Appropriate Behavior

2015 "Being without a cliché to hold onto can be a lonely experience."
6.5| 1h30m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 14 March 2015 Released
Producted By: Parkville Pictures
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Shirin is struggling to become an ideal Persian daughter, politically correct bisexual and hip young Brooklynite but fails miserably in her attempt at all identities.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Romance

Watch Online

Appropriate Behavior (2015) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Desiree Akhavan

Production Companies

Parkville Pictures

Appropriate Behavior Videos and Images

Appropriate Behavior Audience Reviews

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation
Winifred The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.
Irishchatter I decide to watch this on Putlocker because I felt like watching a proper bisexual movie. I very much liked Desiree Akhavan as Shirin, she appears to have a very social lifestyle and she is quite upbeat. However, I would like this character to be more involved with her hobbies and interests. To me, all she ever does is drink, have sex with strangers and be at parties. That doesn't seem like a good life to have for an ordinary woman like herself. Right, we all like to go out and have fun but it's important to be distracted at the same time by doing other stuff for yourself! I wouldn't ever call this a bad film I have ever saw but I think Desiree Akhavan should've really added in more personality while she was developing her character.
SnoopyStyle In Brooklyn, Shirin is lost after breaking up with her girlfriend Maxine. She's got a Masters in journalism but no job. Her Persian family doesn't know about her bisexuality. Her brother is annoyingly successful. Her boy-crazy friend Crystal recommends her to Ken (Scott Adsit) for a job teaching movie-making to kids but it turns out to be more like daycare. There are constant flashbacks to her relationship with Maxine as she tries to move on with other people.At its heart, the movie is the traditional single-gal-in-the-city. Desiree Akhavan infuses it with a little bit of a Persian family and bisexuality which keeps it fresh. Her writing is pretty good especially for her theatrical debut. There are a couple of really good laughs. Buying a bra scene is really funny with Crystal's reactions. I also love her mother's reaction to her coming out. Desiree's acting is pretty good but not great. Overall, this is a nice little angsty indie and hopefully this is the start of an interesting new voice.
runamokprods I make an effort not to know too much about a film before I see it. That helps me have an experience less tainted by expectations, but it can also lead me to silly snap judgments that are dead wrong. After a few minutes I'd decided that Desiree Akhavan's Appropriate Behavior was just another in a long string of low budget 20- something self-involved dramedies I've seen in the last couple of years. But by the end I realized that Akhavan had taken that trope, and run her own unique and very funny spin on it. And the humor was a big part of what made it special. This movie was flat out funny. It wasn't afraid of being absurd or larger than life, or actively witty. It was intensely human and touching at times, but it also had great comic timing. In that respect Ahkavan's cinematic view of life and relationships in New York has more in common with Woody Allen circa Annie Hall and Manhattan than most mumblecore we've grown used to. She also created a unusually lovable (if self-sabotaging) main character for herself in Shirin; a bi-sexual young Iranian woman still in the closet to her parents, and attempting to recover from a painful breakup. Shirin doesn't really fit in anywhere. Because she's bi, lesbians (including the woman who broke her heart) view her with suspicion, assuming she's 'just visiting' relationships with women. Her parents keep waiting for her to meet a nice boy. She feels estranged from the Iranian-American culture she grew up with, but she's not as self-consciously hip and cool as the hipster poseurs she's surrounded by. And she has a knack for making some comic but awful life decisions, from a painfully failed threesome, to a gig teaching film-making to disinterested 5 year olds. This is a rueful and smart film about how screwed up and alone we all are… and yet how sweet life is in it's sad and silly way. It's an impressive calling card for Akhavan, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next.Follow up -- I saw this again, sharing it with some friends, and found it only grew on me. I was even more touched by the sweet heart at the middle of the comedy.
jax1492 The movie is a bit different from the normal fish out of water movies, because Shirin is so confused that its all about self loathing.The film promotes being gay as something we should feel so bad for it would seem, but the problem is Shirin is so shallow and unlikable, you forget she is gay or Iranian or whatever, and just don't really care at all.the tag line is about how Shirin doesn't want to be a cliché, well ... she failed cause its nothing more than a bitter, hipster, lesbian, self race hating character ... don't see this film, its not funny or redeeming.