American Desi tells the story of Krishna (Kris) Gopal Reddy, an 18 year old American Desi (Desi is slang for Indian, it comes from the word Desh which means land or country), and his three Desi roommates at college. Each of the characters play a typical role. Jagjit is your typical FOB (Fresh of the Boat), Ajay is the thug who "thinks he black", Saleem is the ultra-conservative Muslim and Kris plays the role of a coconut who isn't in touch with his Indian roots. Each of these characters does really exist within the Indian-American community.<br /><br />American Desi is one of the few movies to tell the story of our generation, of our Desi community. The movie does this through humor. The movie is hilarious and jokes about the idiosyncrasies and mannerisms of Indian-Americans. Everything from the characterizations to the jokes are accurate and realist (Except for the fact that Kris's family speaks Hindi, being Telgu I know that no self-respecting Reddy would ever speak Hindi). The best part about American Desi is that it is realistic and both first and second generation Indian-Americans can watch it and relate to it on a personal level. We each know of someone who talks like Ajay, or someone who is constantly on IST. In addition, this movie gives a lot of young Indian-American actors an opportunity to perform.<br /><br />That said American Desi trivalizes the issues college bound Indian-Americans face. From the social aspect, the different stereotypical indians groups do not get along well with each other on college campuses. The Indian-American college community does tend to segregate into smaller groups. For example, thugs and Fobs usually run in different circles. People like Kris tend not to hang out with many Desis and in some cases even avoid them. None of these issues are even touched upon in the film. The film doesn't even go into why each roommate is the way he is. Instead, it just repeatedly makes fun of each person's mannerism.<br /><br />The film also neatly resolves all the major conflicts in the film in about 5 minutes. Though these conflicts might seem trivial they are actually quit important. Kris just can't suddenly embrace his Indian Heritage by watching a few Hindi movies and learning how to do the Garba Ras, but by doing so, the film boils down Indian culture into the garba and Bollywood. In addition, Jagjit's conflict is resolved when his father seee the Garba Ras decorations and asks what type of engineering design he used. The film implies that Jagjit's father will accept Jagjit's passion for the arts. However, this isn't the case in real life. I know of many friends who are studying engineering, medicine or business (the only `approvable' majors for Indian Parents) who would rather be majoring in liberal arts. I am currently majoring in comp sci, but would rather be majoring in history or political science. There are many Desis who struggle with the issue of their major, trying to balance their own personal interests with pleasing their parents. Unfortunately, in real life, many Indian parents are not so understanding as Jagjit's father. The film uses a Bollywood type approach at the end of the film, where everyone is happy and all the conflicts are neatly resolved. However, this doesn't happen in real life and the main detraction of the film is that it ends so poorly. It trivializes too many important issues that our generation is facing. The movie takes the cheap way out, doesn't confront the major conflicts and falls flatly on its face. If you want to see a more serious film about the South Asian experience, watch East is East. Even though it tells the story of the Pakistani Muslim family in England, it deals with major issues that all desis can relate to. Overall this film is a great disappointment and had great potential. 4/10.<br /><br />