“ALEX and Eve” is the cinema debut for writer Alex Lykos adapting his stage play telling what can happen when a high school maths teacher from a Greek immigrant family and a lawyer from a Lebanese Muslim family fall heavily for each other, to the fury of their respective families.

The theme is not new, but it’s always worth an airing. Director Peter Andrikidis has been making TV series episodes since 1977 and he knows his craft. “Alex and Eve” is not his feature debut. So we may expect an agreeable hour and a half of Aussie comedy and indeed that’s what we get.

It’s not without clichés, nor without predictability, but the last reel (actually, most cinemas now show digitised movies on a single disk, which makes that observation rather obsolete) restores our faith in families’ letting young lovers choose partners, however much their religious faiths may be in opposition.

Richard Brancatisano plays Adam, a decent enough young fellow more under his Greek father’s thumb than is comfortable. As a Muslim girl who refuses to wear the hijab or to stand up against a domineering mother, Andrea Demetriades delivers a performance more sweet than forceful.

Resolution of the plot’s obstacles to true love and harmony between two families of antagonistic faiths comes slowly from directions that wait until their optimum moments to burst forth to best dramatic effect. Harbourside inner-Sydney plays a major role in a visually-agreeable film.

At Palace Electric