Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
A couple marries for the wrong reasons; language, drinking.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Honeymoonish
What's the Story?
HONEYMOONISH posits the unbelievable worry that if two unrelated babies are breast-fed multiple times by the same woman, they are, in this culture, deemed siblings and should never marry. One of the babies, Noor (Nour Al Ghandour), needs to find a groom quick, not so much to marry but to make Youssef, the guy who just dumped her and married someone else, jealous. Hamad (Mahmoud Bashahri) is the son of wealthy industrialist. His reasons for quick marriage are just as bad. Dad will not promote Hamad or support his business ventures unless he finds a woman, marries her, and gets her pregnant within one month. Hamad finds Noor and marries her within the allotted time. Will Noor and Hamad fall in love?
Is It Any Good?
It's difficult to come up with a single reason Honeymoonish got made. It's a romcom with neither believable rom nor discernible com. The list of implausiblities showcased here is too long and tedious to detail, but no father would insist his son find a woman, get married, and get her pregnant within only a month or risk losing his inheritance. And different cultures may have their quirks, but would anyone in 2024 really worry he's married his "sister" just because she might possibly have been breast-fed by his mother? And if a woman takes Viagra, it's not her desire to do jumping jacks that would increase.
The movie ends sweetly, as if none of the above happened. As is often the case with low-quality romcoms, the annoying and irrational characters who have done stupid things to antagonize each other in the earlier part of the movie suddenly undergo personality transplants at the end. With no indication of how that transformation occurred in either of them, the warring parties become reasonable, nice, and so perfectly suited for one another that you actually root for them to be together in happily-ever-afterness.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how difficult it is to find someone to marry. Since this is not a marriage arranged by the family, how does the movie make the quick marriage seem believable?
How much do you think differences between Kuwaiti and American cultures might play in our understanding of the events portrayed here?
Do you think Hamad and Noor are good people? What qualities do they display that would make you questions their motives and decency?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : April 29, 2024
- Cast : Nour Al Ghandour , Mahmoud Boushahri , Ascia Al Faraj
- Director : Elie Semaan
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Comedy
- Run time : 100 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : May 3, 2024
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