Jalla! Jalla!

2001

Jalla! Jalla!

Critics Consensus

No consensus yet.

Jalla! Jalla! Photos

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Movie Info

Twenty-four-year-old Josef Fares make his directorial debut with this wild and wooly culture clash about impotence and arranged marriages. Roro (Fares Fares) and Måns (Torkel Petersson) are longtime buddies with very different problems. The son of Lebanese immigrants, Roro is utterly in love with his Swedish girlfriend Lisa, though he is afraid to tell his traditionally minded parents about her for fear of a family brouhaha. Everything is going swimmingly until his parents suddenly announce that they have arranged a marriage for him. Måns, on the other hand, can't remember the last time he had sex with his with his girlfriend and he has come to believe that he is impotent. Meanwhile, Yasmin -- Roro's would be bride -- is clearly as uninterested in him as he is in her, but she's afraid of telling the truth to her bullying brother who's fanatical about seeing her married. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival.

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Art House & International, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Directed By:

Josef Fares
Written By:

Josef Fares
In Theaters:

Oct 17, 2001 limited
Runtime:

88 minutes
Studio:

Sonet Film

Cast

Fares Fares
as Roro

Torkel Petersson
as Måns

Tuva Novotny
as Lisa

Laleh Pourkarim
as Yasmin

Leonard Terfelt
as Paul

Sofi Ahlström Helleday
as Jenny

Jan Fares
as Farsan

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Critic Reviews for Jalla! Jalla!

All Critics (9) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (4)

It's a first feature from a young director, and still has a bit of film-school gawkiness about it. But there's talent here, and probably better films to come.

May 3, 2002 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

Ray Conlogue
Globe and Mail
Top Critic
A warm, sweet Swedish romantic comedy about culture shock in Scandanavia.

Jun 21, 2007 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Jason Gorber
Film Scouts
Or, as more than a few IMDB reviewers have hinted: My Big Fat Swedish Wedding.

Jul 18, 2004 | Full Review…

Eric Henderson
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Unlike many broad comedies, Jalla! Jalla! has real affection for its characters and that makes it a winner.

Jul 15, 2004 | Rating: 3/4

Chris Hewitt
St. Paul Pioneer Press
A warm and funny buddy movie about relationships, sex and weddings - in that order. The performances are wonderful, and are played as straight as an arrow.

Nov 16, 2002 | Full Review…

Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
While the meandering story is coherently told, it labours under a dual storyline that tells completely different stories until they're tied together fairly unconvincingly at the end.

May 4, 2002 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Derek Tse
Jam! Movies
Full of some great physical comedy work from Torkel Petersson

Apr 26, 2002

Jon Popick
Planet S Magazine
Fares' debut combines rude energy and often ruder humour in a tale of culture clashes and sexual crises that's none too profound, but still good fun.

Feb 6, 2002 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Jason Anderson
eye WEEKLY

View All Critic Reviews (9)

Audience Reviews for Jalla! Jalla!

Nov 18, 2007

A young man thinks he's found the girl of his dreams, until he learns that his father has different ideas in this fast-paced Swedish comedy. Roro (Fares Fares) is the teenaged son of a Lebanese expatriate living in Sweden; Roro has a job as a park attendant where he minds the grounds with Måns (Torkel Petersson). One day while working, Roro meets a pretty girl named Lisa (Tuva Novotny). They talk, and before long, a romance has blossomed between them. But Roro's father (Jan Fares) wants his son to marry a nice Lebanese girl, and before Roro can work up the courage to tell his father about Lisa, he learns that he has been pledged to marry fellow immigrant Yasmin (Laleh Pourkarim). Yasmin is no more enthusiastic about this idea than Roro, but they both feel they have to play along for the sake of their families. However, Yasmin quickly becomes fond of Roro, and she's crushed when Roro introduces her to Lisa as his cousin; Lisa is just as devastated when she learns the truth about Roro's relationship with Yasmin. Måns, meanwhile, is having problems of his own -- he's suddenly become impotent, and as he and his girlfriend, Jenny (Sofi Ahlström Helleday), try an increasingly elaborate variety of sexual gymnastics in hopes of restoring Måns' virility, they start to wonder if their relationship can survive the ordeal.

Martin D Super Reviewer
Sep 30, 2006

i'm really digging josef fares' style. benny from kops is pretty hilarious again this time with "kuk" problems. i guess it's a romantic comedy, a style that i'm not really into at all but fares fares and torkel and tuva really pull off great performances.

steve c Super Reviewer