User reviews

Having friends for Dinner is generally a good idea. Laying all the cards on the table (relationship wise) and hoping the secrets each individual is holding back will not "ruin" the party ... well that is just plain ridiculous. And not thought through one might add.

Having said that and if you can suspend your disbelief and work with the cliches we are presented, the actors are doing their best. We have some lighter moments, but also a lot of darker moments, that overshadow a lot. Depending on your mood and how you will take and interpret things ... well every end is a beginning. And every beginning is an ... end? Not sure about that one. Anyway, be prepared for a lot of dialog and a lot of "exposure" (not physical that is)...

Really good flow of event's fun full of secrets it captivates you plus really good acting i would say hands down its mona zaki best performance to date.

I loved the original movie, but I was a little disappointed in this version, copying and pasting the same script isn't a good idea when the cultures differ, it would have been more creative to add a little originality to the script. Aside from that the actors did a great job.. enjoyable movie.

Written by - Mohamed Badr:

On January 20, 2022, the Netflix platform, an American entertainment company specialized in providing live streaming and video-on-demand services, launched its first original production in the Middle East, which is the film "Friends and Friends."

The film stars: Mona Zaki, Iyad Nassar, Adel Karam, Diaman Abu Aboud, Fouad Yammine, all of them with George Khabbaz, Nadine Labaki, and the girl Shanid Shaaya, Raymond Azar, Mona Saliba, music by Khaled Mzannar, montage by Sherine Debs, director of photography, Sufyan Al-Fani, Artistic producer Raja Zgheib, executive producer Mayada Al-Haraki, production: Gianluca Chakra, Mario Haddad, Mohamed Hefzy, and Hisham Al-Ghanem, Italian story: Paolo Genovese, Italian script: Filippo Bologna and others, Arabic script and dialogue: Wissam Samira and Gabriel Yammine, and the Arab film directed by Wissam Samira.

2018

An agreement was concluded between the Front Row Filmed Entertainment/Kuwait National Cinema Company conglomerate and Medusa Film to grant the rights to reshoot the successful film (Perfect Strangers) in the Arabic language.

The original Italian film (Perfetti Sconosciotti) was released in 2016, produced by (Medusa Film) and (Lotus Productions) in partnership with (Leon Film) and others, and achieved great success at the box office immediately after it was shown in cinemas, in addition to wide acceptance in critical circles, where It grossed $20 million at the Italian box office and $31 million at the global box office. The film has won several awards since its release, including the David Di Donatello Award for Best Film and Best Screenplay, in addition to the Best Screenplay Award of 2016 at the Tribeca Film Festival in the Best International Story Award competition.

(Perfect Strangers) was re-filmed in several international languages, including the Spanish version, which achieved total profits of more than $25 million, the Greek version, which achieved total profits of $1.8 million, and the Turkish version, which achieved total profits of $1.7 million. As for the French version of the film, called (Le Go), it was shown in French theaters and ranked second at the box office. Work is currently underway to film the film in German, Swedish, Korean, and Russian. In 2016, The Weinstein Company acquired the rights to remake the film in English, with Gianni Nunnari, producer of "The Departed" and "Shutter Island," producing it.

The idea of the movie "Friends or Dearest":

Between your public, private and secret life, what if what a person stores on his personal phone was revealed, especially in front of his wife and friends, and will they accept you with all that is wrong with you after this discovery, or will they open fire on you?

Movie summary:

The film's events revolve around a group of seven friends who meet and decide to play a game where everyone places their cell phones on the dinner table, on the condition that all new messages or calls are in full view of everyone. The game, which was initially fun and interesting, soon turns into a barrage of scandals and secrets that no one knew about.

Profile of the most prominent personalities:

Maryam: Like the rest of the heroes, she has passed the age of 30. She wears a blue dress. She is an Egyptian housewife, married and has two children: Sarah and Imad. She lives with her businessman husband and her mother-in-law in Lebanon. She forgot that she was a woman and turned into the man of the house. She is secretly addicted to alcohol. She is weak in the face of opposing anyone. Men are online and you just enjoy chatting with him. Her role is embodied by Egyptian actress Mona Zaki.

Sharif: An Alexandrian-Egyptian businessman, a handsome man married to Maryam. He loses his passion for her because he feels that she has become his friend and not his wife, so he weakens in the face of a whim with one of the girls through a chat accompanied by sexual pictures. His role is played by Jordanian actor Iyad Nassar.

