The Taqwacores 2010

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: This earnest adaptation of Michael Muhammad Knight's novel is too busy processing events to fully understand them. But director Eyad Zahra is so enthusiastic that he wins us over anyway. Read more

Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: The storytelling is so muddled and the filmmaking so unpolished - and not in a good way - that mostly this movie is just unpleasant. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Love or loathe the go-your-own-way message, you still end up with a simplistic religious reclamation folded into the celluloid equivalent of Xeroxed zine. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: The Taqwacores deepens as it plays out, and rewards viewers who stick with it through the clumsier passages. Read more

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter: The shaky narrative style and broad characterizations undo its effectiveness, though the climactic concert sequence... will possess an undeniable fascination for wide-ranging music connoisseurs. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: As a misfit-centric slap at religious conformity, the story's premise couldn't be more primed for trenchant social comedy, but screenwriter Knight and director Eyad Zahra opt for maintaining a thin veneer of tiresome obnoxiousness... Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Why anybody should care about these people is the question of the week. Read more

Sarah Cohen, Time Out: What this rough-around-the-edges but hugely likeable film lacks in budget it more than makes up for in energy, visual flair and, yes, punk spirit. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: The first sign The Taqwacores will be rough-going is when a character shows up in a burqa covered in crust-punk patches... and it's not a gag. Read more