This is an example of the simple Aussie crowd pleaser - a goofy hero who experiences a culture clash on his way to finding true love and a happy ending. Except in this case, the goofy hero is a Muslim and much of the culture clash is the finer points of Melbourne's islamic community (and it's very specifically Melbourne, there's a whole lot of AFL references, including one of the best jokes in the film). Which means that it's simultaneously very familiar in form as a gentle and very unusual in content. Co-writer and star Osamah Sami has an innate likability that makes this a very easy-going story where, even when our hero is hiding the truth from friends and family ,we can't ever judge him too harshly. Director Jeffrey Walker has largely worked on TV (starting in Austraian staples like Neighbours and Home and AWay, moving on to more prestigious work like Rake and Chris Lilley's Angry Boys, before working in the US on shows like Modern Family and Bones) and, certainly, this is a film that feels very much like a big-screen sitcom, with a few nice visuals added and a script that holds strong for an hour and a half.
This isn't quite back to the glory days of popular Australian Film, it's not reaching quite that far, but it's a gently loveable film that's impossible to dislike.
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