Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

revoltrightnow I just learned more about the South Asian-American experience in 49 minutes than I have after hundreds of hours watching the Simpsons.Hari Kondabolu and Michael Melamedoff did a tremendous job creating this enthralling documentary. There is at least one white American who is going to be less ignorant now (me) and I will be recommending this to all my friends. The Problem with Apu is funny, quick-witted, personal, and filled with great special effects. The music and production values are very high as well.It's worth noting that Hank Azaria has done other questionably racist roles, including his supporting role in Along Came Polly (2004). I think Hari did a great job addressing the systemic issues as well as holding Hank accountable (like he should be).Only 1-star off because I think it could have been about 10 minutes shorter. It drags a tiny bit at the end and could have been storyboarded slightly better for pacing. Consciously or not, this film follows a similar framework to Michael Moore's docu-classic, "Roger and Me" (1989). Moore's pacing was a little better but still, this holds up with the best of em. Highly recommended.

severinez After watching this film, I think Hari Kondabalu is reaching with a lot of these arguments. For example, "'Thank you come again' has haunted Indian children for over a century." I am of Pakistani and Indian descent, and not once was I "haunted" or compared to Apu growing up in the United States during the 90's. I have talked with many of my South Asian friends/family about this film, and most of them also have never experienced such a comparison.Look I appreciate these actors sharing their stories and creating a dialogue about the lack South Asian representation in Hollywood, but using Apu and the Simpsons as a scapegoat is completely misguided. Like many others have mentioned, the film seems to miss the point that the Simpsons is a light-hearted satire, and the show pokes fun at SO many different stereotypes. That's one of the many reasons why we love the Simpsons! Overall, I really don't think there's a strong argument here, and I wouldn't recommend this film...

SacrifyX SPOILER: Before anyone says 'You probably didn't even watch it!', I did. Not once, but twice. Not only did I watch this 'documentary' twice, I also watched the interviews with this guy beating a dead horse.The guy cries about how in his otherwise perfect life, Apu is the problem. And when he doesn't get his way (for example, having a sit-down interview with Hank Azaria, the voice of Apu and many other Simpsons' characters), in the usual SJW leftist manner, he calls Hank 'Privileged'.This guy wants nothing more than to become famous by using his 'outrage' of 'being offended' and making a cheap, poor excuse for a documentary, while hanging off Matt Groening's creation.Here's a good example of that too: At about 46 minutes, he says, in quote, 'I certainly deserve a show'. See, I downloaded a torrent because I didn't want to give this guy any ratings by watching his cheap documentary on TruTV, although I could have, I made sure to skip it when it aired.Don't give this guy the opportunity. If you ignore him, he will go away. I had no idea who this guy was until these ridiculous accusations of 'offended outrage' started to surface from mainly leftist posts (coming mostly from CNN and HuffPost, that should say everything right there).Also, during the documentary, at about 4 minutes in, he says 'Now before you call me a Social Justice Warrior who's being very sensitive, let it go snowflake. Well I have let it go, for 28 years.' Yes, you've let it go so well that you felt the need to make a documentary about it. Usually when someone says 'Now before you call me a -Input statement of what they clearly are here-, they're really trying to deflect and say 'Well... I am, but still'.He also refers to Hank as 'A White Dude' several times. I think this guy is the real racist. He is a lousy stand-up comedian who mainly uses racial jokes during his stand-up, so he has already limited himself to that (and we all know you can't go very far on just that).This dude is just screaming 'I want to be famous SO BAD!!! Please every leftist, help make me famous, because my lousy racial stand-up routine isn't cutting it'. If you watch during the documentary, the small bars and clubs where he's on the stage barley have anyone in the audience. That's a pretty good indication that this guy sucks. You can even see a woman WALK OUT during one of his routines, which made me laugh so hard. I had to watch it twice just to see that, and I had to tell myself 'Why would this guy leave this in?'.It's so clear what this guy wants. He wants to hang off the success of The Simpsons by appealing to the 'Safe Space' generation. It's sort of working, because leftists will buy anything that fits into their agenda. But to every logical thinking individual: Ignore this guy. Don't make him famous.

fjk1138-731-161881 As a fan of Hank Azaria, Apu, and the Simpsons for almost 30 years now I found the arguments made in this "documentary" to be rather weak, at best.Hari Kondabolu's main contentions are that he doesn't like the character's accent, he doesn't like being teased about the accent, Apu's character is somehow an insult to his parents, and knowing that he cannot personally stop Fox or The Simpsons producers from continuing to use Apu as character he feels a false sense of entitlement and exclusivity in trying to meet with Hank Azaria to convince him to stop doing it (Spoiler alert - Hank kindly refuses). Yet at the same time, he insists that the Simpsons show should continue and he supposedly even enjoyed everything else about it.Huh? What? Does he not realize that Apu, despite his "stereotypical presentation", is actually shown to be an extremely intelligent person who has deep feelings and pretty much the same highs and lows of life that most people on the planet experience every day? Apparently not - he's not open-minded enough, nor is he able to take a step back and see the larger social commentary picture that the Simpsons tries to make in every episode. In fact, in many episodes where this happens, Apu is revealed to be the one with superior knowledge and/or cultural strengths. He also is apparently not able to laugh at himself and just enjoy it for what it is - ironic for a person whose career is supposedly in comedy. As a side criticism on that last point: I'm well-versed in comedy legends since the dawn of television, and I didn't even know Hari existed before this film - his overall impact to the world of comedy is minimal at best. Or is that really the problem and this just an attempt to get noticed? The problem is, if Apu is banned from the show (yes banned - anything done officially in response to these complaints results in a "ban" regardless of whatever form it may come in), then do we ban all the other characters? Do we ban Dr Hibbert, Dr Nick Riviera, Bumblebee Man, and the like? How about Lenny, Carl, Grandpa, and even ultra-politically correct Lisa? I'm a white male near 50 years old - should I be offended because the dumbest character on the show is Homer, a white male? No, I am not, and Homer is one of my favorite comedy characters in the history of television because as flawed as he is, he always does the right thing in the end.What Hari also misses about Hank's performance of Apu is that it's just that: it's a performance. Does it mean Hank personally hates people from India? I'm guessing not. By the same token, is Stephen King a serial killer at heart if he writes a story about one from the killer's point of view? How about Edward Norton playing a Neo-Nazi in American History X - does that mean he hates all other races? Does Ralph Fiennes try to shoot Jews with a rifle from his window because of his role in Schidler's List? And should the people of Germany be offended by his accent or that he misrepresents their race or culture? The answer to all of these questions is a resounding "NEIN!" One point I will agree on with Hari is that there are not a lot of well-known Indian comedians or actors, but that appears to be changing. I am 100% in favor of more shows like that for anyone interested in Indian culture, comedy, etc. So Hari...why not put your comedy brain to work and make your own cartoon? Oh wait, your buddies tried that and guess what? No one cared.Just the other day, I read in the news that Hank Azaria responded to the film and said they would all basically take what Hari says in consideration on the future of Apu. I'm all for that, but I sincerely hope that neither Fox nor the Simpsons' producers cave and give up the character just to appease someone who clearly has no other means to get noticed than to try and ride wave of another's success.Sorry Hari, we've all been teased about something in life, myself included. The difference is we all can handle it like grown ups and moved on a long, long time ago.