Shirin in Love

I watch "Bridget Jones Diary" and "Sleepless in Seattle" again and again because they are good romantic comedies that make me feel good. Like these films, "Shirin in Love" is a pleasure-a warm funny movie that hits every note I need home alone on a Saturday night. Apart from the well-known talent Amy Madigan, the film is beautifully cast-from the star leading lady Nazanin Boniadi and her (possibly) leading man Riley Smith to some very funny cameos from Anita Khalatbari as the heroine's mother and George Wallace as Officer Washington. The soundtrack is great too, and I hope will be released-and its a good looking film. But the main thing for me is the story and I love it.

With a cast that includes Maz Jobrani, Max Amini, Marshall Manesh and Anita Khalatbari, I was expecting a Persian comedy, but the film "Shirin in Love" is, in fact, a romantic movie - a "chick flick" even. While the film's location, costumes and props were fine, its writing, directing and editing were terrible. The porno-style filming, soap opera-style acting, nonsensical still shots, disconnected scenes, stereotypical characters, weak plot and cheap humor are just a few of the film's shortcomings. The film's one bright spot is Nazanin Boniadi, who portrays Shirin. Even in a bad film you can spot a shining star. She certainly has a bright future. I don't understand why she decided to appear in this film, given her well-established career with feature roles in "Homeland," "Grey's Anatomy," and "How I Met Your Mother." The film did little to enhance the reputations of Maz Jobrani and Max Amini, and may even have hurt them.

While not as sexually-sterile as Hallmark, it makes use of the typical HM plot line and is probably a PG rating vs the always a G for Hallmark.

That plot line is a female lead as feature and we follow her 100-minute journey from already engaged but not captivated, finding a more Mr. Right, having a stupid (and avoidably long) conflict with Mr. Right, and then finding magical resolution and wedding in the very last 2 minutes. Also aligning with Hallmark tropes is the male lead is not a man's man, but sort of bumbling, naive and unassertive....leaving the female to do most all the romance-advancing/saving work. Any normal guy involved with this girl would have not been as uncommunicative and weak-kneed as this guy was and the conflict could have been resolved immediately with a phone call to the girl before falling on his sword to the mother's trickery.

In this case, the lead actress is also more sexy and attractive than most of the actresses appearing in Hallmarks and we see her svelte body in a bikini. Her mother's contantly cleavaged attire will also drive Hallmark's pearl-clutching viewers to angst. Finally, the dialogue of some of the supporting cast is juvenilely sexual. All this is where the higher PG rating comes in. But, it is also a fair bit of the comedic content.

In sum, it is sort of a dull romance, but interlaced with some comedy and some heartfelt supporting characters making it watchable and modestly enjoyable.

Shirin in Love is a movie about a young lady following tradition and getting engaged to a successful plastic surgeon and although she has a very successful prodession as well Shirin wants to become a professional journalists and to get her career kicked off Sjirin gets assistance from working for her mothers magazine and Shirin reviews Novels and their authors.

Nazanin Boniadi plays Shirin and while watching this movie I was like I have seen her before and while doing my IMDB research I noticed that she played Ferah Sherazi in Homeland and I remember that performance and it was excellent and this role is no different well performed.

The only issue I had with her Character Shirin in this movie is the fact that she is actually 12 years younger than Maz Jobrani playing Mike her Fiance and it was like watching Shirin getting married to a father figure.

We also had another standup comedian also in this movie actually good mates with Maz Jobrani and that is Max Amini he plays Ed a chiropracter that loves fixing ladies tail bones :) Having two standup comedians there was a lot of jokes and it was really funny. But my favourite joke was from Shirin and it was all about having a good head and I am keeping that clean because it was said another way.

The musci was great a mix of Persian and English songs that fit well. You also if you pay attention can see the singer Andy in the movie and Black Cats both are well known Persian musical stars.

The movie has heart and you really will enjoy this light romantic comedy and I highly recommend this to the Persian community to understand its ok to allow your kids to Marry outside your cultural and religious backgrounds.. Add this to your list and watch this with your partner.

I totally disagree with the Dr and the other reviewer who gave very scathing reviews of this wonderful film. Coming from someone who knows absolutely nothing about the Iranian culture, I enjoyed learning a few things about the culture. I thought the acting was actually great because it wasn't over the top or overstated. It was very natural, and I thought the performance by Amy Madigan was fantastic. The two leads were also fantastic, especially Riley Smith. It was a film that made me laugh, made me cry, and ticked all the boxes of a rom com/chick flick and this coming from a guy. Congrats to the producers and director of this film for bringing out the best in the actors and the settings. Also congrats to the cinematographer Garrett Shannon who shot some fantastic scenes, especially those beautiful shots in Northern California. If anyone knows where exactly this is in north California I'd love to know. Cheers to all cast and crew for a FANTASTIC movie. You should be proud!