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| The Namesake | 
 enlarge | Director: Mira Nair
Actors: Irfan Khan, Kal Penn, Jagannath Guha, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Tabu
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $0.66
You Save: $19.32 (97%)
New (55) Used (43) Collectible (1) from $0.66
Avg. Customer Rating:  73 reviews
Sales Rank: 1628
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Hindi (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 122
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 2245608
UPC: 024543456087
EAN: 0024543456087
ASIN: B000U2U0E4
Theatrical Release Date: March 9, 2007
Release Date: November 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Excellent but little-known movie December 31, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I had previously read the book of The Namesake and was very impressed with it. I found it insightful and fascinating regarding generational and cultural differences and family members' attempts to live within both worlds. After reading the book, I was convinced that someone should make a movie of it but was not aware anyone had until I mentioned this to a friend who said she had seen a movie of it, causing me then to locate a copy of it on the internet and finding it at Amazon. I highly recommend the book and the movie of same, especially since the movie does not stray from the book's storyline.
 Love is in your heart December 27, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
AT first I thougt that it had no point except to show America in a bad view but as time went on it surely had many points of view. Many good points of view. As an American woman married to an Indian man with four sons we were glad to see that love is most important. No one culture is better then another and that even thought we all wish our children to marry into our cultures whats is more important is their happiness and their respect for us their parents. Happiness is a gift. Each person will take what they need from this movie our family being mixed chose to see it as a good film with good views full circle.
 excellent movie, could change some scene December 26, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful movie and we were riveted in our seat for 2 hour non stop. The expressions and the story telling are very classy. I feel the nude scenes could have beed avoided without comprmising anything in the story, hence my 4 star rating instead of 5. That way a 10 year old could have watched the movie. The story may give a glimpse of a immigrant family who came in 70s to USA, but certainly the immigrant experience of late 90s onards are drastically different. This isa movie in which emotions, acting, family values have come out unlike Mira Nair's other movies. This is a reflection of Jhumpa Lahiti's novel masterpiece
Good Unknown Film December 26, 2007
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This movie is a great film from this year, but not really a buy unless you love the story enough to watch it over again.
 Lackluster filmmaking not worthy of the message December 25, 2007
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
There was enough interest generated in The Namesake movie during its release, I felt it was worth renting it now. The movie is about an Indian family living their lives out in America. I was disappointed by this movie.
Cinematography was annoyingly inconsistent. Some scenes gave too much space above or below the actors. Others where just simply centered on the scene itself, without much regard to where the actors actually were in the scene.
Acting was good sometimes, but shoddy at other times. Some of the scenes lost importance because the acting wasn't up to par. This one scene where the father is trying to have a conversation about life with his son didn't work at all because Kal Penn was trying so hard to be the teenage with angst that it actually distracted from the moment instead of making the moment what it was meant to be (and needed to be) for the film. I would say it was a case of overacting, but I think a better word for it is wrong-acting. Also, other scenes suffered from a lack of acting effort.
Editing was not well conceived or executed. The flashbacks of Gogol's character (Ken Penn) came off as just cheesy. Some scenes were awkwardly cut in order to hold off on that portion of the story until later in the movie. This, unfortunately, made the movie seem like it dragged on, with random spatterings of story telling.
Overall, the story felt disjointed, without much reason for why it was edited this way. The story itself meandered from point to point. There was no real main character, though it was supposed to be Gogol. Most of the movie seemed aimless. Character motivation was poorly executed. Again, Gogol's character kinda just took action that didn't really have a solid explanation. It made the character seem extremely superficial, even as he faced up to his heritage (which I am sure was an unintentional impression by the film maker). Well, either way the story wasn't well written.
The movie appeared to be a jumbled mess. I can't understand what many of the critics saw in this movie. It was a lackluster attempt to show something didn't really end up being all the important to the story (why the main character was named Gogol). This movie seemed to be an independent film for which the big studios wisely did not waste their money. I'm sure I would've cared about this movie more were I of Indian background, but even then I would have to admit it was not an example of good film making.
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