‘Amreeka’: Formlaic tale lacks oomph

Published 8:04 pm Thursday, September 24, 2009

The strongest part of “Amreeka” is its sense of place: this is an immigrant story in which the newcomers end up in the American midlands a couple of hours south of Chicago. It’s the world of mini-malls and John Hughes high schools and White Castle burger joints.

It’s a far cry from Palestine.

We are following Muna (Nisreen Faour), a single mother from Bethlehem (not the city in Pennsylvania, but the original). She’s come to the U.S. with her teenage son Fadi (Melkar Muallem) to start a life away from constant danger.

Since the story is set in 2003, around beginning of the Iraq War, this is not always easy. Muna and her son spend a lot of energy explaining that they’re not Muslim (which they’re not), and that they don’t actually have a connection to Iraq.

The film depicts some of the anxiety of the time, as Muna’s sister (Hiam Abbass, from “The Visitor”) and physician brother-in-law begin to feel the economic pinch of his losing clients.

Muna herself can’t get a job at the level she had in Palestine, so she settles for working the deep-fryer at a White Castle—without telling her family about the step down in prestige.

In other words, “Amreeka” catalogs the various difficulties and culture shocks of the immigrant experience. Director Cherien Dabis grew up in Ohio as the child of immigrants from Palestine and Jordan, so presumably she put first-hand experiences into her film.

Can’t argue with that. But where a movie such as “The Visitor”—which grazed across similar cultural turf and had a like-minded message—found a compelling situation and style for its goals, “Amreeka” mostly operates at a pleasant, very familiar level.

It comes across as a good subject for a “60 Minutes” chronicle, and its belief in the optimism of immigrants is constant. But it doesn’t have much oomph.

The film remains likable because of its chipper attitude and its cast, which also features Alia Shawkat (an “Arrested Development” regular) as Fadi’s cousin and Joseph Ziegler as a sympathetic teacher. In the lead role, roly-poly Nisreen Faour keeps beaming the same good-natured smile throughout, as though certain that all of this is going to work out eventually. It probably will.

“Amreeka”

Formulaic tale of immigrants from Palestine coming to terms with settling in the American midlands, south of Chicago. The twist: it’s 2003, around the time of the Iraq War start, and the transition is not always smooth. A nice cast keeps this otherwise familiar scenario on track.

Rated: PG-13 for subject matter

Showing: Harvard Exit