There are times when it's truly satisfying that a movie keeps dodging expectations. And then there are times when you wish it would just decide what the hell it wants to be. Cherien Dabis wrote, directed and stars as the titular May, the American-raised daughter of a Palestinian woman (Hiam Abbas) and American diplomat (Bill Pullman) visiting Jordan to plan her wedding—a wedding, it turns out, about which she has serious reservations. Dabis spins the story off in a dozen different directions, from the antagonism of May's Christian mother towards her daughter's marriage to a Muslim, to the relationship between the sisters, to the emotional fallout resulting from May's parents' divorce. She keeps the characters' interactions spiky and unpredictable, which would be intriguing if those characters felt more compelling, or if the tone didn't bounce between strident melodrama and goofy farce. Weirdest of all, one of the most obvious punch lines is immediately followed by the sound of a passing jet, bringing the region's volatility suddenly to the forefront. Yet it's also as if Dabis is tacitly admitting that none of the stuff going on in this story is really all that important in the big picture. (Scott Renshaw)
