occasionally extremely funny.

Set in Sweden, which is evidently far sunnier and more multiracial than we might have imagined, it's the tale of park workers Mans and Roro, his Lebanese mate.

Roro is happy enough with his Swedish girlfriend until his family try to pressure him into an arranged marriage with Yasmin.

Personally I thought he would have been happy with the swap having compared the two but Roro only pretends to have a romance with Yasmin to keep the family at bay.

Things are going badly for Mans who, when he is not picking up dog mess in the park or getting beaten up by total strangers, is having to cope with his demanding girlfriend who is frustrated at his impotence.

Various attempts to spice things up between the sheets end in failure.

He sheepishly sends Roro in to a sex shop to buy "a gentleman's pump''.

Roro appears at the door offering a choice of "a powerful'' pump and a "comfortable'' pump. "I'd go for comfortable'' advises Roro with understandable concern.

However the answer to Mans's problems are revealed as emotional rather than mechanical when he meets the gorgeous Yasmin.

To tell you more would spoil the plot. What I will say is that the subtitles never get in the way of sparkling dialogue which evidently lost little in the translation.

You get the impression some thought has gone into each line rather than the dialogue merely being a vehicle to move the plot along.

In style it reminds me of Justin Kerrigan's Human Traffic which deservedly won the BIFF award last year with its downbeat plot and neatly observed characterisations.

Like Human Traffic the characters are likable, the lines are sharp and the acting very natural.

And Jalla! Jalla's Swedish backdrop makes a pleasant change from the typical American and British movie scenes we have all seen a million times before.

There are no special effects, just the tried and tested ingredients for a great movie -- romance, sex, humour, a few punch-ups and a soundtrack which is nothing short of sublime.

No wonder it won the audience choice award at the esteemed Rotterdam International Film Festival.

After making 50 films director Josef Fares knows how to get the mix right.

What's more amazing is that he's only 23. Makes you sick doesn't it? Clearly he's got a great future ahead of him -- when he graduates from film school.

I watched Jalla! Jalla! while nursing a hangover but found it lifted me to no end. Whether you choose to watch it the day after the night before or after total abstinence my message to you is the same. Just watch it all right! Josef Fares Funny filem from Sweden: acened from Jalla! Jalla! Pictured are Tuva Novotny, Fares Fares, Torkel Petersson and Laleh Pourkarim REVIEW REV MOVIES MPC