Amreeka 2009

Stephen Garrett, Time Out: As it stands, the movie just serves up another warmed-over Ellis Island rehash. Read more

Joanne Kaufman, Wall Street Journal: Most important, Mr. Dabis knows that home -- what a fraught place! -- is, in equal measures, where the hurt is and where the heart is. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: For the most part, Dabis and her actors charm their way through this material, finding absurdist humor even in the darkest moments. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: It's one of those movies that plays to the cheap seats, making the racism bigger, the assimilation process rougher, and the family squabbles extra-broad, lest viewers miss the point. Read more

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: A good-hearted film about the resilience of the human spirit. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: This sensitively made movie is more than dim Americans making terrorist jokes. It's one of the richer movies you're likely to see about average Arabs in America. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: This piquant film brings a keen and serious eye as well as that feeling for affectionate human comedy to this fraught situation, smartly avoiding both stridency and sentimentality in the process -- it's an elegant balancing act. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Writer-director Cherien Dabis too easily resolves or dismisses the characters' problems, making way for an upbeat ending. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A portrait of our times painted from an immigrant's mirror, Amreeka should be seen by every American. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The good humor, generosity, and love Dabis bestows on her characters in this assured first feature are uniquely hers -- the mark of a talent to watch Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: When most filmmakers want to say something important about cultural conflicts, they labor to bring tears to our eyes. Dabis, by contrast, makes us laugh at ourselves and, in turn, each other. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Writer-director Cherien Dabis paints a gentle, often wry picture of human resilience, and Faour and Muallen give solid performances, but there are a few too many by-the-numbers moments. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The immigrant experience gets a fresh, post- 9/11 Palestinian spin in Amreeka, a film that has all the familiar ingredients but is such a well-acted, winning re-combination of those that we see them with fresh eyes. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Although the drama heads on a predictable course, Faour brings intelligence and humor to her performance and Muallem, as the smart adolescent turned surly and scared, is likewise sharp. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Does it occur to xenophobic Americans that almost all immigrants, like their own ancestors, came here because they admire the United States? Someone please explain that to Lou Dobbs. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: This could be rough going, but Cherien Dabis' Amreeka tells this immigrants' tale with some humor and only a dash of political correctness. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Director Cherien Dabis' debut feature is a surprising, humorous, moving and very human story about a Palestinian family's emigration to Illinois on the eve of the Iraq war. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A feel-good comedy about a Palestinian mother who moves to rural Illinois with her teenaged son, Amreeka is a kind of stealth political film that confronts issues of ethnic tension and American xenophobia. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Amreeka makes its points with gentle humour and engaging performances -- especially Faour, who makes Muna so likeable it's impossible not to cross your fingers and hope her luck is about to change. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: You'll end up baffled that a film built on such shaky foundations can end up being so impossibly sweet. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: This slice of American life, as seen through the eyes of Palestinian immigrants, is nuanced, engaging and authentically observed. Read more

Rob Nelson, Variety: A culture-clash dramedy whose background in Middle-East conflict is leavened with vibrant energy, balanced politics and droll humor by first-time feature director Cherien Dabis. Read more

Ella Taylor, Village Voice: The thriving subgenre of immigrant displacement dramedy gets a confident new spin from Cherien Dabis. Read more