Polite Society. Rated M, 103 minutes. 3 stars The dramatic emotions of teenage girlhood are hilariously rendered via martial arts battles in the delightfully zany Polite Society. The British film from writer-director Nida Manzoor - creator of comedy series We Are Lady Parts - follows high schooler Ria (a spirited Priya Kansara, a relative newcomer who has a couple of episodes of Bridgerton under her belt alongside other less well-known projects), whose number one goal in life is to be a movie stuntwoman. She trains the house down and regularly ropes her older, begrudging sister Lena (Ritu Arya, a scene-stealer as Lila in seasons two and three of The Umbrella Academy) into filming stunt videos with her. Ria has two loyal and equally kooky best friends, Alba (Ella Bruccoleri) and Clara (Seraphina Beh), at her proper private school and is generally just living the life - just don't suggest she try and become a doctor. Everything is thrown into chaos, however, when mum Fatima (Shobu Kapoor) scores an invite for the family to the Eid party of her wealthy friend Raheela (Nimra Bucha revelling in delicious villainy). There, all of the eligible young women are fawning over Raheela's attractive son Salim (Akshay Khanna), a young doctor looking to settle down. He and Lena soon become infatuated with one another and get engaged - and Ria is not along for the ride at all. She hates that her artsy, rebellious sister is suddenly wearing dainty cardigans and being the perfect little wife-to-be, so she hatches a plan to break the pair up. The plan, of course, involves disguises, theft, breaking and entering, and some hand-to-hand combat. Polite Society is gloriously over-the-top, and dramatic showdowns are accompanied by the sounds of screeching eagles. Walls, tables, doors and windows are routinely broken, though the combatants are hardly injured, and what should be a conversation invariably becomes a fracas. How much of what goes on we're expected to believe is actually happening and not just the overactive imagination of a teenager is not clear, especially as the action rolls into Lena and Salim's wedding. Ria learns that there's some genuinely illegal and nefarious happenings going on at the mansion and wrangles her buddies - and high school bully - into helping with a plan to stop the nuptials. Her showdowns with Raheela are plenty of fun, and this is largely down to Bucha's performance as the primary villain. Bucha was recently captivating in Marvel's thoroughly enjoyable series Ms Marvel on Disney+, as the deceptively evil Najma, going toe-to-toe with our young hero Kamala Khan. Raheela is not too dissimilar to Najma, as both present themselves to be friends when in reality they are definitely foes. Something about Bucha's evil smile is pure perfection in these roles. Props must go to the costume department for the stunning dresses made for the wedding - and ensuing fight scenes. It's very fun to watch mad scuffles taking place between women who are stunningly made up in South Asian formalwear. There's also a fun Bollywood-esque dance number during the wedding which serves as a great contrast to the action. Hopefully the quirkiness of Polite Society finds footing with its audience and becomes a cult favourite. It's plenty of fun if viewers are willing to go along with it. We will surely see more leading roles from Priya Kansara - she's a gem who, based on this performance, deserves a career as a leading lady.