Detroit Unleaded

Detroit Unleaded is about as gentle as comedies come these days, commendably so.

A lively slice-of-life that uses familiar romantic-comedy tropes and a vibrant cast of characters to humorously explore family relationships, cultural identity and love.

Director Rola Nashef's visuals can be clunky, and her script's conversational dialogue is occasionally stilted. Nonetheless, she draws her characters in sharp lines, so that the gaggle of customers who frequent Sami's workplace...feel not like types but, rather, like diverse individuals.

It compellingly engages with the specific problems of a cultural group rarely represented in American film, but it too easily and abruptly resolves its main characters' problems.

The film’s engine stalls from time to time, but it never dies—much like the city it’s set in.

It winningly pays homage to the apparently nationwide fraternity of Arab-American mini-mart owners, while letting the Motor City setting provide the economic commentary.

The trouble here is a lack of texture and urgency.