MovieChat Forums > Meet the Patels (2015) Discussion > A GOOD FIRST EFFORT

A GOOD FIRST EFFORT

posted 9 years ago by huckfunn
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I have mixed feelings about this film, partly because I know Vasant and Champa. They ran a professional service in Charlotte for many years that consistently turned out poor-quality work, giving numerous clients below-standard value. So, my bulls**t detector was on, especially when the parents were talking. For example, if I heard correctly, Vasant tells Ravi at one point that the Patels' Charlotte home is worth a million dollars. Uh, that's more like $321,300.

Despite this knowledge and bias, I believe I can objectively say this about Ravi, Geeta, and MTP:

1) The people involved did yeoman's work, creating a film that is engaging, often entertaining, and somewhat educational. The time and effort put into it is admirable, and it will be a significant marker on the creators' resumes.

2) Its key fault is that it's not sufficiently analytical, complex, balanced, or interesting for a documentary -- while also not being written, acted, and produced with sufficient professionalism to qualify as a feature film in mainstream theaters. So we have a curious hybrid on our hands.

I piggybacked MTP with another film, at the same theater, so I saw MTP for "free." But if I had paid $7-10 for MTP alone, well, let's just say ... wait for Netflix or Hulu.

Martha Washington was a hip, hip, hip lady, man.

[–] tyboulder2 (101) 6 years ago

That’s an odd bunch of criticisms you’ve grouped together there. Most of it isn’t relevant to the film, including you’re “piggybacking” (ie not paying) to watch the movie.

All that aside however, this movie isn’t just a “good first effort,” it’s a good documentary, period. The only thing missing (as is common in many documentaries) is quality cinematography. But in terms of coverage, the camera was rolling at all the important times, which is no small feat at all.

I don’t think this documentary set out to be a complex analysis of social and cultural norms related to Indian marriage. In fact, it’s described as a comedy, which it did well achieving. I don’t get your “sufficient professionalism” critique at all, either. It sounds like you simply have personal issues with a few of the people behind the film, so you’ve tried to take it out on the film itself, and not with them.

Given how incredibly hard it is to make a documentary like this— especially one that’s funny— your petty criticisms are a bit tough to swallow.