Saw the movie Ali's Wedding on #Netflix; the trailer was cute. The movie ended up being cute, as well. Held a nice pace with quite a bit of emotional changes with the scenes not being too long and drawn out. The writing and acting were good, as well.
BUT I did struggle with the representation of women in the film. If Muslim women are wanting to be viewed as strong, independent women living in a free country, then this did them no justice and was a poor depiction. And I, an American in her 50's with limited to no knowledge of the Muslim religion and culture, lifestyle and traditions, felt a deep sadness for the young women.
The values of love and family and traditions, and the reasons why we should not tell a lie, were there though, as well as humor. It was a romantic comedy. And it was written in and about a culture that you never see onscreen in a positive way, so the challenges were elevated, but they stayed true to their deep love of family and traditions and ended up with a cute movie.