Polite Society Parent Guide

Having washed out at art school, Lena Khan (Ritu Arya) believes she is a disappointment to her parents – until she catches the eye of Salim Shah (Akshay Khanna), a wealthy and successful physician. A month later, Lena and Salim are engaged, to the joy of her parents and the horror of her sister, Ria (Priya Kansara).

Ria is just as unconventional as Lena and is determined not to follow the professional career path prized by her Anglo-Pakistani community. Instead of becoming a lawyer or a doctor, Ria plans to become a stuntwoman in films. To that end, she takes rigorous martial arts classes and practices constantly, even creating a YouTube channel dedicated to her stunt routines.

When Ria learns of her sister’s engagement, she is incredulous. Unable to believe that Lena would give up art to move across the world, Ria sets out to first talk her sister out of the wedding and then to sabotage it…

Polite Society is a zanily manic film that often has an unhinged vibe because audiences can’t always be sure if Ria is a reliable interpreter of the events she sees. Ria is often full of rage, simmering just below the boiling point. That anger, combined with poor judgment and impulsive behavior, rob her of credibility just when she needs it most – when her sister is in peril.

It’s difficult to adequately describe Polite Society. It’s a comedy, a drama, an action flick, and a martial arts movie – and somehow it succeeds. Many films bog down or struggle from tonal confusion when they embrace multiple genres, but not Polite Society. It maintains its intensity, pacing, and emotion throughout the runtime and feels sincere, despite the fact that much of the tale is told with tongue firmly in cheek. This is not a film that takes itself seriously, but it takes entertainment seriously and that’s why it works. It’s funny, fast-moving, and built on a rock-solid sisterly relationship of love, hate, and loyalty.

Given the genre(s) it’s not surprising that there are content issues here, the most significant of which is violence. There are constant scenes of highly stylized violence, with lots of kicking, punching and throwing. Disturbingly, there are also some attempted strangulations, one of which is almost lethal. Profanity is represented with three dozen swear words and there are scenes of smoking and alcohol consumption. Content carefully comes in at a PG-13 level, but parents should be aware that the violence consumes lots and lots of the runtime.

I’m not a fan of violent movies and I usually get bored during fight scenes, but not this time. The stylized battles are colorfully kinetic and the blinged-up Pakistani wedding apparel makes the film more visually interesting than the average punch-‘em-up. The plot is comically nuts and the over-the-top villain simply adds to the fun. I wouldn’t recommend this film for kids but if you and your teens want something a crazy, different, and entertaining, Polite Society could work for you.