42
The film still feels more like a game of cards with a stacked deck than a story that demanded to be told.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
This is a picaresque road movie about two mismatched characters, with rookie director A.B. Shawky offering a motley and not entirely smooth cocktail of drama and melodrama, a dash of social critique and insight, some chuckles and a few tugs at the heartstrings, mainly by virtue of its near-virtuoso score.
75
The best thing about writer-director A.B. Shawky’s feature-length debu...is the way it burrows inside Beshay’s life without devolving into a pity party.
70
Anchored by lead Rady Gamal’s warm-hearted charisma, the film is a sweet, solid first feature marbled with genuinely touching moments that make up for times when the siren call of sentimentality becomes a little too loud.
80
Yomeddine is an accomplished appeal for empathy and an entertaining journey of discovery.
40
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It is a rather slight dramatic experience.
75
Rady Gamal, who plays Beshay, gives an affecting performance of playful charm with an undercurrent of deep sadness. He and Ahmed Abdelhafiz as Obama are a pair to root for, and Shawky gives them plenty of perils but also abundant moments of grace.
80
Screen International by Tim Grierson
A simple story told with abundant gentleness, Yomeddine looks at a group of outcasts with such compassion and generosity that it has the good manners not to artificially inflate their tale with phony uplift.
Yomeddine beautifully captures the story of two overlooked characters who have lived most of their lives on the outskirts of society, and the film treats them with a dignity that they aren't afforded in the world of the story, and likely not in the real world either. This unlikely trio (including the donkey) are endlessly watchable together. The story is moving and entertaining as we become attached to these characters by laughing with them, and it becomes more important to watch how they live in the world than it does to watch how the world treats them.