Mai: A psychiatrist from an aristocratic family. She wears a red blouse. She is married and has a teenage daughter. She is not satisfied with the shape of her body. She is conservative in raising her daughter, and at the same time she is in a relationship with her husband's friend, a plastic surgeon. Her role is embodied by Lebanese director Nadine Labaki.

Walid: A plastic surgeon married to "May" tries to control his behavior by going to a psychiatrist other than his wife, which leads him to rationality in dealing with matters, even regarding a fateful matter for his daughter. His role is played by Lebanese actor George Khabbaz.

Ziad: A materialistic Lebanese novice taxi driver, newly married, with a previous relationship and a secret relationship with his office manager that resulted in a pregnancy, and he began a new relationship with the wife of his friend, "Walid." His role is prostrated by Lebanese media personality Adel Karam.

Jana: A veterinarian, wearing a yellow dress, newly married to "Ziyad," a womanizer who is in a relationship with his office manager and "May," his friend's wife. Her role is embodied by Lebanese actress Diamane Abu Abboud.

Rabie: A good-natured, single man who deceives everyone that he has a girlfriend. He loses his job for a reason that all the women in the film tend to like, but he is the opposite of what he is. His role is played by Lebanese comedian Fouad Yammine.

If they take the idea of the movie and build a new script it will be so interesting with those stars, but wtf that is copy paste here from another community.

Can you imagine hollywood take an original stroy from the Middle East and make it their? That's illogical.

2 star for the acting.

1 star for the underwear of mona zaki 😆

A real realistic movie that simulates what we live in our time, and no one can deny that what the movie narrated is really our reality...! Worth watching.

I wish there was more originality in the first Netflix Arab film. A copied version of a movie that's been already copied and pasted several times within the last few years isn't something original.

A good dialogue could've made this better. However the dialogue is unrealistic, awkward and cringy. Yes many Arabs are heavy drinkers and gay and promiscuous and these topics need to be discussed, but just throwing them there in the script without any sophistication doesn't make this movie any better.

Please- we need more original work that is realistic even if it's controversial. This film was silly and insulting to anyone's intelligence. The acting was excellent though. 4/10.

A very nice Egyptian-Lebanese production. Breaks a lot of taboos found in the Arab world.

Great dialogue, very amusing music, good directing. Roles are played to perfection. The setting, décor and camera is adding up to the suspens and the build up of the stories.

Set in just one location, great use of the different places in it.

The Italian movie "Perfetti sconosciuti", made in 2016 by Paolo Genovese, has yet entered on Guinness book since July 2019 as the most remade movie in the cinema history, and continuous to attract the care of filmmakers from the four corners of the world. We are yet in the 22nd remaking, and it is Arabic (a Lebanese/Egyptian/UAE co-production), the same story with a new specific breath: an Arabic eastern aura.

The reason of remaking a yet successful movie maybe a tandem triumph and a double celebrity path, either for the first team of the masterpiece which makes more audience try to discover it, having viewed the remaking, or for the adapting team, for which yet fans of the first story will try to compare the remaking with the original one, then will know the new team.

One location movie means that the whole tale is shot in the same place/room, and this is the case of "perfect strangers", 80% of which acts take place on the eating table, in addition to some shots in the kitchen, the balcony, the bathroom and the parking in front of the house. Some reviewers think that the one location movies rely on the dialogue, and we can contradict such a perspective if we take into consideration the plurality of possible view angles and lightening levels that a filmmaker asks the DOP and the DOL to do in the shots, and which can make the film makings different from one another.

We should finish by saying that: if taboo subjects are not treated through fiction feature films (and specially the Arabic ones*) as a means of sensitization for a society, this later will still be silent in living with social problematics such as homosexuality, marital betrayal, and the remnants of hormonal transformation of adolescents, and will never take initiative to find a solution to such matters. But once a fiction film handles with such social issues, having a so righteous level of aesthetic choices and so virtuous criteria of an Arabic movie that competes or even looks better than its international contestants, the spectators will be so influenced that many parts of the civil society will move to make life better.

-------------- *Arabic brilliant filmmaker (Wissem Samira) and protagonists (Mona Zaki, Nadine Labaki and others)

Actors have very weak performance especially the Egyptian woman was really fake and silly and the idea was 👎i really regret watching it .. also when you copy from another film, try to put your touch which is going with your culture.

Since I've seen the French version of the original Italian movie, Perfect Strangers, the story of this Arabic remake isn't new to me but it is still so enjoyable. I was completely involved by the interesting conversations with all its nice topics and implications. The cast is brilliant, everyone gives superb outstanding performance. All in all, it's fun, intriguing, captivating and highly entertaining.

