Hot Mess Holiday

This was, undoubtedly, one of the funniest made for TV movies I've seen. I haven't laughed this hard in a while. Even if you put aside what this film achieved by being the first movie led by 2 south Asian females, this was EPIC. We need more voices like these. This movie is a great example why south Asians voices need to be amplified because without voices like Melanie's and Surina's we'd be missing out on incredible gems like Hot Mess Holiday.

Didn't know what to expect. Saw a commercial for this and thought the two girls were funny so I tuned in. I'm not familiar with the Indian holiday Diwali nor as a white male can I completely identify with the issues these women are going through, but I have to say this was actually really funny. Found myself chuckling throughout - solid comedic timing of the two leads, but also the rest of the cast and cameos were hilarious. Sharp writing, great pacing. Just an enjoyable watch.

Beautiful cast, unique story line, relatable moments (aunties asking about marital status), random things thrown in that make it anything but predicable...really a cute, entertaining movie. Keep at it!

Melanie (Melanie Chandra) and Surina (Surina Jindal) are twentysomething westernized Indian best friends. Things are going wrong. It's Diwali. Melanie is coming off a bad relationship and gets pulled into a search for a $12 million blood diamond.

With the presence of Kal Penn, this reminds me of Harold & Kumar. Melanie is Harold and Surina is Kumar. They're good together. I love their chemistry. Everything else is a half step below. On a side note, I expected the ladies to be the writers or at least two of the writers. I'm not throwing shade at Sameer Gardezi who seems to be a prolific TV sitcom writer. I just want more of their voices in the words. All in all, I would like these two ladies to be a comedic team in either more of their own movies or even as side characters in other movies.

With a virtually all Indian cast and crew, every Indian trope and caricature is here. Set during Diwali (a floating holiday that occurs in late October or early November) we still see Christmas decorations. Really? And the weather is all wrong as well. It has much energy, and the two female leads are pretty (esp. Melanie, a total smoke show) but this project is mostly slapstick, with not much new in the genre. Hey, it's a fun romp, and a change from all the usual holiday films, but it's not going to be a breakout moment for our two leading ladies. Try again.