No Good Men

This is a contemporary romance and the kind of film that tells you things about Afghanistan that aren’t covered in our own nightly news.

Much of the comedy appears to have been lost along the wayside in a movie that’s inarguably well-intentioned, even admirable, but struggles to pin down exactly what it wants to be beyond that.

No Good Men feels all the more textured and vitally of its moment for its flaws and lapses. It has the unfakeable air of a film made in genuinely urgent circumstances, which makes its emotional surges feel hard-earned.

No Good Men is a brave and intelligent stab at the patriarchal society of Afghanistan, but a muddled story lessens its impacts.