John Waters watch out! Hassan Zee is out to out-camp you in his comedy, "Bicycle Bride," about a young Indian-American woman in San Francisco living two lives, the life of a loyal traditional Indian daughter at home and the life of an independent and liberated American woman out of doors. Unfortunately, these two lives come to clash when her over-protective mother decides to set up an arranged marriage for her twenty-year old daughter. What this film has going for it is two beauties, one, a literal Indian beauty queen and, two, a sexy young Swede model slash actor who will keep you interested in their burgeoning romance until the end. But don't be fooled, this is not a romantic comedy; this film is first and foremost a comedy, and at a far second, a romance. The romance does not seem to develop organically, which is a weakness in the film, but the two actors are so pretty to look at that you might be willing to ignore that fact. The film has, at times, the feel of a student film, with either flat or over-the top acting and dialogue deliveries and cartoonish sound effects. At other times, it has a rather strong production value with impressive cinematography. San Francisco is a perfect and believable backdrop for the story to unfold. My biggest qualm with the film is that it is populated with one and two-dimensional characters; I wanted to see more character depth and development. The film has two distinct acting styles that seem to conflict and jar at times that may be meant to express the chasm between first-generation immigrants to America and their children who are born here and, therefore, exposed to American customs, values and experiences. This film fails, at times, to skate the difficult line between character and stereotype, full of the campiness reminiscent of John Waters's films without the daring. This film says its a love story but the romance is relatively tame. I can remember no on-screen risks or kisses and only one scene near the end of the film that conservatively depicts the young couple clothed in bed together, tenderly touching one another, with only the male lead with his shirt off. The film says it is a comedy but the type of comedy sticks close to slap-stick and easy laughs of the older generations. Not to say that I did not laugh, the script has some witty and downright funny observations about culture clash situations that arise throughout the plot of the film. What you will come away with after watching this film is that family is extremely important to Indian culture, and that young Indian women living in America often have to live two lives in order to try to be happy, when that shouldn't be the case.
The film starts out with the charming Beena jogging through Golden Gate Park and stopping to catch her breath and pause and talk directly to the camera in order to explain her dilemma. I am usually not a big fan of films that tear down the fourth wall so early in the film, but for comedies in general, it can and has been known to work only if that kind of narration is sustained throughout the film. There is always the risk that by breaking the viewers suspension of disbelief so early on in the film that they might lose their interest in the characters.
I would have to agree with another commentator on this thread who said that the actress playing Beena's mother stole the film. But so did the older ladies playing the grandmother's. Both and Beena's mom and Mary Janes's grandmother in a wig were John Waters worthy, as well as the religious charlatans selling magical charms to secure a good husband for Beena.
The most believable dialogue exchanges seems to take place between Beena and her best friend, Mary Jane. Beena's parents were a bit melodramatic. The names of the characters, to an American ear, were a bit heavy-handed: James Dean, Bart, Bill Clinton and Mary Jane. I , personally, would have named the male lead James D. Johannsen to stress his Swedishness and later revealed, in a touching exchange between the two leads, possibly after a movie date, say "Rebel Without a Cause" that he was named after his mother's favorite rebellious teen actor, James Dean. Bicycle Bride is about how one young person's rebellion is just an expression of a person wanting to be herself, learning how to be herself while still living under her parents's roof. I was surprised by how just the mere idea of a woman taking university classes at San Francisco State would be seen as controversial and not allowed by her conservative Indian parents. I thought the film should have had at least one classroom scene to introduce the wide cast of characters who show up later for the bike charity event near the end of the movie.
I did enjoy the lively and uplifting soundtrack to this movie that brought that world to life. In my opinion, there was one too many musical montages in this movie. Even so, another thing I really did enjoy about his movie was how it poked fun at crazy, superstitions and other magical thinking, as well as poking fun at how incompetent men with countless degrees and doctor titles (which was self-effacing when you consider that the screenwriter, director and producer is also a doctor). I did enjoy the Hitchcockian cameo by the handsome but diminutive director himself as he sips on a cocktail near the bar as the young exuberant people dance on the dance floor.
Had the director leaned more toward the Bollywood genre film, and maybe added some sing-along songs and more outrageous costumes, he might have had himself a midnight movie on his hands. I do agree with the director, who likes to be called Doc Zee, that I would like to see a sequel to this film, maybe Beena's daughters rebelling against mom and dad.
The film starts out with the charming Beena jogging through Golden Gate Park and stopping to catch her breath and pause and talk directly to the camera in order to explain her dilemma. I am usually not a big fan of films that tear down the fourth wall so early in the film, but for comedies in general, it can and has been known to work only if that kind of narration is sustained throughout the film. There is always the risk that by breaking the viewers suspension of disbelief so early on in the film that they might lose their interest in the characters.
I would have to agree with another commentator on this thread who said that the actress playing Beena's mother stole the film. But so did the older ladies playing the grandmother's. Both and Beena's mom and Mary Janes's grandmother in a wig were John Waters worthy, as well as the religious charlatans selling magical charms to secure a good husband for Beena.
The most believable dialogue exchanges seems to take place between Beena and her best friend, Mary Jane. Beena's parents were a bit melodramatic. The names of the characters, to an American ear, were a bit heavy-handed: James Dean, Bart, Bill Clinton and Mary Jane. I , personally, would have named the male lead James D. Johannsen to stress his Swedishness and later revealed, in a touching exchange between the two leads, possibly after a movie date, say "Rebel Without a Cause" that he was named after his mother's favorite rebellious teen actor, James Dean. Bicycle Bride is about how one young person's rebellion is just an expression of a person wanting to be herself, learning how to be herself while still living under her parents's roof. I was surprised by how just the mere idea of a woman taking university classes at San Francisco State would be seen as controversial and not allowed by her conservative Indian parents. I thought the film should have had at least one classroom scene to introduce the wide cast of characters who show up later for the bike charity event near the end of the movie.
I did enjoy the lively and uplifting soundtrack to this movie that brought that world to life. In my opinion, there was one too many musical montages in this movie. Even so, another thing I really did enjoy about his movie was how it poked fun at crazy, superstitions and other magical thinking, as well as poking fun at how incompetent men with countless degrees and doctor titles (which was self-effacing when you consider that the screenwriter, director and producer is also a doctor). I did enjoy the Hitchcockian cameo by the handsome but diminutive director himself as he sips on a cocktail near the bar as the young exuberant people dance on the dance floor.
Had the director leaned more toward the Bollywood genre film, and maybe added some sing-along songs and more outrageous costumes, he might have had himself a midnight movie on his hands. I do agree with the director, who likes to be called Doc Zee, that I would like to see a sequel to this film, maybe Beena's daughters rebelling against mom and dad.
