Infidel makers missed an opportunity

The Infidel

(Cert 15, 100 mins, Comedy)

Doting husband Mahmud Nasir (Omid Djalili) is not the most observant Muslim but he is fiercely proud of his family, including wife Saamiya (Archie Panjabi) and son Rachid (Amit Shah), who is poised to marry Uzma (Soraya Radford), the daughter of a radical, hook-handed Islamic cleric (Igal Naor).

Searching through his late mother’s belongings, Mahmud discovers a nasty surprise on his birth certificate: his birth name was Solly Shimsillewitz and — horror upon horrors — his parents were Jewish.

Mahmud solicits advice from Jewish cab driver, Lenny Goldberg (Richard Schiff), who helps the confused father to swap his Koran for the Torah and to come to terms with his past.

The Infidel is a missed opportunity. David Baddiel is a skilful writer and could have exposed the prejudices and ignorance of multi-cultural Britain with coruscating observations that cut to the funny bone.

Instead, he mires bumbling Mahmud at the centre of a lifeless narrative and then strains credibility with a subplot about the fate of a long lost 1980s electro-pop singer.

There’s no energy to Josh Appignanesi’s direction.

He relies completely on likeable leading man Djalili to wring laughs out of thin air.

You won’t be the only one crying “Oi vey” at home, despairing how slowly 100 joyless minutes can pass.

Rating: **