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I Can't Think Straight (2008)

tomatometer

14

Average Rating: 3.7/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 6

No consensus yet.

audience

58

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 36,158

My Rating

Movie Info

Shamim Sarif's autobiographical novel serves as the inspiration for this film directed by the author, and concerning two women from deeply diverse backgrounds who discover that the love between them is too powerful to deny. Tala (Lisa Ray) is a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian descent. She's a spirited Christian in the midst of planning her wedding to her handsome Jordanian fiancé. Leyla (Sheetal Sheth) is a shy Muslim who's currently dating Leyla's best friend, Ali. Brought together by

R, 1 hr. 20 min.

Drama, Romance

Feb 9, 2010

Regent Releasing/here! Films

Cast

All Critics (32) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (4) | Rotten (27)

Buildings and their interiors fare a lot better in this sumptuously lensed and set-designed film. That's because they don't have to talk or act.

November 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Plugging the same two actresses into different Sapphic scenarios may be a valid filmmaking strategy but it can be an extremely boring one.

November 21, 2008 Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Hw do they tell their boyfriends and parents that they're gay? Conventionally, that's how.

November 21, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Post | Comment
New York Post
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In exploring the eternal conflict between love and duty in a fresh, provocative way, Sarif demonstrates that she is a filmmaker of exceptional promise.

November 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Although she has made two films in rapid succession, Sarif shows no discernible aptitude for her new medium.

November 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Every image seems to have been Scotchgarded.

November 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If the plot is cheese, it never rises above the level of a Dairylea triangle

April 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Eye for Film | Comment
Eye for Film

She is still some way short of making a movie that deserves a ticket-buying audience.

April 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | Comment
Sunday Times (UK)

Both films are politically daring as well as what used to be called risque. Neither, I'm afraid, is well directed or acted.

April 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | Comment
Observer [UK]

The director struggles to inject much energy or spark into the story. Which is frustrating for a premise with this much potential.

April 7, 2009 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | Comment
Shadows on the Wall

It's such a mish-mash of terrible ideas next to sincere and affecting themes that it never really works and repeatedly sabotages any recommendation.

April 3, 2009 Comment
Little White Lies

From the wince-inducing title onwards, the script is laughably bad, especially when it attempts seriousnes.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

A should-have-been straight-to-DVD film that ticks enough boxes to make its cinema release an example of affirmative action.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

I Can't Think Straight, a glossy contemporary cross-cultural romance between a Palestinian Christian girl and an Anglo-Indian Muslim girl, is spectacularly dreadful.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Times [UK] | Comment
Times [UK]

Frankly this looks more like Dynasty, with some very broad, soapy acting, coy sex scenes and some airily conspicuous wealth.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

This one's got it's heart in the right place...but little else to recommend it.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Sky Movies | Comment
Sky Movies

Deep stuff, then, but imbued with all the weight of a prawn cracker. Its explosive coming-out scene can't compensate for car crash acting. Sadly, great sounding drivel is still drivel.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

Writer-director Shamim Sarif can't seem to make up her mind whether she is making a comedy or a serious point about Muslim attitudes to lesbianism. And so she ends up with a fluffy mess.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Sun Online | Comment
Sun Online

Lisa Ray provides the one spark of life in an otherwise drab, graceless production that appears to be set in the Eighties and has the feel of a bad Jilly Cooper novel.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Daily Express | Comment
Daily Express

This lesbian love story is never less than watchable, thanks to a captivating central performance by Lisa Ray, though the script and direction leave a lot to be desired.

April 2, 2009 Full Review Source: ViewLondon | Comment
ViewLondon

It's all very sex-lite - one character even does what Eamonn Holmes did last year, confusing lesbian with Lebanese.

April 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Teletext | Comment
Teletext

Glossy and lacking depth as it trivializes every subject it touches.

December 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Oregonian | Comment
Oregonian

Lipstick lesbianism among Muslims is the theme of this unfortunately blown chance to say something real and new. Shamim Sarif's film as fluffily lightweight as Deepa Mehta's Fire was dark and dire.

November 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

This is a tasteful, romantic lesbian flick, and neither romance nor taste is a substitute for hot naked lesbians getting it on.

November 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | Comment
Boxoffice Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for I Can't Think Straight

A fascinating movie that centralizes on the companionship and budding romance between two women. Tala and Leyla are first introduced to each other during a visit, and the two instantly connect. They begin spending more time together, and attraction motivates these two when they decide to take a trip together where

March 4, 2008
ileo
Leo L

Super Reviewer

Funny, heartwarming and downright sexy. Yes, technically this would probably not entirely deserve 5 stars (the dialogue seemed a bit forced at times, the low budget shone through very occasionally), but I had so much fun, I loved the chemistry between the actresses and this was more than just a romantic comedy. The

September 17, 2008
InaHH

Super Reviewer

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