Polite Society

Name: Polite Society
Genre: Action, Comedy
Released: April 28, 2023
Duration: 103 min
Rating: 75
Cast: Akshay Khanna, Ella Bruccoleri, James McNicholas, Nimra Bucha, Nina Kumar

2023

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Ratings

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6.3

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6.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Focus Features | Release Date: April 28, 2023 | Not Rated

Starring: Akshay Khanna, Ella Bruccoleri, James McNicholas, Nimra Bucha, Nina Kumar, Priya Kansara, Rachel Kwok, Ritu Arya, Seraphina Beh, Shobu Kapoor, Shona Babayemi, Su McLaughlin

Summary: A merry mash up of sisterly affection, parental disappointment and bold action, Polite Society follows martial artist-in-training Ria Khan who believes she must save her older sister Lena from her impending marriage. After enlisting the help of her friends, Ria attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name ofA merry mash up of sisterly affection, parental disappointment and bold action, Polite Society follows martial artist-in-training Ria Khan who believes she must save her older sister Lena from her impending marriage. After enlisting the help of her friends, Ria attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name of independence and sisterhood. … Expand

Director: Nida Manzoor

Genre(s): Action, Comedy

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 103 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Amy Nicholson

Apr 27, 2023

It’s a delight that borrows from everything — westerns, musicals, heist capers, horror, Jane Austen and James Bond — to build its writer and director, Nida Manzoor, into a promising new thing: a first-time filmmaker impatient to evolve cultural representation from the last few years of self-conscious vitamins into crowd-pleasing candy. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Monica Castillo

Apr 28, 2023

In this flavorful milieu of genres, Manzoor emerges with a sensibility that’s uniquely hers and a thrill to watch. Kansara, also making her feature debut, brings an energetic presence to the screen, matching Manzoor’s irreverent humor and sharp dialogue with pitch-perfect delivery. Read full review

Collider Chase Hutchinson

Jan 24, 2023

Polite Society proves to be a triumphant action comedy with wonderful characters you only wish you could get to know even more. Read full review

Peter Debruge

Jan 24, 2023

In many respects, Polite Society comes across as a giant pastiche of Manzoor’s favorite movie references, with homage paid to films from all over the globe via individual shots and sound cues throughout. But there’s no denying her creativity or the defiantly original voice she brings to her characters. Read full review

Empire Ella Kemp

Apr 24, 2023

A spunky, spiky action comedy that lives on the charisma of its leading ladies and the innovative spirit of director Nida Manzoor. Sisterhood is eternal; weird movies must be protected at all costs. Read full review

Jacob Oller

Jan 26, 2023

Playing in the stylish, piss-taking space of Gurinder Chadha and Edgar Wright, Manzoor’s feature debut attacks adolescent fears—failing to achieve your dreams, settling for less, fading from loved ones—with spin-kicks, fake mustaches and evil plots so absurdly sinister that even the most jaded, monosyllabic teens will have to crack a smile. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Apr 26, 2023

In her feature debut, Manzoor does something truly bizarre here, and not in a good way. She gets a whole audience rooting for love to triumph but then tries to make a lovable heroine out of the irrational, malevolent character who wants to undermine everything the audience is looking forward to. Read full review

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User Reviews

jbrimley

Apr 30, 2023

Well written, well executed, and well above most of the other offerings in the theater. A great blend of comedy and action with a fun soundtrack. I loved it!

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

hnestlyonthesly

May 22, 2023

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Nida Manzoor’s Police Society is my current candidate for best film of the year, because it’s beautiful to look at, the fight scenes are fire, and the story is fresh and original. Without saying too much about the plot, because this is one I’m not interested in spoiling, so much as gifting to you, Ria is a young Pakistani girl in England with an overactive imagination–think Scott Pilgrim or The Mitchells vs the Machines but with kung fu, trying to swim her way culturally upstream to land her dream job as a stunt woman, while her older sister Lena has returned home after suffering some setbacks in art school. Lena starts dating a guy and shenanigans are afoot. Mazoor is the writer and director of this movie with few credits to her name before this. Her direction feels effervescent and thrilling like Boots Riley or Bo Burnham trying their hand at full creative control.

Lena, played by Ritu Arya who’s credits are long including notably her stint in the Umbrella Academy, is perfectly chameleon, at times morose and borderline manic, then bubbly and lovestruck. Her sister, played by the wonderful Priya Kansara, is a pure shot of sass, anxious and cocky all at once. Her dance sequence is funny and moves the plot along which is just awesome. I feel like I’ve been seeing a lot of chloroform in movies lately and I’m wondering if that’s going to be the unlikely theme of the year? Nimra Bucha, villain of the Ms Marvel series, which bears some wonderful sibling energy to this project, is having perfectly venomous. Ella Bruccoleri, who plays one of the local and spunky friends, is a bridge to another lovely and unbelievably funny anti-Marvel superhero comedy called Extraordinary, and her co-star Seraphina Beh won’t be far behind.

All three loyal readers of this blog know that I am a steadfast and loyal fan of long, choreographed fight scenes, especially when those fight scenes involve school-aged girls (see Sucker Punch and Assassination Nation, am I missing any?). The fights here are magical realist in nature and played for comedy, but they’re thrilling to watch. There are fight moves I cannot stop thinking about, even now a week after I sat down to see this movie next to Friend and Friend’s NEW FIANCE WHO CAME TO THE MOVIE WITH HER ENGAGEMENT RING ON AS A TEST AND I DIDN’T NOTICE. Someone actually told me later that they were surprised that I didn’t notice because I “seemed like the sort of person who would check,” as if that’s a type, but also as if that would be my specific type, and I’m here to say that under no circumstances am I going to notice what you’re wearing on your fingers with the exception that if you are wearing more than two rings I am going to be instantly anxious about spending a lot of time with you until I get what the underlying psychology is behind that.

