'Towelhead' review

Summer Bishil in "Towelhead" (Credit: Warner Independent)

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During the Gulf War, 13-year-old Lebanese-American Jazeera (Summer Bishil) leaves her mom (Maria Bello) in New York to live in Houston with her strict dad (Peter Macdissi), so she can learn the proper way to act around men. That becomes difficult when she receives physical advances from her army reservist neighbor (Aaron Eckhart), racial slurs from his son and sexual interest from an African-American classmate, of whom Jazeera's father disapproves because of his skin color.

Big question: Can writer Alan Ball ("Six Feet Under"), adapting Alica Erian's novel in his feature directorial debut, explore the suburbs’ dark side with the same spice as he did in "American Beauty"?

Skip it: Though offering a similar set-up (and the same composer) as "American Beauty," "Towelhead" isn't nearly as crisp, both in its vaguely drawn characters or its ugly washed-out visual style. The movie actually says and achieves very little: It doesn't break down racism or challenge stereotypes about body image—and its time period seems arbitrary when an updated, present-day story of racial tension and fear during wartime would be much more useful.

Catch it: The movie generally resists judging its characters. Macdissi is very good at balancing a father's overprotectiveness and neediness, and Bishil's fearless—though arguably unrevealing—performance depicts the tough decisions a child deprived of parental guidance and support is forced to make. Both are more valuable than the movie’s message about prejudice in the South. Ya don't say!

Bottom line: Ball writes with such self-importance that you may be fooled into thinking suburbia is being analyzed rather than generalized, as "Towelhead" deals in extremes that toe the line of provocation without questioning the line itself. It will give you lots to discuss without necessarily contributing much to the conversation.

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