The Arab Family and Random Thoughts

Of all the things that seemed odd and out of character for Meris (besides the over-the-top "punk" stuff) her avoidance and rejection of the Arab woman (could not figure out the character's name in the cast list) seemed the most strange to me. Here was the one couple in the area who reached out to her, yet she was willing to avoid them simply based on the clearly bogus terrorist rumor as spouted by hubby's bigoted jackass friends? She wouldn't even say "hello" in the supermarket? Even if she felt she couldn't be friends with them because her "friends" wouldn't approve, did she really need to freeze them out entirely?

I also found the Arab woman's unwillingness to at least listen to Meris when she started to apologize a bit forced as well - given that Meris had initiated conversations with both her and her husband, in a community where they seemed close to completely shunned, it seemed like she might have at least been willing to listen to a second sentence...

The losing then regaining her "minority" friends seemed forced and artificial to me - they never needed to be lost in the first place, except as a plot contrivance.

My wife and I almost gave up on this movie about 20 minutes in - I do have to hand it to the director in making the audience almost as uncomfortable as we suppose Meris feels. But as others have noted, the HS clique was so harsh as to be ridiculous - certainly *one* person at the welcome party would have taken Meris aside for a chat or a tour or a smoke or something. Their utter lack of empathy and social grace and decency made them sitcom villains and caricatures, rather than real people.

And I thought comedies, even black comedies, are supposed to be funny. This was sad and awkward, with very little comic relief.