Do you want to see ‘I Can't Think Straight’?

I Can't Think Straight (2008)

tomatometer

All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 3.7/10
Reviews Counted: 31
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 27

No consensus yet.

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

No consensus yet.

audience

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

My Rating

Added to your Facebook Timeline. — undo

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 fianc�. 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

Directed By: Shamim Sarif

In Theaters: Jun 1, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Feb 9, 2010

Regent Releasing/here! Films

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

Susan Walker

Toronto Star

Top 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

Jeannette Catsoulis

New York Times

Top 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

Top Critic

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

Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

Top 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

Liam Lacey

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

Every image seems to have been Scotchgarded.

November 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Village Voice

| Comment

Jim Ridley

Village Voice

Top 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

Amber Wilkinson

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

Edward Porter

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

Philip French

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

Rich Cline

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

Jon Williams

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

Sarah Cohen

Time Out

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

Holly Grigg-Spall

Film4

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

Wendy Ide

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

Peter Bradshaw

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

Tim Evans

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

Josh Winning

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

Allan Hunter

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

Matthew Turner

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

Victor Olliver

Teletext

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

December 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Oregonian

| Comment

Stan Hall

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

David Noh

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

Tim Cogshell

Boxoffice Magazine

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for I Can't Think Straight

View All

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

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