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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Monsoon Wedding
USA Films


7.9

based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 45 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for language, including some sex related dialogue

Starring Naseeruddin Shah, Lillete Dubey, Shefali Shetty, Vijay Raaz, Tilotama Shome, Vasundhara Das, Parvin Dabas, and Kulbhushan Kharbanda

This exuberant ensemble comedy links the stories of far-flung family members, their servants and secret lovers as a Punjabi family in Delhi reunites for their daughter's wedding. (USA Films)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Sabrina Dhawan
DIRECTED BY:	Mira Nair
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 24, 2002 Video: September 24, 2002 Theatrical: February 22, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	114 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	India / USA / France / Italy
LANGUAGE(S):	English, Punjabi and Hindi (with English subtitles)

Golden Lion (Best Film), 2001 Venice International Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Sheer delight. An ensemble comedy-drama that recalls Robert Altman's best work.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Contains an incest story line that's disturbing but shouldn't scare people away. Nair handles the subject with such grace and sensitivity that it becomes just another element in this complex celebration of family.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The old-world-meets-new mesh is incarnated in the movie's soundtrack, a joyful effusion of disco Bollywood that, by the end of Monsoon Wedding, sent my spirit soaring out of the theater.

Time Richard Schickel

They bring their characters to good, slightly surprising, quite satisfying places. And leave us beaming happily.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Nair is not making a caricature out of Lalit or anyone else. She's inviting us into the inner recesses of her culture. And it's both pleasure and privilege to be one of her guests.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Exploding on the screen in a riot of movement, music and color.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Has an engaging warmth and an effortless sense of life. It also has an instinct for the humanity and universality of situations that are comic, romantic and quite seriously dramatic by turns.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Nair's movie, far from being paste, is a string of small, exquisite gems.

USA Today Mike Clark

Some of the movie's best scenes -- knockouts, in fact -- involve musical interludes.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Delighted me like few films I've seen recently. It's a sexy, sweet, sumptuously entertaining movie about the huge and wildly eventful wedding reception.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

One of those joyous films that leaps over national boundaries and celebrates universal human nature.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The film's bountiful warmth and gusto do their work. By the end, we feel part of the family, too.

New Times (L.A.) Jean Oppenheimer

Pulsates with music, dance, color and laughter, but also glows with quiet moments of drama.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Nair, who, in this film as in so many others, aims for the beating heart of the predictable movie moment.

Chicago Reader Joshua Rothkopf

A late radical shift in tone, from jittery exuberance to ruinous alienation, strikes an impressive contemporary note amid all the obeisance to custom.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

A sight worth seeing.

Slate David Edelstein

When the groom's enormous procession fights its way through the hard rain and muck to the bejeweled bride, Nair's chaos downright sparkles.

Newsweek David Ansen

Nair’s stereotype-shattering movie -- like the polymorphous culture it illuminates -- borrows from Bollywood, Hollywood and cinema verite, and comes up with something exuberantly its own.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Aims for pure joy and achieves it.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The beauty, vibrancy and complexity of Indian culture is on addictive display in Monsoon Wedding. If only there were more to the film.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

It's a fascinating babel, and Nair, using the unfolding ritual of the wedding as a centre point, captures the competing sights and sounds with her own unique mix of cinematic borrowings -- think Robert Altman meets Bollywood.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Ebullient, joyous film.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

With its colorful embroidery, Monsoon Wedding feels pleasurably grounded in a reality about which most Westerners haven't a clue. This may be their only engraved invitation.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

An infectious celebration of life and love.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

In the film's stronger moments, the artist in her definitely seems to be saying that the impulse to retreat into cultural fundamentalism carries dire risks, that much of what is old and traditional needs changing and there are some things about the detested process of globalization that are wonderfully liberating.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A feast for the eyes and ears as its story is a banquet for the heart.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Fans of Robert Altman's hit "Gosford Park" will find similar pleasures here: colorful characters, multiple story lines, and clever blends of comedy and drama.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Eminently disposable, but that's its charm. It stays with you just long enough to make you smile.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Punjabi weddings are notorious for their lavishness, and Nair's intoxicating soap opera revels in the sights and sounds of this clamorous family ritual.

Variety Deborah Young

Splashy, noisy and downright fun.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

Strongly infused with an unmistakably exotic Bollywood flair.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Monsoon Wedding is going to be a big art-house hit because it's one of those movies that reassures audiences that people in other countries are just like us.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The agile handling of the soap-opera elements -- conventional plotting at best -- finally makes "Wedding" a pop, facile take on Capulet versus Montague stuff, likable but square.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Gives just enough to forgive any of its initial flaws and eventually grows on you.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

A scruffy, thick-grained piece of work, shot in thirty days and scrawled not with luscious coloring but with the tense and inky markings of a society that is fighting to keep its reputation for togetherness, and wondering what that reputation is still worth. [18 & 25 Feb 2002. p. 199]

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

An air-conditioned bus tour of Punjabi ritual. Nair stuffs the film with dancing, henna, ornamentation, and group song, but her narrative clichés and telegraphed episodes smell of old soap opera.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 45 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Aby B. gave it a2:
Very predictable story line. Movie is too slow , no clear cuts... Random takes.

Jaspreet S. gave it a10:
One of the most enjoyable movies to come out of india lately. Love that Mir. Dubey.

Timothy D. gave it a10:
A kaleidoscpic blend of elements, the whole surpassing the individual parts. I can understand why parts of the story may have struck some as dog-eared, but it all fit together for me, the movie's energy and spirit (and music!) carrying me from the first frame to the last.

Lance E. gave it a 7:
It's funny how most Indian people are rating this low while non-Indians are rating it very high. I think the problem is (and it's a funny problem), that Indians have seen many movies like this, so it doesn't really stand out in their minds, but for those non-Indians who are exposed to this side of Indian culture for the first time, find it strange and exotic, and because they have seldom, if ever, been exposed to it, find it highly original, better than the average sucky movie Hollywood keeps churning out. I think it's the same thing in India; some probably prefer Hollywood movies there to Bollywood because they're bombarded with sucky Bollywood movies.

Sheetal O. gave it a 9:
The rest of the world finds it practically impossible to understand what it means to be Indian, to be caught between two worlds, two cultures, and as an Indian I can tell you that Monsoon Wedding is the only film ever made that has been able to expose the heart and soul of a beautiful, diverse subcontinent in the process of globalization. This movie gets a definite full score for projecting a realistic image of life in India. The cast and crew have done a fabulous job, and kudos to Shefali Shetty and Naseeruddin Shah for roles played to perfection. Mira Nair is definitely something else and this film deserves every bit of hype it has received. Oh yeah, and the P.K Dubey-Alice affair has got to be one of the most adorable love stories around!!!

Pam C. gave it a 10:
This is a sumptuous, wonderful movie with full characters that draw us into their stories. It is simply told with a light heartedness, tenderness and integrity seldom portrayed. It made my laugh, cry, smile and took my breath away with its beauty.

Sonia M. gave it a 6:
I dont see what the big deal was about this movie. there are other bollywood movies with much better actors/actresses. this thing was slow and boring...

Monsoon Wedding USA Films

Monsoon Wedding
USA Films