EUyeshima

What a relief to watch a queer romcom that doesn't focus specifically on coming out. At this 2025 film's outset, the parents of the main protagonist Naveen, a competent albeit socially awkward doctor, have already accepted his identity as a gay man. The challenge is that being raised in a traditional Indian family doesn't allow any latitude for open discussions of feelings much less topics like dating, relationships, or marriage. Enter Jay, a white photographer who was raised by Indian parents, and their blossoming romance hits a major snag in Naveen's inability to share anything significant about Jay to his parents. This is where Roshan Sethi's fluid, unexpected direction and Eric Randall's smart screenplay make welcome swerves into uncomfortable territory about social and cultural acceptance and unspoken familial estrangement. The cast is extremely likable starting with Karan Soni as the constantly befuddled Naveen. He has genuine chemistry with Jonathan Groff whose natural charm as Jay feeds effectively into his open-hearted character, even though his role felt somewhat underwritten. As Naveen's parents, stand-up comic Zarna Garg and deadpan Harish Patel almost steal the film with funny, heartfelt performances that pull at the heartstrings late in the film. Peter S. Kim provides welcome comic relief as Naveen's flamboyant colleague Paul, and Sunita Mani brings a nice sharpness to Naveen's resentful sister Arundhathi. Even with obvious echoes of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", the climactic wedding scene culminates into a well executed catharsis that had me genuinely teary-eyed. Highly recommended.

Jonathan Majors' devastating, punishing performance is undeniable in his emotional and obviously physical commitment to the embattled character. However, this dark 2025 character drama allows little escape from the real-life echoes of Majors' own arrest for assault and harassment in 2023. Now released two years later, it's a difficult watch, unrelenting in its bleakness, as director Elijah Bynum tracks the pained existence of struggling bodybuilder Killian Maddox (aptly named). As portrayed by Majors, he's a socially awkward, psychologically unstable young man whose chiseled physique and monomaniacal goal of becoming a world-class bodybuilder are at odds with his hardscrabble daily life and his inability to connect with anyone beyond his frail grandfather. The fissures in his mental state deepen and widen at every turn, which includes a disastrous first date with his grocery store co-worker Jessie, a meltdown episode at a local paint store, and a much-awaited meeting with his bodybuilding idol. Each plot turn leads to an even darker episode with a relentless threat of violence, which becomes exhausting over its marathon 123-minute running time. Because Bynum focuses so completely on Killian, there is little acting room for the supporting cast, though Haley Bennett shines briefly as Jessie as does Harriet Sansom Harris as Killian's state-mandated counselor. Nevertheless, if you can separate art from life, it's Majors' show in a complex, challenging role that appears to take inspiration from Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver" and Mickey Rourke's Randy Robinson in "The Wrestler". They're all high-octane portraits of immobile loners deep in the shadows of their tortured minds.

It's unfortunate that Meghan Markle's partnership with Netflix has produced such an abysmal, pretentious program under the guise of an eight-part lifestyle series. Much of the challenge comes from the contrived persona the producers are trying to formulate in presenting Meghan as a down-to-earth young wife and mother when we know she has been surrounded by royal entitlement and social privilege. That's why it's less than convincing to see her doling out culinary advice and helpful homemaking hints like a SoCal version of Fixer Upper's Joanna Gaines but on Ina Garten's inflated Hamptons-level budget, all without having the credentials of either. From the episodes I viewed, she entertains a predisposed guest, bowls the person over with her renaissance interests (beekeeping and candle-making in the first episode), culinary mastery, and disarming, one-of-us charm. It all comes across as disingenuous as if she's hawking a personal brand of her own invention.