Meet the Patels Review

The tag line is spot on -- It's a Real Life Romantic Comedy. I LOVED Meet the Patels! It is SO good. Completely heartwarming.

The camera work leaves a lot to be desired, but the sister was trying to catch these intimate family moments, frequently in the car. Those moments she couldn't catch, they used cute animation as the brother would explain what happened -- like when he finally tells his parents that he had dated a white girl for 2 years. He specifically chose a time his sister was out so she couldn't film that.

The way it was edited, I knew pretty early on how it was all going to end, but you have to remember that they filmed for over a year, and THEY didn't know then how it will all resolve.

We've seen some of the arranged marriage process in India through Bollywood films, but this was a fascinating look at how parents who want their kids to marry someone from their very specific region of India (a 30 mile triangle in Gujarat) have to try to make that work when the Indian families are spread all over America and Canada. Poor Ravi took a LOT of flights trying to meet girls. He dates one girl and says, to have a second date, I'd have to buy a $500 ticket. I'm feeling it's maybe worth a $200 ticket!

I really felt for Ravi who was trying to please his parents, but was drawn to the only girlfriend he ever knew -- a redhead from Connecticut. Nearly every Indian he meets tells him it's time for him to be married, and you really get how much pressure these young men and women are under. Some of the pressure, though, he put on himself because they show all these warm family gatherings, and he had always envisioned a wife who was from his religion and culture who would understand it all and help him carry it on to his children.

I think it's a very universal story, and also one that is so fascinatingly specific == a window into a world most of us have never seen.

If you have a chance, GO SEE IT!! You'll love it.