User Reviews

I have been brought up as a Muslim, not in the USA. I've lived in the States only the last three years. I don't know what the atmosphere was pre-9/11, but I was shocked by what the movie portrayed.

A substitute teacher is unable to pronounce Tariq's name, and when he tells her the correct pronunciation she challenges the spelling and claims it is not in "correct English". Then all the kids in the class laugh about the fact that it's not an English name, but a Muslim name. It shocks me to see this type of behavior, because it is completely contrary to what I have seen at college. Our teachers ask us how to pronounce our names if they're not sure, and the students here are even more tolerant of different names and different cultures than I am. (Yes, I have my prejudices towards certain accents, and certain behavioral patterns, but the Americans I've met tend to respect what is foreign because they know that they can't understand a different culture in an American context.)

I was disappointed with the movie when some of the white characters were making such racist comments. If anyone at my college said stuff like that about immigrants, I feel like people would think he is out of his mind. ("I think when people come to America, they should learn the language and learn the religion of this country." He also called some Indian language "jibber-jabber".)

I was disappointed with the secondary characters - especially the Muslim roommate and his intended. Seriously? Isn't that being stereotypical? Just because he's Pakistani (at least I think he was based on the language he was speaking with his parents, but then again I don't speak Urdu, so I wouldn't know) the movie is showing him as already engaged?

Then again in the classroom, when the white boys were slandering immigrants, why was it only the Muslim girl who was arguing back? Why was it only her who was portrayed as "smart" and "enlightened" and the white boys as "narrow-minded" and "racist"?

Other than these issues, I was impressed with the movie. The lead characters delivered splendid performances, the movie has me hooked to find out what was the back-story of Tariq which caused him to be so antagonistic towards his religion, and by the time 9/11 started, I was completely engrossed in it. The secondary characters weren't all stereotypical and they took chances with how they portrayed them (there were several characters who weren't either black or white and there were several shades of grey.)

Regarding the reactions of the populace to 9/11 and their behavior towards Muslims, I was completely shocked that people would hit random Muslims on the head, and go out with sticks and try to beat up Muslim girls. (At least one white character was redeemed here when he told his friends that he didn't want to beat up people for revenge because "what is terrorism after all"? Thank goodness for that.) Then again, I know nothing about what it was like for Muslims in American back then.

Overall, it was a good film. I'm glad that a film has been made about Muslim issues and with a Muslim main character, but I really wish they had left the stereotypes out.

I didn't expect good acting or amazing filmography coming in to this movie since it is an indie film, and except for the main character and his mother most of the actors were worse than expected. But I could forgive all that if there had been a story of substance. Muslims made this movie- a world of opportunity existed for them to show the real Islam. But instead the characters are shallow and one dimensional, his father is some kind of psycho maniac with huge creepy eyes ("my son will be a ha-feez of the qoo-raannn!") who can't even pronounce Arabic words and is going to give me serious nightmares. Isn't this the way Muslims are portrayed by Hollywood? Why doesn't this movie try to break the norm? Why isn't it trying to show the average Muslim experience in America? Most Muslims face some discrimination but not insane amounts of it like they are trying to show in this movie. We already have My Name is Khan and multiple others to show that side of it. Stop making white people look like they are all one-dimensional crazy racists who are out to "get vengeance" on Muslims. Why did the mom have such a huge problem with her kids wearing Hijab and Kuffi? One one hand she is portrayed as a Hijabi, on the other she wants her kids to feel ashamed about who they really are. And what is up with that scene of her wanting to wear a low cut shirt? So is she a hijabi or isn't she? And if she doesn't want her kids teased at public school, why isn't she happy about him going to a Muslim school? And don't even get me started on the Professor at the Muslim boarding school. When does that ever happen, a crazy Muslim elder beating children? Stop showing exceptional cases as the norm! Hollywood is already taking care of that! If I wasn't Muslim I would walk away from this movie feeling like Muslim cultures and families are seriously messed up. Except for a few flimsy redemption scenes at the end, as well as a pretty good emotional family scene that weakly tries to "make it all okay", this movie was a disappointment. Seriously...you could have done anything with the budget you clearly had, but you choose to make a movie that paints the worst characteristics of some Muslims as the norm?? C-

This was such a clichéd, badly written, badly directed dire excuse for a film that I'd be almost willing to give the actors some leeway for their woeful performances as if I was given this script I wouldn't be able to say any of the lines with much conviction either. But then I remember they probably got paid to inflict this garbage onto my senses! It's like it was written by children. All the characters are two-dimensional caricatures of real people so as not to over complicate the story or add any sort of finesse or intricacies that may at least be slightly entertaining. The main character is not likable in the least and to call his performance wooden would be an insult to trees! The only people who may come out of this with any dignity are perhaps the mother and the professor.

As far as the social commentary is concerned I found it juvenile and an insult to my intelligence. I was expecting a clever story highlighting the main issues facing muslims living in the US. A story that neither attacked nor promoted Islam but rather shone a light of truth on it and revealed both the good and the bad. Instead we had unbelievably ignorant characters attacking it from all corners so that it made it seem like there is no legitimate criticism that could be levelled against it. And when the film did finally try to show some of the bad, like terrorism and abuse, it copped out by never really exploring these aspects fully. I suppose its main goal was to show that you can't paint all muslims with the same brush but the only thing they say about the 9/11 hijackers is that "they're Muslim" and never really explained how they're in the minority and that the 9/11 attacks were not religiously motivated but due to complex global political issues.

The only excuse I can come up with for this film is that it was aimed at people who spell "muslim" with two Os, a Z and a U so that the filmmakers were too afraid to make it too complicated least they lose their target audience!

I had been waiting for this movie to come out - but it didn't have a wide distribution and I missed it. An admission - I'm a fan of spiritual / inspirational / message oriented movies - with dramatic impact .. and this movie did not disappoint. There are multi-layers - many of which have nothing specifically linked to their religion; there are the same challenges, rites of passage, parental/child dynamics, male/female - husband/wife revolutions - school experiences, etc. that many of us share - respective of our various religions - non-religions - or spiritual persuasions. The difference here is that we view these 'dynamics' through the lens of the Muslim religion - and the way it provided context and perspectives which motivated the characters in the movie. I'm a born-again Christian and I identified greatly with the characters - in particular those final scenes - Wow!! - if they didn't already have me - they had me for sure - then. I thought too that the building dynamic of the movie was great - in particular just as I was building a connection to the main characters themselves and the story they are living; the national/international story of 911 trumps that story and both carry you to an emotional peak. For me personally it meant even more as my father passed away 9/12 and on 911 I sat with him as we watched the TV throughout that day. Back on track though - I liked the actors - each very strong and believable in their respective roles - including the friends. Overall I really enjoyed this and it was well worth watching in my living room - comfy - on pay-per-view.

So when first clicking on this movie I had really high expectations of it I thought it would be about a Muslim boy struggling with his faith as he navigates his mostly non-Muslim college and the challenges and temptations he faces couple that with the rising tensions with Muslims because of the 9/11 attacks Instead I got a BORING movie with a BORING (not to mention horrible) script and seemingly no point whatsoever to it they only introduce the 9/11 attacks in the last 20 minutes of the movie and even then don't explore the topic! Plus there was horrendous acting and 1 dimensional characters with NO personalities! And it was so stereotypical! white racist douche bag guys, goody two shoes Muslims, and strict Muslim parents? Seriously?

who wrote this movie? A child? The ONLY reason I gave this two stars is because I was being generous and because of Nia long who's acting was spectacular as always