This movie is very bad for Arab people it is not suitable for our culture and lifestyle just a copy paste from a french movie. Why the actors accepts to be part of it. Really sad and frustrated about it.

I liked it a lot.

Eyad Nassar was amazing Mona Zaki was incredible Nadeen Labki is Woooow.

The movie showed that everyone has secrets even if you think you know him for many years

Our secrets on our mobile phone.

The worst remake, with horrible acting especially Adel Karam, you can notice easily that he's acting, and I can't imagine Mona Zaki out of Shafeqa character, somebody tell her to stop being so western in her acting she's not Julia Roberts.

The camera, camera man and the house are only the good things in this movie.

Don't waste your time watching this nonsense.

No Story, No Acting Skills, No Directing, ... Just a cheap attempt to make money from trash that has nothing to do with Art. Watch anything else if you're bored, because this one won't amuse you.

Plot is sickening.

Imitating the west was never a good decision and such movie is against everything we have been raised upon, life is all about respect and having an open-mind which would help to not judge people and respect their beliefs, but since this movie is for the arabic audience goes against our traditions, beliefs and religions. You can raise awareness, you can show that life is full with deceiving two-faced people without supporting things against your people.

Since when letting your 17 years old daughter choose whether she wants to lose her virginity so young and without a serious relationship is her decision ? Of course I'm speaking in the arabic communities.

The worst netflix production I've ever seen. Bad acting, horrible script and storyline. Another famous wannabe hot garbage. Muna Zakye was better than this, time to retire.

All i can say that the movie, acting and literally everything was so good.

I don't know why all this negativity in the reviews about how it doesn't represent Arabs? I mean come on, it represents every family in the universe, mostly likely your spouse is cheating on you, admit it, move on and stop complaining. This is the world we are living in.

I was looking forward to this but what a disappointment. How low a bar are people willing to set for a Lebanese movie? The writing was very cheesy, and the performances were weak because of it. The direction and cinematography was extremely flat and one-dimensional, as if it was a TV commercial not cinema. Very disappointing.

Every other iteration of Perfect Strangers is more captivating and better-executed than this. If you like the premise, please give the other Perfect Strangers films from other countries a chance.

The movie is just an exact copy of the french movie nothing to hide. They even tried to find similar looking actors to the french version. The events are similar to a tee. The chemistry between the actors isn't great. Mona Zaki's perfornmance is horrble as she's too cringy to watch and tries too hard. Adel Karam and Nadine Labaki don't shine through as they usually do in their movies. Nadine Labaki's role is miniscule compared to Mona Zaki who was just dreadful to watch. I'd recommend watching the french or the Italian remake first then watching this one if you really want to watch it. I would of prefered it more if it was a middle eastern remake with it's own flare and plot rather than just copy and pasting it.

For the Middle East taste this reproduction is so cheap, true there was no nudity in it however the scenario contains inappropriate phrases that made many viewers see the actors from a different angle.

No body is perfect and no one is saint, but there is no need to expose the dirty laundry to the public.

As an Egyptian, this movie did a perfect job highlighting the intricate and flawed human nature. The acting and storyline was impeccable as well as the chemistry and dynamics between the actors. Especially Mona Zaki and Georges Khabbaz.

Unfortunately there is an ignorant segment of Arab society that acts as though the world revolves around them. This kind of bigoted, hypocritical and closed minded mentality does nothing but show your intolerance to the world. If you don't like the movie you can chose not to watch it, simply cancel your Netflix or go outside for a walk. But for the love of God please grow up. Making a big scene about this is only giving free promo to an already amazing highly rated and trending film. Thank you Netflix for showing that even in 2022, there is a cult segment of society that is an embarrassment to secular Arabic societies. If only they would get just as upset about FGM, street harassment or deteriorating human rights situation in a country that once had the most progressive human rights and even boasted women leaders.

We need to do better. Thank God there are still open minded Egyptians who see through the b s.

PS Re: to the one saying Lebanese are not arabs, then my aunt must be cleopatra.

Movie is boring, I kept skipping. All of the actors are terrible (except for Nadin and the teenage actress ) The script is so not original I feel they just borrowed another script and translated it.

The dialogue was not convincing.

Although I see the previous versions, but the Arabic version of this story is wonderful. Be honest, especially Mona Zaki. We lived the role in all its details, a creative actress, and the end is beautiful and fair.

Bad movie and totally doesn't represent our culture as arabs. Actors haven't shown any respect to our culture and principles. This movie doesn't worth it at all.