Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.It\u2019s an autumn day in the Hussein household. Egyptian-American teenager Rumi is fretting about his comically oversized, counterfeit \u201cChicago Balls\u201d vest, which his uncle bought on discount. His high-achieving older sister Mona is contemplating coming out to her parents, who are too busy poring over utility bills and Diana, Princess of Wales conspiracies to take anything else in. The date is September 10 2001; the setting, New Jersey \u2014 just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.So begins #1 Happy Family USA, a chaotic animated comedy about post-9\/11\u00a0paranoia and prejudice that centres on the Hussein family\u2019s largely misguided attempts to reassure their panicked compatriots that they\u2019re proud patriots, not potential terrorists.The eight-part, A24-produced Prime Video series comes courtesy of \u201cthe childhood nightmares of Ramy Youssef\u201d. As the writer behind the semibiographical comedies Ramy and Mo, Youssef has already received acclaim for his funny, thoughtful meditations on being caught between everyday American life and Muslim heritage. His latest project shifts the tone: this is a provocative send-up of the stereotypes that white middle-class Americans and Middle Eastern immigrants use to define one another.Bracingly irreverent and egalitarian in its commitment to poking fun at just about everyone, the series comes with a winking pre-credit disclaimer alerting viewers not to \u201cuse this animated show as cultural representation for any of the following communities:\u00a0Muslims; Arabs; People from New Jersey\u201d. What follows is a comedy that feels like a throwback to some of the adult cartoons from the era in which it is set. With its mix of broad social commentary, puerile humour and relentless pop culture references, it might recall South Park or Family Guy \u2014 though unlike the latter, this show doesn\u2019t punch down.Not all the jokes land, however. While each episode has inspired moments \u2014 Rumi (Youssef) writing to President Bush in the style of Eminem\u2019s \u201cStan\u201d; father Hussein (also Youssef) turning his kebab cart into a 9\/11 memorial selling \u201csolidarity shawarma\u201d; Kieran Culkin voicing an over-eager ally \u2014 there\u2019s a lack of focus and finesse. As a satire, #1 Happy Family USA can seem like it has been crafted with a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel: Mona (Alia Shawkat) and Rumi\u2019s school replace maths with terrorism on the curriculum; an FBI agent neighbour (Timothy Olyphant) reveals the bureau\u2019s real motto is \u201cfreedom runs on lies\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Meanwhile, the show\u2019s more pointed observations about Muslim and American customs, privilege and code-switching get lost amid tides of gratuitous vulgarity and scenes of feverish chaos.Between the talking sheep, the ghostly apparitions, dream sequences and mosque-based musical numbers, #1 Happy Family USA can make for bewildering viewing. The reality of those weeks after 9\/11, Youssef tacitly suggests, was no less surreal, no less alienating to live through.\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606On Amazon Prime Video from April 17<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.It\u2019s an autumn day in the Hussein household. Egyptian-American teenager Rumi is fretting about his comically oversized, counterfeit \u201cChicago Balls\u201d vest, which his uncle bought on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":278466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-278465","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278467,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278465\/revisions\/278467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}