There's a life cycle to most popular genres. It happened with crime films in the 1940s, Westerns in the 1950s, explosive action blockbusters in the 1990s, romantic comedies in the 2000s and superhero movies in the 2010s and beyond.
For each, at a certain point in time, everything just clicked. Films were coming off the assembly line at weekly clip, and audiences were running to them in droves. And then, seemingly overnight, tastes changed and everything fell apart.
When a genre collapses, it always seems like it will never come back, or that it can only be attempted from a completely new direction. James Bond had to be rewritten to the tune of Jason Bourne, for example. But when decades pass, a curious thing always seems to happen – the same ingredients that once tasted so stale suddenly seem fresh again, and the old formula is made new with surprisingly few updates.
That is the period we currently find ourselves in with romantic comedies. This year, after a decade in the doldrums, the romantic comedy has once again restored its place as a cultural mainstay, not to mention a major box office driver. In January, the Sydney Sweeney-starring film Anyone but You grossed a staggering $219 million. Lindsay Lohan's Irish Wish drove millions of streams on Netflix and became the talk of the world.
And even in the Arabian Gulf, the same breezy style, bright lighting and lovingly contrived plot mechanics that served Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey so well in the mid-noughties are now set to elevate Arab actors Nour Al Ghandour (Egyptian, but has found her footing in Kuwaiti drama) and Mahmoud Boushahri (Kuwaiti) to even higher highs.
At first glance, Honeymoonish, which makes its debut on Netflix on Monday around the world and is directed by Lebanese filmmaker Elie El Semaan, could have starred the aforementioned American duo in 2003. In it, a young man and woman find themselves in separate desperate situations, in which the only solution they can find is to get married as soon as possible.
Honeymoonish
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Boushahri plays Hamad, a young Kuwaiti businessman who's gearing up for a major launch in the family business when his father pulls the rug out from under him. Because he hasn't yet prioritised giving his father a grandchild, he is handed an ultimatum: either marry and impregnate a suitable woman within a month or lose your inheritance.
Al Ghandour plays Noor, a Kuwaiti woman who finds out that her boyfriend didn't go to Lebanon for a business trip as he had told her – he secretly got married to another woman. Noor is now determined to marry someone as quickly as possible in order to travel to the same place her beloved is having his honeymoon to make him jealous.
It's a tried and true conceit, and you'll know where it's going, not that you'll mind. The formula is comforting, and it's what the actors and writers do within structure that makes it fun.
With Honeymoonish, however, there are unique aspects that make it compelling, both for those intimately familiar with Gulf and Arab culture, and those who will be viewing it from afar thanks to Netflix's global reach.
Take one particular wrinkle that pops up after the wedding. Hamad receives a call from his aunt, telling him that he may be forced to divorce his new bride. It's possible that, when they were infants, Hamad's mother breastfed Noor. In Islamic law, this would make them milk-siblings and their union would be forbidden.
Some of the ensuing antics get surprisingly racy for a regional film. At one point in that sequence, due to a certain medication mix up, it feels like we've jumped back to 1990s comedies such as There's Something About Mary.
As novel at that is to see in Gulf content, this has also become a hallmark of Netflix's Arabic-language originals, as their subject matter continues to flirt with cultural taboos, driven by regional creators who find themselves making content in an international system built with fewer constraints.
Every time those boundaries are pushed, it sparks a significant discussion on Arabic-speaking social media, sometimes reaching the levels of genuine backlash. But each time, the arguments settle down and a show such as Saudi Arabia's Crashing Eid, which was initially criticised for a hug between an unmarried man and woman seen in the trailer, become enormous hits with long-lasting popularity.
The region, of course, continues to change. Some things that were forbidden ten years ago are now normalised, and in each country, Arab creatives are still navigating the waters of what is culturally acceptable as each culture reshapes itself.
In Honeymoonish, the performances are committed, the style watchable and the dialogue somewhat lively. Like Irish Wish, it will go down easily after a tired day and should generate high streaming numbers. But as a document of the current state of Gulf culture, it provides a lot more food for thought than it probably intended.
That's the funny thing with formula. Even the oldest tropes feel new in a different context.
Honeymoonish will be released on Netflix worldwide on Monday
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Bahrain%20GP
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MIDWAY
Produced: Lionsgate Films, Shanghai Ryui Entertainment, Street Light Entertainment
Directed: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Darren Criss
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate
Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
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Six tips to secure your smart home
Most smart home devices are controlled via the owner's smartphone. Therefore, if you are using public wi-fi on your phone, always use a VPN (virtual private network) that offers strong security features and anonymises your internet connection.
Keep your smart home devices’ software up-to-date. Device makers often send regular updates - follow them without fail as they could provide protection from a new security risk.
Use two-factor authentication so that in addition to a password, your identity is authenticated by a second sign-in step like a code sent to your mobile number.
Set up a separate guest network for acquaintances and visitors to ensure the privacy of your IoT devices’ network.
Change the default privacy and security settings of your IoT devices to take extra steps to secure yourself and your home.
Always give your router a unique name, replacing the one generated by the manufacturer, to ensure a hacker cannot ascertain its make or model number.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Racecard
6pm: Mina Hamriya – Handicap (TB) $75,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
6.35pm: Al Wasl Stakes – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (Turf) 1,200m
7.10pm: UAE Oaks – Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,900m
7.45pm: Blue Point Sprint – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,000m
8.20pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy – Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (T) 2,810m
8.55pm: Mina Rashid – Handicap (TB) $80,000 (T) 1,600m
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Primera Liga fixtures (all times UAE: 4 GMT)
Friday
Real Sociedad v Villarreal (10.15pm)
Real Betis v Celta Vigo (midnight)
Saturday
Alaves v Barcelona (8.15pm)
Levante v Deportivo La Coruna (10.15pm)
Girona v Malaga (10.15pm)
Las Palmas v Atletico Madrid (12.15am)
Sunday
Espanyol v Leganes (8.15pm)
Eibar v Athletic Bilbao (8.15pm)
Getafe v Sevilla (10.15pm)
Real Madrid v Valencia (10.15pm)
Ponti
Sharlene Teo, Pan Macmillan
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Honeymoonish
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