This is a delightful and thoughtful comedy.

Two supposedly diametrically opposed worlds meet in Rochel (Zoe Lister-Jones) an orthodox Jew and Nasira (Francis Benhamou) a Muslim.

Both woman are teachers who find that as they both have to find their husbands through the arranged marriage process they have more in common with each other than the secular world.

The delight is that is is a pretty straight-up great romantic comedy - Rochel keeps being set up with the wrong guys, Nasira gets the embarrassing dinner etc; of course, the road to true love is not smooth...

It really is very funny, witty - and well acted, especially Francis Benhamou as Nasira, who is stunning and positively lights up the screen with her smile.

Just a lovely film that deserves all the play it can get, and definitely deserves to be seen by anyone who loves romantic comedies.

Warmly recommended.

Arranged (2007) was directed by Diane Crespo and Stefan C. Schaefer. (Schaefer was also the writer.) Zoe Lister Jones plays Rochel Meshenberg, a young Orthodox Jew, and Francis Benhamou play Nasira Khaldi, a young Orthodox Muslim. Both young women are new teachers in the New York City school system.

Both of these women accept their culture, in which arranged marriages are the accepted norm. Neither woman rejects the reality of arranged marriages. The problem is that the prospective partners are definitely not to their liking.

Living in the U.S. in the 21st Century exposes the women to a society in which an arranged marriage is considered an anomaly. In fact, this is the position taken by the school's well-meaning, but dismally unaware principal. (Played by Marcia Jean Kurtz.) In fact, the intrusions of Principal Jacoby are so clumsy that all she does is alienate both women, and drive them closer together. (I think Crespo and Schaefer brought her into the movie to present what they see as the feminist viewpoint. The feminist viewpoint has a place in the film, but not in the manner in which it's portrayed.)

Similarly, Rochel's visit to her non-Orthodox cousin is another clumsily portrayed view of the outside world. Women who leave the Orthodox community don't automatically gravitate to parties where everyone is drugged out.

Despite these flaws, the basic plot works well. We can believe that the women would become friends. They accept each other as faithful members of a different culture and religion, and they move on from there. They can remain friends, but only on neutral turf like the school or a park, but that's OK.

Both can remain firmly within their communities, but try to find happiness on their own terms. In order to learn how they move forward, you'll have to see the movie.

We saw this film on DVD, and it worked very well on the small screen. It was highly recommended by a knowledgeable friend. In turn, I'm recommending it to anyone reading this review. It's definitely worth seeing.

This cute little soap opera of a flick was at best a sweet harmless story of two girls living their orthodox lives in the 21st Century. The plot line carries you along through the story tricking the viewer into thinking something big will happen at the end. It's like a joke firecracker that's all fuse and no bang. At the end of the movie the fuse just flitz out and you are left with nothing.

The two girls - one orthodox Jewish the other orthodox Muslim - are portrayed as intelligent well educated young women who are teachers in a private school. They become friends through circumstance at the school. Principal Jacoby tells them in her office meeting with them that she can see their future and hints that she is willing to give them a chance to create their own lives. Otherwise their life will be decided for them by their outdated religious culture and what's the use of all their education if they are willing to be locked away by tradition. Here is the balance of the story!

The Jewish girl seems to take this to heart but soon discovers she is in no way prepared for the world beyond her front door. The Muslim girl has already decided the outside world is not for her. They both stay within the safe boundaries of their religion and reject the concept of individuality as offered to them by Principal Jacoby.

A real disappointment of a story because the ending makes the whole movie pointless. And I feel the directors Diane Crespo and Stefan C. Schaefer are just saying that religious fundamentalism is 'the way'.