Meet the Patels

People pleasing, indecisiveness, general inexperience, a little un-savvy--and caught in a very strict, very traditional, but no longer quite functional system--omg. This movie in so many ways relates to my experience as a white girl in the American South, uber Christian.

Sure, it would be great if this kid knew himself more, was sure of what he wanted, and went after it tenaciously. But he is evolving slowly. With evolving "rules." I want to believe he'll get there. I want to believe we'll all get wherever it is we really want to go. In the meantime, I appreciated getting to know him, his family, and his dual cultures, and I enjoyed being along for a very relatable ride.

It's amazing how well this thing was edited, and how well it came together. Even though the footage was rough, the film was fun to watch.

Ravi Patel—LA-based actor and director—is in crisis. He's nearly 30 years old and not married. His parents, who emigrated from India when they were young, make it clear to him that his first priority in his present life is to get married and preferably to another Patel. This starts the first of many in-movie explanations to help those of us who aren't from India understand that country's marriage customs. Nearly everyone from a certain part of India is named Patel and they're all related but they're now far removed. (Sort of like the "Smiths.") It's a super-enormous extended family with platinum-level familial rights that Patels around the world well understand.

Ravi's problem is that he's not sure he wants to marry a Patel from India. He was born and grew up in the US and he has different expectations. Yet his upbringing and culture call to him. Part of him wants to be traditional. Part of him does not. He's stuck in the middle and the parents are impatient. Very impatient.

This film documents a real year in Ravi Patel's life and follows him as he seeks a marriage partner in the traditional Indian way, modified by American cultural tones. His parents work very hard to find him a mate using the international Patel underground, which includes the extended Patel family of aunts, uncles, and cousins; biographies of available mates not necessarily written by the candidates themselves; and an annual Patel Matrimonial Convention created to help young Patels meet as many marriage candidates as possible in the shortest possible time. Ravi even flies cross country tracking down possible mates.

Although it's a documentary, this is a truly funny movie with a lot of heart. The parents want what they think is best for Ravi and Ravi wants to please his parents and fit in with the extended Patel family. There are many funny scenes as this year-long quest unfolds and there are humor-laden extenuating circumstances as well. Two of these:

1. Ravi's older sister Geeta is the cinematographer and she happens to live with Ravi in LA. She's not married either.

2. Ravi has a girlfriend of two years that he's broken up with just before the movie starts. She's a pale redhead and the parents do not know about her.

Do not get the idea that this movie is strictly for people whose heritage traces to India. Every young adult in America is having trouble finding a mate, Internet or no Internet. These situations and the humor transcend any one culture. This is a truly heartwarming film for anyone looking to find someone to go through life with. It is well worth seeing. It opens in three cities on September 11 and then more widely a week later.

We saw this movie through the San Jose Camera Cinema Club, which will be starting its 20th season this fall.

It's a documentary, but at the same time the narrative does not act as one.

Ravi is feeling the pressure of being a about to turn 30 year old Indian-American man, who as far as his parents are concern has never even been on a date, cause he hid his 2 year relationship with a white American girl from them. After Ravi breaks up with her he attempts to give Indian culture style dating a try to please the very large family that thinks he should be married with kids by now.

It's a hysterical look at how cultures differ, but at the core stay the same, as Ravi deals with parents who feel that his happiness would be with the perfect Indian wife, his struggle with being both culturally Indian and American, and his annoying older sister, Geeta who thought it would be a good idea to document his turmoil.

It is one of the best comedies I have seen. Through her brother, Geeta attempts to document how Indian dating culture is different from American culture, Yet what she accomplished was creating a narrative that's relatable down to the core.

It'a a fun comedy, every minute was enjoyable, it was funny throughout.

This very cute movie follows Indian actor Ravi Patel's adventures in dating, as, after breaking up with his adorably geeky white girlfriend he allows his parents to usher him into the world of Indian semi-arranged marriage, dating women all over the country as his sister documents his adventure and chats with him as both sister and interrogator.

The elaborate dating system he enters is quite interesting, and his eager-to-help parents are lovely people. The movie has a number of cute animated sequences, and as the movie progresses we learn a little about the behind-camera sister's own dating life.

One thing about this movie - I'm not sure I like Ravi all that much. He comes across as an overly picky commitment-phobe whose vision of the ideal influences the way he treats women. He's not terrible, the movie does confront this issues to some extent, and I appreciate that he was willing to show himself this honestly, but still, I was a bit put off by him at times.

Still, this is informative and funny and nicely paced.

'MEET THE PATELS': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A comedic documentary flick; about an Indian-American actor, who's been single most of his life, that agrees to allow his traditional parents, to set him up with a potential bride (on a trip to India). The film was directed by Ravi Patel (who also stars in the movie), and his sister Geeta. Geeta also filmed most of the documentary, in really poor quality video, and her footage is mixed with comedic animated sequences too (explaining unfilmed plot points). The film is interesting, and funny; it also has a great leading man performance, in Ravi Patel.

Ravi Patel is a 29-year-old actor; who's played a lot of clichéd Indian-American 'bit parts' (in many movies). He's been single most of his life, and just broke up with his first girlfriend (Audrey Wauchope); due to a fear his parents wouldn't accept her (Audrey is an American redhead). On a trip with his family to India, he decides to allow his parents (Vasant and Chapa), to set him up with an Indian girl; in the traditional Indian family way. The film examines the concept of arranged couples, while Ravi's sister (Geeta) films the whole thing (she's also been single most of her life).

The movie is interesting, in a very comedic (but informative) way. It's also extremely personal at times; and Ravi Patel is very funny, and charming. I enjoyed the movie, quite a bit, but it's a little hard for me to believe it's all completely genuine. Like a lot of modern documentary films, the movie seems more like really creative performance art; than like watching real people (acting completely genuine), in completely real situations (it seems at least partially staged). But I love performance art, I practice it a lot myself; and I love entertaining documentary flicks, like this, too.

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