Humor is abundant throughout the film and the jokes never feel forced as it comes organically. As such, serious kudos to the cinematographer Patrice Lucien Cochet, production designer Michael Fitzgerald, and costume designer Justine Seymour. Each three aspects are so fully realized in such a vibrant manner that one can describe this film as Lena Khan’s homage to Wes Anderson films while still making her own unique stamp on it. The set design, costumes, and cinematography all deserve a mention as they are done so well that they might as well be characters for this film. Special note must be given that it is refreshing to see the “best friend role” be not a person of color but be played by the white person instead and for a romantic film that has an Asian man/woman as the lead, the romantic interest is NOT a white individual. And shine Pudi does as he effortlessly anchors the film with his unwavering positive charm and earnestness.īut the main lead can’t hold the film all by himself and it is here the surrounding cast does a tremendous job in holding their own weight from Rizwan Manji as the bumbling yet loveable Babu, Jon Heder as Alex Womack, a slacker yet supportive best friend, and Karen David as the absolutely radiant Ruby, who takes command of the scenes that she is present in. When Sami’s job falls through, he takes a low-end job and joins with a gang of oddball friends in hopes of convincing his childhood sweetheart that he’s far more successful than he truly is… or perhaps ever could be.Ī timely and topical comedy that captures a young immigrant’s pursuit for success, love and the American dream with humor and heart, The Tiger Hunter is a charming comedy bolstered by vibrant storytelling and an endearing comic spirit.įor starters, it is a sheer joy to see Danny Pudi take the center stage as a romantic leading man and similar to another film about a South Asian with Kumail Nunjani in The Big Sick, it shows the untapped range these South Asian comedic actors can show when given the chance to truly shine. Set in the 1970s, The Tiger Hunter is the story of Sami Malik, a young Indian man who travels to America to become an engineer in order to impress his childhood crush and live up to the legacy of his father - a legendary tiger hunter - back home. The Tiger Hunter is one of the most delightful comedies I’ve seen in quite some time. It’s also one of the best films about the Asian immigrant experience, one that doesn’t mock or ridicule the immigrants but rather honors them for the sacrifices they made to achieve the American dream. These are some mighty high praises and now expectations but I’ll go into detail why this charming indie film starring Danny Pudi and Karen David deserves your attention after a brief synopsis of what this film is all about: Immigrant stories certainly don't demand tragedy to be legitimate, but The Tiger Hunter, with its pastiche of fish-out-of-water comedy and pointy collared shirts, ultimately feels weightless.I’ve been waiting for over a year to say this since I first saw it at the LA Asian Film Festival last May: We don't get much in the way of Sami's psychology his father (the tiger hunter), died when he was young, and the flashbacks to Sami's childhood seem to come from a different movie, one that might focus more on hero worship and self-actualization and present a more unique perspective than this rather watered-down portrait of the immigrant experience.
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The men work together to figure out how to engineer a microwave (yet another reminder that it's the 70s), impressing Sami's boss at the company where he works as a lowly draughtsman. At a fountain, where Sami offers a bit of pointed social commentary in his observation that Americans are casually willing to throw money away, he meets another immigrant and moves in with him and his affable roommates - who all share a single bed. The film follows a familiar plot: Sami (Danny Pudi) tries to make it in America and experiences culture shock, but everything works out pretty much okay. The outfits look straight out of a cheap 70s Halloween costume kit, but the colors onscreen are too bright and digital to feel period appropriate, and when a character mentions The Dukes of Hazard it doesn't do much more than elicit a small nod of recognition. The Tiger Hunter, a 1979-set drama about a young aspiring engineer who emigrates to Chicago from India, relies too heavily on cutesy, perfunctory period references. It's a shame, then, when such stories are told in a predictable fashion. Stories of immigrant life are more important than ever.
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