"Coming to America" immigrant tales usually end up as crime epics or social realist tragedies (or Eddie Murphy comedies) but this one strikes a defiantly upbeat tone without oversweetening the pill. Arriving from Ramallah at the outset of the Iraq war, this Palestinian mother and son don't exactly find a land of opportunity. Mother seeks a bank job but can only find one flipping burgers; son struggles to fit in at school, but gets wardrobe advice from his cousin (Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat). Both come up against unfathomable cultural barriers and some slightly exaggerated anti-Arab xenophobia, added to which their presence sparks microcosmic territorial disputes with their American relatives. The political issues are a little heavy handed but the story – partly drawn from the director's own experience – works best when it focuses on the personal.