Movie Review: “Ali’s Wedding” Is, No Lie, One of the Best Aussie Comedies in Years

Ali’s Wedding is a super sweet Australian-Muslim rom-com. Just what the doctor ordered.

Is it a sign of the times (or a salve) that the two most affecting rom-coms of the year involve Muslim men and their doting families?

That’s not the only similarity Aussie comedy Ali’s Wedding shares with its American cousin, The Big Sick.

Both were written by its stars, based on their real-life experiences. The Big Sick kept the name of its leading man, Kumail Nanjiani, while Ali’s Wedding passed on the opportunity to put Osamah Sami’s name in the title. But both, in their unassuming and modest ways, are revolutionary in 2017.

Even better: They’re very funny too. And the best way to fight prejudice and cultural misconceptions in this, the age of alternative facts and dog-whistling politicians, is a great time at the movies.

Directed by Jeffrey Walker, Ali’s Wedding, more than many recent Australian comedies (and I could not be using the term more loosely), understands the value in entertaining and charming a wide audience. This is indeed one of those films for viewers aged eight to eighty; for the open-minded Snapchatters to the Islamophobic, screed-writing Facebookers. Its heart-opening powers are immense.

Sami has adapted his personal past with the help of co-writer Andrew Knight, renaming himself Ali for the sake of this story. It begins with an introduction to Ali’s father Mahdi (Don Hany), an Iraqi refugee and Melbourne cleric. He’s an understanding man with a parable for every occasion—played warmly by Hany—however, he has grand designs for his son, expecting him to ace his high school exams and become a doctor. Sami, 34, is an unconvincing teen. At least he’s a convincing comic star.

Ali flunks, and fearing his dad’s disappointment (not to mention that of the Muslim community), he lies and begins attending uni without actually being enrolled in Medicine. Though, it’s not entirely for the sake of his dad: Ali’s also smitten with the intelligent and wry Lebanese-Aussie Dianne (Helana Sawires), and is happy to fabricate a reason to study beside her. When his family arranges a marriage between him and the more “acceptable” Yomna (Maha Wilson), he asks Dianne to run away with him to America. “Hollywood always needs people like us to play terrorists!” he argues, excitedly.

Ali's Wedding

It’s a perfectly farcical set-up, ideal for a sit-com, and apparently (mostly) true, including the time Sami was deported from the States after trying to stage a musical about Saddam Hussein. The increasingly embarrassing scenarios resulting from Ali’s snowballing lies are increasingly hilarious in kind.

As director of the brilliantly acidic TV show Difficult People, Walker’s clearly got a taste for cringe-worthy comedy. His talents transfer remarkably to this gentler tale. And as much as that show typifies New York weariness, Ali’s Wedding captures a feeling of Aussie aspiration.

Although it’s easy shorthand to classify this a “Muslim rom-com”, it’s essentially Australian. First, it has the unsparing and brightly-lit look of all Australian comedies, but cinematography aside, there’s a celebration of Australian identity within Ali’s Wedding that should not be discounted, from the ockerisms in Mahdi’s preaching, to the AFL obsession of his mother Zahra (the winning Frances Duca). Ali, when proposing elopement to Dianne, says, “In America, we can live like Australians.” Ali’s Wedding knows there’s something intangible and worthwhile about being Aussie; that thing many of us take for granted, and refugees rarely do.

The flick is at its funniest when Ali is contending with the varied characters in his mosque who are dutiful to their faith yet open to loopholes where possible. If Ali’s Wedding gently skewers both Muslim and Australian culture, it’s also affectionate towards their finer qualities. As Mahdi reminds himself early on, "This is Australia; people only do one thing at a time." Sometimes, not even. But in this case, Ali’s Wedding proves to be a remarkable multitasker.

4/5

In cinemas August 31. Rated M for mature themes and coarse language.