Where was I? Polite Society. The movie finds ways to jump the shark in the third act, which I deem entirely appropriate. The soundtrack for this movie, pop songs sung in Arabic, fits again with the Adil el Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Ms Marvel) sonic aesthetic. There is so much going on with multi-racial, inter-generational immigrant stories without really having to have heart to hearts of any sort to drag the movie back to earth, which is impressive in its own right. I cannot speak more highly about the chaos energy of this story, the off-the-wall, gonzo nature of Manzoor’s dialogue or the kinetic, no-holds-barred action sequences. This movie is what Edgar Wright wishes he could do in his most vulnerable moments. This movie is what we’re going to be talking about in six months as a “sleeper hit,” which is actually just a hit.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Raygirl

Apr 29, 2023

Cute coming of age movie, lots of whimsical (and real) fight scenes. If you liked Everything Everywhere, this could be it's baby sister (although nowhere near as complicated).

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

alanpotter17

Sep 12, 2023

O melhor do filme é a edição ágil, que mostra que é um filme típico da geração tik tok, inclusive a protagonista é blogueirinha.
Tem o discurso do empoderamento feminino, da quebra às tradições, e toda aquela cartilha moderna que bem sabemos. Talvez o grande problema seja fazer isso de formaO melhor do filme é a edição ágil, que mostra que é um filme típico da geração tik tok, inclusive a protagonista é blogueirinha.
Tem o discurso do empoderamento feminino, da quebra às tradições, e toda aquela cartilha moderna que bem sabemos. Talvez o grande problema seja fazer isso de forma não delicada, com personagens caricatos, com situações esdrúxulas ( o que foi aquela invasão ao banheiro masculino? alumas cenas vergonha alheia), e ainda por fazer uso de extremos opostos ao discurso que defende, como a tentativa de inferiorizar o masculino pelo falocentrismo: "Eu tenho um ventre magnífico, mas o seu pinto é abaixo da média".
Ao tentar salvar a irmã de um casamento duvidoso, sabemos que o roteiro não está indo contra somente aos indivíduos supostamente mal caráter, mas à instituição casamento em si. Queria deixar claro que eu mesmo tenho minhas críticas às instituições, e não é esse o ponto. A questão não é o que, mas o como. Se você se deixar levar pela plasticidade de tudo, torna-se divertido. Veja a cena de luta com uma amiga da escola, é tudo tão performático, mas ali soou divertido. No casamento, soou genérico, dá para entreter sim, mas nada do que uma comédia pastelão na sessão da tarde já não tenha feito antes.
Ainda assim, repito, a edição dá um show. Muita coisa acontece, mas os cortes são bons o suficiente para ligar cada situação ao todo, e as horas são muito bem aproveitadas, bem como há espaço para uma série de personagens interessantes: as amigas da escola, a mãe do noivo, os pais das meninas, enfim, é um elenco agradável de ver, e conta com uma produção que deixa o filme bem polido e rico visualmente, e sem soar sujo demais.
Vale a pena para uma sessão despretensiosa, basta deixar de lado o discurso mais afoito e acima do tom, meio maniqueísta até, e se divertir com as situações e com a crítica (?) social aos modelos tradicionais a que o filme combate, por mais que a "instituição" redes sociais e sucesso pelas mídias sociais não seja tocada aqui, e vista de forma acrítica, o que certamente vai agradar a geração tik tok que assistir a isso.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TVJerry

May 2, 2023

Nida Manzoor created the delightful comedy about an all-girl Muslim punk band called We Are Lady Parts (my review). This is her first feature and even though it has the spunk of the series, it doesn't fully hold up. Priya Kansara & Ritu Arya play close sisters: One wants to be a stunt womanNida Manzoor created the delightful comedy about an all-girl Muslim punk band called We Are Lady Parts (my review). This is her first feature and even though it has the spunk of the series, it doesn't fully hold up. Priya Kansara & Ritu Arya play close sisters: One wants to be a stunt woman and the other an artist. Conflict ensues when romance comes between them. The theme of sisterhood comes thru and the cultural aspects from London's Pakastani community add a unique layer. The movie bright and fun, but the comedy never takes off, the laffs are minimal and the ending sequence should be wild, but is overdone and lacks punch. Still, there's an undeniable energy to the performances and direction that keep it entertaining.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

JLuis_001

May 18, 2023

It is unlikely that the plot of Polite Society will be what people remember in detail after watching it, but what it manages to combine with its coming-of-age comedy and mystery gives it a fun and original identity that encourages laughter and entertainment.

In my personal opinion, I thinkIt is unlikely that the plot of Polite Society will be what people remember in detail after watching it, but what it manages to combine with its coming-of-age comedy and mystery gives it a fun and original identity that encourages laughter and entertainment.

In my personal opinion, I think its charisma makes it so compelling because its satirical style is so well executed and at no point does it try to take itself too seriously.
Absurd moments abound, but there are also some clever ones. It is true that there are some occasional slumps in the pace, but I never got bored.

As I said, the story is not its strongest suit because I would have liked the film to have more surprises and unexpected twists and turns, and to delve more deeply into the characters' motivations and conflicts.
There is also very little criticism of the traditions that bind the protagonists because of their culture, but I give it a little more room in that regard because this is a comedy, not a generational drama. You also have to know when and how to explore that.

Polite Society is not deep or complex, but with results rather than unfulfilled ambitions it comes through and, while it will leave no lasting impression, for me it did what it needed to do at the right time it needed to do it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

royalguy07

Jun 19, 2023

Definite Scott Pilgrim vibes with the editing and action. Its well paced and having a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the action and the story are not able to keep up and entertain throughout.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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