The Namesake (2007)

Gifted Indian filmmaker Mira Nair shifts focus to a subject that should interest Americans of Indian descent -- and, in truth, any immigrant eager to maintain his or her ethnic roots. Nair's The Namesake follows an Indian national (Irfan Khan) and his arranged bride (Tabu) during their first fledgling months in snowy New York, eventually transitioning into the story of their adult son (Kal Penn) coming to grips with his unusual first name. However, this one-sentence synopsis hints at why The Namesake can't achieve greatness -- it can't decide on either a main character or a main story. Nair has plenty to say about the cultural identity issues that permeate the narrative, and her usual confident filming techniques bolster her observations. But the film feels too diffuse with its variety of agendas and perspectives. The central idea -- at least, the idea that spawned the title -- is that Penn's Gogol seeks to grow into harmony with being named after Russian author Nikolai Gogol, whose book his father was clutching when he survived a train wreck back in India. But this incident doesn't have the metaphorical punch it's supposed to have. One would think the book his father was reading was somewhat random, and even then, it was a Russian author, not an Indian one, so the relevance to his Indian heritage is absent. Essentially, Gogol's identity crisis is just one of a half-dozen short stories The Namesake wants to tackle. The result is an overlong running time and a sense of exhaustion by the finish. Despite this, there is much to recommend about The Namesake, particularly Penn's decision to go arthouse after such frat-house efforts as Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide