Chutney Popcorn

Chutney Popcorn takes up where quirky lesbian-themed comedy Go Fish left off. The twist? Reena (director Nisha Ganatra) is of Indian descent, but her girlfriend, Lisa (Law & Order's Jill Hennessy), is not. This isn't a problem in and of itself. Reena's mother, however, views her daughter's sexual orientation as a "disability" and describes Lisa as Reena's "college roommate." Then there's Reena's uptight sister, Sarita, who discovers she can't conceive and draws even further away from her sibling. When Reena offers to be a surrogate, things just get worse. Lisa flees for fear that a baby will ruin her relationship with Reena, while Sarita changes her mind--but it's too late: Reena is pregnant (via artificial insemination). There's a happy ending, of course, but fortunately it isn't too happy--you get the sense that Sarita still has a way to go before she can accept herself as fully as her unconventional, artistic sister. --Kathleen C. Fennessy