It's been six-and-a-half years since Amina and Sarah Said were gunned down in their father's taxi cab outside an Irving hotel. Yaser Said, the girls' father and prime suspect in their murders, has been on the run ever since.
The net may finally be tightening around him, though. In addition to increased FBI attention, Yaser is the subject of a new documentary The Price of Honor, which premieres at Lakewood Theater on September 7.
Directed by Neena Nejad and Xoel Pamos, the documentary explores the idea that Yaser murdered his daughters in a so-called "honor killing." It also examines the theory that he could be hiding out in the U.S., not his native Egypt.
Citing the ongoing investigation, Irving Police have refused repeated requests to release even a basic police report on the Said sisters' deaths. So Nejad and Pamos took matters into their own hands and conducted a private investigation over the course of three years.
They interviewed the girls' relatives and known associates of Yaser. Nejad and Pamos uncovered evidence that Yaser may have committed another murder in Egypt and that he sexually abused his daughters.
"As we got into this, we realized there was so much more to the story than the media knew or the FBI knew," Nejad says.
Tickets are $12 for general admission and $25 for VIP. Both tickets include access to a Q&A after the screening.
The girls were found in the taxi cab line at the Omni Mandalay in Las Colinas.
The Price of Honor Facebook
The girls were found in the taxi cab line at the Omni Mandalay in Las Colinas.
Of all the formulaic movie genres, Christmas/holiday movies are among the most predictable. No matter what the problem is that arises between family members, friends, or potential romantic partners, the stories in holiday movies are designed to give viewers a feel-good ending even if the majority of the movie makes you feel pretty bad.
That’s certainly the case in Oh. What. Fun., in which Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire, an underappreciated mom living in Houston with her inattentive husband, Nick (Denis Leary). As the film begins, her three children are arriving back home for Christmas: The high-strung Channing (Felicity Jones) is married to the milquetoast Doug (Jason Schwartzman); the aloof Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) brings home yet another new girlfriend; and the perpetual child Sammy (Dominic Sessa) has just broken up with his girlfriend.
Each of the family members seems to be oblivious to everything Claire does for them, especially when it comes to what she really wants: For them to nominate her to win a trip to see a talk show in L.A. hosted by Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria). When she accidentally gets left behind on a planned outing to see a show, Claire reaches her breaking point and — in a kind of Home Alone in reverse — she decides to drive across the country to get to the show herself.
Written and directed by Michael Showalter (The Idea of You), and co-written by Chandler Baker (who wrote the short story on which the film is based), the movie never establishes any kind of enjoyable rhythm. Each of the characters, including competitive neighbor Jeanne (Joan Chen), is assigned a character trait that becomes their entire personality, with none of them allowed to evolve into something deeper.
The filmmakers lean hard into the idea that Claire is a person who always puts her family first and receives very little in return, but the evidence presented in the story is sketchy at best. Every situation shown in the film is so superficial that tension barely exists, and the (over)reactions by Claire give her family members few opportunities to make up for their failings.
The most interesting part of the movie comes when Claire actually makes it to the Zazzy Sims show. Even though what happens there is just as unbelievable as anything else presented in the story, Showalter and Baker concoct a scene that allows Claire and others to fully express the central theme of the film, and for a few minutes the movie actually lives up to its title.
Pfeiffer, given her first leading role since 2020’s French Exit, is a somewhat manic presence, and her thick Texas accent and unnecessary voiceover don’t do her any favors. It seems weird to have such a strong supporting cast with almost nothing of substance to do, but almost all of them are wasted, including Danielle Brooks in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. The lone exception is Longoria, who is a blast in the few scenes she gets.
Oh. What. Fun. is far from the first movie to try and fail at becoming a new holiday classic, but the pedigree of Showalter and the cast make this dismal viewing experience extra disappointing. Ironically, overworked and underappreciated moms deserve a much better story than the one this movie delivers.
