Socially aware drama fails to hit the mark

Anita and Me

Director: Metin Huseyin

Cast: Chandeep Uppal, Anna Brewster, Lynn Redgrave, Kathy Burke, Max Beesley, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Ayesha Dharker

Cert: 15PG.

Actress and writer Meera Syal's novel about an Indian family living in the English Midlands in the l970s comes to the screen ... with nothing much to commend it.

It has all been seen before. The central character, the 'me' of the title, is Meena, a young girl, who is much taken by her neighbour, Anita, another teen (Brewster).

The film's theme, if it exists at all, is about cultural differences, but this film manages not to dig any deeper than a surface scratch to give them a serious examination.

There is, as a result, the feeling that the film has no clearly-defined structure of plot, no deep feeling for the characters. It is merely a random collection of scenes cobbled together. There might be issues involved - race, family pressures, personal obsessions, cultural differences - but they are not allowed to get in the way of as bland a film as has ever been made.

Star Rating: 1/5