I read the plot summary of this film before I watched it "An identity crisis comedy centred on Mahmud Nasir, successful business owner, and salt of the earth East End Muslim who discovers that he's adopted - and Jewish. " I liked the idea and thought it had a lot of potential for some laughs. That, together with the fact that I had enjoyed what I had seen of Omid Djalili before, a sort of middle eastern Alexei Sayle, made me quite keen to watch it. But the delivery was so much less than the potential. The jokes were mainly lame, the supporting cast were really weak and why on earth was the black cab driver American? It would have made much more sense if he had been a Londoner and probably would have been much funnier.It was really a by the numbers "we are all the same at heart" story line. But, because of the weak writing and delivery, it was hard to really care very much if everything worked out in the end.Such a pity as I was hoping for something along the lines of a cross between Four Lions and Friday Night Dinner. Now that would be worth watching.

I watched this on BBC I player last evening (Jan 2012) as it had been shown on the BBC. Enjoyed it immensely, although some of the lesser characters seemed to be quite stereotypical. The let down for me was the very limited exploration of the Jewish community and how they would accept (or otherwise) a person with this background. That said a polished performance from Matt Lucas. Omid Djaili gives real credence to the main character and is very believable, very much the real star of the Movie. David Badiel (Author) has done a great job on the script and makes the dialogue more than believable. I recommend this as viewing for all despite some of the flowery language (very much in context) I would suggest some of the Dialogue (racist) is occasionally used for dramatic/comedy effect rather than as necessary to the plot, although it is never over the top, and would be hard pressed to be taken as seriously offensive by anyone except the most extreme.Enjoyable and thought provoking worth the watch.

I instantly recognised the leading actor on the DVD cover, and I noticed it being the first film to be written by David Baddiel, I obviously hadn't heard about during its release, but I decided to try it out. Basically Mahmud (Omid Djalili) is a loving husband and doting father, he may say the F word quite a lot and may not pray much, but he is relaxed living as a Muslim. It is after his mother had died that he finds something out that he never knew about himself, his birth certificate reveals not just that he was adopted, but that he was actually born Jewish. Mahmud's real name is Solly Shimshillewitz, and after this revelation he is in a spat of identity crisis, he is pretty convinced he needs to convert into his true birth religion. The only person Mahmud can turn to help him achieve this and teach him lessons in Jewishness is from American Jewish taxi driver Lenny (Deep Impact's Richard Schiff), from the palm action to dancing like Topol. After so much effort trying to change himself, and getting himself in trouble with both his family and friends, and even the authorities, Muhmud decides in the end not to hide the truth about his heritage, but he will remain a Muslim and ask everyone to let it lie. Also starring Archie Panjabi as Saamiya, Amit Shah as Rashid, Yigal Naor as Arshad El Masri, Mina Anwar as Muna, Soraya Radford as Uzma, Matt Lucas as Rabbi, Miranda Hart as Mrs. Keyes and Paul Kaye as Policeman. Djalili, who would normally be seen in supporting roles, does pretty well as the main character, and Schiff is dry-witted, Baddiel does pretty alright in the writing, I didn't get all the jokes, this may offend some people, but for me, not a bad comedy. Okay!

When I watched this film I wonder if a story like this could actually come out from Singapore's film industry. After all, we're one multi-racial and multi-religious melting pot so the context of having such characters here isn't that far fetched, and to have this screened here (albeit under an M18 rating), does say something. Moreover, it's a great film speaking up against religious fanaticism, and aimed its sights well at false prophets who adopt a holier than thou attitude in hoodwinking their followers.Mahmud Nasir (Omid Djalili) and his family are a typical moderate Muslim family, with Mahmud himself living the rather carefree life that had just overcome the death of his mom. His son Rashid (Amit Shah) announces that his intended fiancée and wife to be Uzma (Soraya Radford) will soon be getting a new stepdad, and as it turns out permission for her hand in marriage will have to be sought from none other than Arshad El Masri (Yigal Naor), a firebrand Pakistani cleric infamous for his anti-Western tirades. To Mahmud, this spells trouble to be associated with such a negative, high profile figure, but for the love of his son, have to put up his best behaviour when this international figure comes for a visit to discuss marriage. Not to mention the stress of having to portray himself as a devout Muslim man!And to make matters worse, like the trailer already suggested at length, Mahmud discovers while clearing up his mom's place that he's adopted, and traces his lineage to be actually that of a Jew. A major identity crisis ensues because of his son's future happiness, and of course him having to rediscover and seek out the truth about his roots. With his birth father in critical health in the hospital and at the insistence of a rabbi (Matt Lucas), Mahmud has to reconnect with his Jewish roots in order to stand a whiff of a chance to talk to a man on his deathbed. Thus begins a comedy of errors arising from a clash of obvious cultures and attitudes when Mahmud has to reconcile with a one-time enemy Lenny Goldberg (Richard Schiff), in order to learn the Jewish customs and culture in double quick time.There are plenty of jokes here that treaded the fine line of being racist, and I mean a very fine line. But as the movie put it across, it isn't racist if the one telling it is actually highlighting and poking fun at one's own race, which leaves some food for deeper thought. So we have a barrage of comical situations, some brilliantly crafted and full of wit, while others fell flat and came across as quite distastefully done, but nonetheless there were more positive rip-roaring moments than not, which I feel only the relatively more uptight folks will find additional reasons not to let loose and enjoy the film as it is.More importantly though, beyond the laughter, is its theme of family and friendship that transcends how we look and who we are on the surface, segregated and branded by our name, or religion, or culture, which should never be the case. Sure we can have the freedom to believe in what we want, but with that also come tolerance for that of others, and a reminder never to judge others or compare just because we're different at that level, but fundamentally we belong to the same species inhabiting the same shared earth, and life will be all the more harmonious should we not try to impose bigoted thoughts on others.While the ending may seem a little bit stretched, it did work as intended, and provided a fitting finale with moderatism triumphing over extremism. Both Omid Djalili and Richard Schiff put up fine performances and share excellent chemistry together as enemies turned friends, with their scenes together being some of the best be it focused on physical comedy, or through that rapid fire exchange of insults. Highly recommended for its relevance in our day and age for the messages it sets out to counsel.