Review: 'Polite Society' mixes sisterly drama with martial-arts comedy for a brilliant wedding satire

Here are two genres I would never have thought to combine: A sisterly wedding jealousy drama and a raucous martial-arts comedy. But writer-director Nida Manzoor melds the two with hilarious and heart-warming results in “Polite Society.”

Ria Khan (Priya Kansara), at 17, has dreams of becoming a stuntwoman. She records YouTube videos of her practice sessions, but she’s yet to master the flying spin kick done by her role model, real-live stuntwoman Eunice Huthart (who doubled for Angelina Jolie on “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and “Salt”).

It’s hard to get her teachers, or her proper Pakistani parents, to take Ria’s stunt aspirations seriously — and her moves sometimes get her harassed by her school bully, Kovacs (Shona Babayemi). The one person who does believe in Ria is her older sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), an art-school dropout who’s been depressed lately about her lack of career success.

When their mom (Show Kapoor) takes the sisters to an Eid party thrown by the wealthy Shah family, it’s clear that the event is an effort to match up the Shah’s geneticist son, Salim (Akshay Khan), with a potential bride. Then Lena starts dating Salim, and Ria becomes suspicious of Salim and his imperious mother, Raheela (Nimra Bucha). When Lena and Salim get engaged, Ria decides it’s her mission to stop the wedding — using her martial-arts skills and the help of her school chums, Clara (Seraphina Beh) and Alba (Ella Bruccoleri).

Manzoor — who created the Peacock series “We Are Lady Parts,” about an all-female Muslim punk band — gets quite specific about the rituals and other details of England’s Pakistani immigrant community. But that doesn’t matter, because overbearing mothers of the groom and jealous sisters of the bride are universal constants. Manzoor deftly works the gap between heartfelt sisterly conflict and comedic high-kicking action, and it’s to the movie’s credit that you never know exactly how seriously to take what’s happening.

The lead performers are a delight. Arya, who’s familiar to fans of “The Umbrella Academy,” is charming as Lena, getting swept off her feet by the handsome Salim. And Kansara (who appeared in two episodes of “Bridgerton”) is a real discovery, a bundle of energy who delivers one-liners and karate kicks with equal power.

It’s easy to want to overpraise “Polite Society,” because of Kansara and Arya’s chemistry and the audacity of Manzoor’s storytelling. But I think it earns a place next to John Carpenter’s “Big Trouble in Little China” and Jackie Chan’s “The Legend of Drunken Master” as masterful blends of comedy and martial arts.

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‘Polite Society’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, April 28, in theaters. Rated PG-13 for strong language, violence, sexual material, and some partial nudity. Running time: 103 minutes.