Polite Society ★★★½

SOME films just manage to keep a smile on your face throughout their running time.

They aren’t laugh-out loud throughout, but there is something about them that makes you, well, happy.

The 2023 British action comedy Polite Society is one of these, also combining elements of coming-of-age, Tarantino and Bollywood cinema. While it may not be successful with this mash-up all the time, the effort behind and in-front of the camera is obvious and infectious.

A debut effort by English television director Nida Manzoor, the film is about two English women of Pakistani background whose future dreams are threatened by an arranged marriage with possibly devious intentions.

Priya Kansara and Ritu Arya are terrific as sisters Ria and Lena Khan. Teenage Ria is determined to become a stunt woman, practising martial arts and filming her progress on her own Youtube channel. The older Lena also dreamt of becoming a painter, but has dropped out of art school with personal doubts about her talent.

Ria is adamant that her sister will get her journey to a successful career back on track. But when Lena ends up going down the path of an arranged marriage with a handsome doctor from a rich family, Ria is suspicious, hostile and intent on stopping the nuptials.

Her increasingly bizarre attempts to waylay the courtship become more desperate and bring her into direct conflict with the suitor’s formidable and threatening mother, played with great relish by Nimra Bucha.

While some of the inventiveness in the writing is a key factor, the casting is note-perfect for every role, including the sisters’ parents, the suitor, Ria’s school friends and Ria’s nemesis, the school bully. All succeed in their moments to shine.

Perhaps it’s ultimately just throw-away entertainment, but Polite Society is a crowd-pleaser that augers well for the future of the director and her two main actors who have great chemistry and together command the screen.