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The Namesake

Critic's Pick Critics' Pick

(No longer in theaters)
  • Rating: PG-13 — for sexuality/nudity, a scene of drug use, some disturbing images and brief language
  • Director: Mira Nair   Cast: Jagannath Guha, Kal Penn, Zuleikha Robinson, Irrfan Khan, Tabu
  • Running Time: 122 minutes
  • Reader Rating:

    8 out of 10

      |  

    1 Reviews | Write a Review

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Genre

Drama

Producer

Lydia Pilcher

Distributor

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Release Date

Mar 16, 2007

Release Notes

Limited

Official Website

Review

Stoner extraordinaire Kal Penn earns a new reputation for himself in Mira Nair’s wonderful adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel. Nair’s lush visual sensibility and intimate touch with family history is on display—but Penn grounds it all with shrugs and wry commentary as an Indian-American who retraces his family’s history. This is a major, thoroughly believable performance, and its seriousness is only amplified by Penn’s light comic touch.

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