with a free-spirited artist, Jay. Questions of differences soon arise, but the couple finds they have more in common on religious and cultural grounds than in personality, paving way for a charming love story. But what will their families think? Will they be able to accept such a nontraditional pairing? The characters’ journeys through themes of generational trauma, race, shame and repression doesn’t dampen the rom-com’s com. Shekar’s writing and Eric Randall’s screenplay mesh star-studded executive production from Justin Baldoni and Mindy Kaling. This behind-the-scenes team, alongside the heartwarming cast, elevates ANIB from Hallmark fodder to a fabulously romantic fairy tale. ANIB captures the joy of being in love without ignoring the difficult parts. Comedic timing from Naveen’s fellow doctor best friend Paul (Peter S. Kim) along with scenes like a “focaccia party” give the film a healthy beating heart. If My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Diwale Dulhania Le Jayenge had a gay love child, it would be A Nice Indian Boy, which is not afraid to be big and it is not afraid to be gay. And I’m not afraid to love it. NR. NICOLE ECKRICH. Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+.
NORA
Nora‘s titular character (writer/director Anna Campbell) is a professional musician facing a midlife crisis. She agreed to settle down in the suburbs for the sake of their daughter, Sadie (Campbell’s daughter, Sophie Baaden). Leo (Max Lesser), Nora’s husband and Sadie’s dad, is touring for work, leaving Nora to face not only back to school and PTA conflict, but also the realization that creative differences from your twenties can still sting long after you feel grown up past them. Nora realizes her struggles through song and music video fantasies, all depicting a different female archetype like the archaic housewife she feels like when talking to her mother (Lesley Anne Warren), the jilted lover while feeling alone in her marriage and the underdog when feeling ostracized by PTA moms. Nora sets up realistic challenges, like a little flirty chemistry with Sadie’s teacher Adam (Nick Fink) and realizations about who we choose to become by what we nurture or don’t. The characters are all thoughtfully developed—without giving too much away, Leo, for example, isn’t a deadbeat dad or forcing Nora to choose between her career and family. The stakes raised up to the climax lead to a satisfying payoff, and offers a reminder that having it all depends on what “it all” means anyway. NR. ANDREW JANKOWSKI. Premieres on Veeps starting Saturday, May 24.
A NORMAL FAMILY
Smart people that you are, you’ll likely see the irony in naming a film A Normal Family before you even set foot in the theater. And within the first 10 minutes, you’ll immediately grasp that director Hur Jin-ho and his team of screenwriters have something to say about what they perceive as the moral rot eating away at modern Korean society. True as that may be, the message is about as subtle as the car crash that opens the film. The next two hours are spent with the male heads of two upper class families—one a lawyer, the other a pediatric surgeon—faced with an ethical dilemma when their teen children drunkenly assault a houseless man and a video of the incident goes viral. Should they force the kids to turn themselves in and risk their potential futures or aid in covering it all up? In a stronger film, it would be a question worth wrestling with. But neither Hur nor his actors provide any reason to care what happens to these entitled zombies and their awful offspring, and any grander message they’re trying to impart gets lost in the furrowed brows, tense jaw muscles, and crocodile tears of everyone on screen. NR. ROBERT HAM. Living Room Theaters starting Friday, May 23.
THE SURFER
You might think that after 120 roles, Nicolas Cage has been in every kind of movie. But don’t forget neo-Ozploitation surf psychodrama! Cage plays a manic, wealthy interloper trying to buy back his family home on a fiercely guarded Australian locals beach. The ruling surf gang—really more of a cult run by Julian McMahon—won’t let Cage’s unnamed character put a board in the water, much less reestablish roots. Shot and scored with Spaghetti Western flavors, The Surfer portends hyper-masculine violence with ghoulish close-ups and our hero’s descent into destitution as he begins sleeping in the beach parking lot to secure his house. Irish indie director Lorcan Finnegan produces impressive grandeur from the film’s single location. Meanwhile, writer Thomas Martin overdoes it by expanding the story from man versus gang to man versus generational trauma and possible schizophrenia. We don’t need cosmic bonus reasons to care about the protagonist’s pain when the ultimate answer is right in front of us—Cage twists suffering into an idiosyncratic symphony. Yes, he screams “eat the rat!” while trying to force-feed a rodent carcass to an enemy, for those who demand a Cage freakout. But even with fake hair, a fake tan and a fake backstory about why he doesn’t have an Australian accent, there is no one better at portraying the agony of a man who started on the edge and was pushed just far enough. R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Living Room Theaters through May 22.
