The Best Man's Wedding (2000)

It is a performances centric movie

hyped garbage

Don't Believe the Hype

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Sweden has in the last few decades accepted very many immigrants from Africa and the Middle East. This movie is partly about the culture shocks that come as a natural consequence. Although I must say the movie is very Politically Correct. The reality, when a girl from the Middle East refuses to marry the man her parents have chosen, and instead gets together with a Swede - has on many occasions been much worse than the "liberal and funny" ending of this movie...Still, a foreigner could probably learn a lot about modern Sweden from it. The atmosphere is right. There were also some funny episodes - for example the one with the dog Rambo. And some funny and likable characters - such as the Libanese middle-aged father and shop-keeper.The only character (or maybe actor) that was not just right, was Paul. He was too exaggerated as the archetypal Middle East brother, at the same time as he did not play an Arab very convincingly. He looked and sounded too European, and his accent was obviously fake.As most modern Swedish movies, "Jalla Jalla" comes through as quite low-budget and amateurish. Also, I think there was too much sex, violence and rude language in it - which is, I am afraid, also quite typical of modern Swedish movies. Still, I recommend it for light entertainment in the company of adults only!

This is a multi-cultural comedy. With true love. True sexual problems. A family trying to match-make the wrong couples. Pitbulls. Vacuum pumps. Swedish chewing tobacco. And a parrot who swears in Arabian.The acting is superb. The story is serious enough to make the characters all the more lovable. Go see it! Now!

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** What sort of film do you get when you cross a Lebanese marriage, a Swedish girlfriend, a manic muscle head with a dog called Rambo and sexual impotence? You get the riotous romp, Jalla Jalla, a fantastic film from Lebanese born director Josef Fares.Best friends Mans and Roro are in their twenties and work as park attendants cleaning the duck pond and picking up dog s***, but nevertheless still think they are cool! Their lives stroll calmly and peacefully along until, suddenly, Mans can't get it up for his wife any more and Roro finds out he has only a week to avoid being married off to a good Lebanese girl by his father!Roro has a Swedish girlfriend he has been planning to introduce to his strict family but has lacked the courage until it's too late. Now his father has brokered an arrangement for him to marry the teenage Yasmin, and her brother seals the deal. Neither of the youngsters wants to get married but they pretend to agree to buy some time. Meanwhile Mans tries everything to correct his problem, from sexual games to whips, a penis enlarger and a gigantic dildo!All this might seem a little sick and perverted, but the style with which Josef handles it is to his credit. There is barely a moment in the film where you are not either laughing out loud or enjoying the wry comedy that comes from cultures colliding.Josef's real life dad plays the father in this film to his real life son, so Jalla Jalla is a real family affair. The dad is very funny, especially in the way he deals with any trouble. I have a 'gut' instinct he would be very handy in a fight!The film's title translates as 'Hurry! Hurry!' from its native Arabic and serves as a good description of the frenetic pace of this charming comedic look at cross-cultural clashes and love in times of integration. 9 out of 10.

I haven't left the cinema on such a high note in a long time; Jalla! Jalla! is a very funny comedy about a man torn between modern European and traditional Lebanese life, who tries to keep both his personae satisfied by continually compromising between the two. It is also a story of the friendship between this Lebanese second-generation immigrant and his colleague Måns. The story takes some time to unfold, but the film's perfectly timed pace makes it a joy to watch even as long as nothing appears to happen, and it only gets better once the action kicks in.Jalla! Jalla! is about change: grandma is still firmly rooted in the old ways, dad keeps up appearances but turns out more flexible than you thought and Roro is, for all intents and purposes, just as much a modern Swede as a Lebanese. Although he is sincere and outspoken, he's just not able to totally say goodbye to his heritage and his roots. Finally, it was very gratifying to see a film about immigrants without some profound and ostentatious message, but more occupied with the sometimes impossible daily choices between morality and practicality one is forced to make despite the lack of understanding in one's surroundings (and truth be told, neither Måns nor Lisa display much understanding for Roro's predicament). A good 'small' movie, I hope to see more of this director and these actors.