West Is West

An ingratiating student arrives in San Francisco from Bombay, only to find his ambitions blocked at every turn: his sponsors are out of town; the University of California won't admit him; the Department of Immigration is on his heels; and the only accommodations he can afford are in a Tenderloin flop-house run by a tough, no-nonsense Indian matron out to match her new tenant with an unmarried niece. Appealing characters and an uncomplicated story make it an agreeable (if not exactly memorable) film, but there isn't much shock to video-maker David Rathod's culture shock comedy. The young hero adjusts far too quickly to his difficult circumstances, and his offbeat romance with a local garage band groupie is more convenient than convincing. An enthusiastic effort by the cast and crew can't help the film from being too modest for its own good, with Rathod's Anglo-Indian perspective showing more credibility than his urban American setting.