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The Infidel (2010)

Director: Josh Appignanesi

Time Out rating

Average user rating

18 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

There is a truly great comedy to be made about religion in modern Britain: the infighting, the backbiting, the doublethink and grandstanding, and of course the ordinary, everyday believers caught in the middle. Close-to-the-bone identity-swap tale ‘The Infidel’ is not that film – but it comes damn close.

Stand-up comic Omid Djalili is Mahmud, a settled, non-practising Muslim family man whose life flips over when he discovers that not only was he adopted, but that his birth parents were orthodox Jews. Eager to learn more about his heritage, Mahmud turns to grouchy Jewish-American cab driver Lenny (Richard Schiff) for guidance.

‘The Infidel’ starts wonderfully, introducing us to a cast of carefully constructed stereotypes and then just as carefully it undermines them. Mahmud and Lenny are a terrific odd couple: there’s a real bromantic spark between Djalili and Schiff, both of whom clearly relish the opportunity to tackle taboo subjects headon. David Baddiel’s script is sharp, wise and very funny, and never flinches from exposing the hypocrisy and power games that fuel religious intolerance.

But the film struggles to maintain this high standard. An intriguing but underdeveloped subplot concerning the marriage of Mahmud’s son to the adopted daughter of a fundamentalist preacher begins to take over, pushing poor Lenny into the background and breaking up the perfectly pitched buddy dynamic that fuelled the earlier scenes. And gradually, inevitably, it drifts into worthiness: Baddiel doesn’t just want us to laugh, he wants us to learn. And here lies the film’s downfall, as what began as a smart, challenging exercise in boundary pushing becomes just another sentimental life lesson.

Author: Tom Huddleston

Time Out London Issue 2068, 8-14 April, 2010

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User reviews of this film

John Fisher said...

Posted on May 23 2011 03:06 It amazes me how Baddiel continues to turn out pointless, unfunny drivel and get away with it...this movie stinks, not one laugh, learnt nothing, pointless....ugh.

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Eddy Jawed said...

Posted on Sep 05 2010 05:15 @Sanjeev Bhaskar,
You only wrote such a rubbish review because you are upset that Baddiel never picked you over Omed for the title role of this film. The fact is though, Omed is a lot better a comedian and much better looking ...so get over it.

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David V. said...

Posted on Aug 23 2010 18:41 Excellent,funny movie covering some important issues of today. Omid is superb as an actor/comedian.
Wonderful script. More pleas

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barbara pears said...

Posted on Aug 10 2010 19:34 Can't seem to find a cinema that is showing this film.
Can anyone help.

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Beth said...

Posted on Jun 01 2010 03:38 I laughed a lot. I loved the scene where he learns his birthname. Not too heavy but I liked more than most.

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Sanjeev Bhaskar said...

Posted on May 17 2010 19:28 Why is it that the liberal press always try to support rubbish just because it is sending out the 'right political message?
This film was super crap. It was written badly. Directed really badly. Long static shots of conversation all the way through.Rubbish jokes. What a waste of time.
Why didn't you all slag it off like you did with that Film 'It's a wonderful afterlife'. It ruined my career but I'm not complaining.... I'm not bitter. Of course I was doing Goodness Gracious Me some years ago and I even blagged a gig with that old Monty Python lot - they used to be funny once... a bit like me.
Now I'm Roger the Splodger on 'Grandpa in my Pocket'. Life is shite - just like this film. Bah Humbug!

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jules said...

Posted on Apr 30 2010 19:47 good fun , film without pretention.

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Ilham said...

Posted on Apr 28 2010 11:56 Apart from the portrayel of an odd couple - I found the film to be a good laugh - Well done Omid Djalili :)

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Paul said...

Posted on Apr 16 2010 13:20 It was a pretty funny film, and the Djalili/Schiff relationship worked well. The film did lose its way somewhat towards the end, but at no point did I feel it was offensive to anyone's faith, be they Muslims, Jews or whatever. If anything, the film tried a little too hard NOT to be offensive and controversial.

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Reza Mousavi said...

Posted on Apr 14 2010 13:06 Its funny and surely not offensive. You just need to know a bit of both muslim and jewish religion to realise how good the fim was done. I recommend it

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GW said...

Posted on Apr 13 2010 10:35 the infidel is funny and it comes from a place of love, we need to understand that some people do not understand the religion they follow. As for the Comments contained in "nobody says'" post I am afraid of Islam because if you live in Iran and you are part of the religion I am part of you can be imprisoned tortured or executed - so yes some facets of Islam are firghtening. the purpose of Islam is submission to the will of God which does not include killing anyone. the vast majority of muslims understand this which is good,

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David said...

Posted on Apr 12 2010 17:37 Offensive or not, it was one of the worst films ive ever seen. For that there should be a law! Both story and structure in this poorly shot film seemingly were never checked once during its production. Unfunny at best, offensively bad and a waste of 2hrs at worst.

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Raph said...

Posted on Apr 12 2010 17:28 The only offensive thing about this film is how badly made and unfunny it is.

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Nobody said...

Posted on Apr 12 2010 13:42 Islamaphobia is rife, weak minded people who want to offend others when the law allow them, but dont they themselves have standards, morals, just look at the MOD using mosques as practise targets, name me one incident where muslims have offended any prophet or joked about them or their followers, THEY DONT because they except all faiths for being from the same Lord and all prophets were the messengers of god, Insulting any of them would be insulting themselves.
Mohammed, Moses,Jesus,Jacob,Enoch,Daniel, were amongst others the prophets of god, so dont insult each other offending one is offending all SAME message.

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Paul said...

Posted on Apr 11 2010 15:34 With reference to Sarah's comments below - The "film makers" (ie Producers) as she puts it are actually Muslim. Only writer & director's were Jewish.
It's just a film - unclench!

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