The face of New Zealand, like that of many countries, is changing considerably: While its traditional image emphasizes the culture of its British-descended population, to do so ignores both its native Maori population and the latest wave of immigrants. It's upon these segments of the population that Broken English chooses to focus, but as admirably out-of-the-ordinary as its intentions are, it's still a tedious film. Aleksandra Vujcic stars as a hotblooded young Croatian immigrant who runs afoul of her old-fashioned, drug-dealing father, first by falling for a Maori man, then by agreeing to marry the boyfriend of her Chinese co-worker in order to secure his citizenship. While its look at a largely unseen part of the world is compelling enough, it's a shame that writer/director Gregor Nicholas can't think of anything more interesting to do with the setting than use it as a backdrop for a strictly by-the-book romantic melodrama. As Broken English progresses, scene after scene degenerates into characters yelling at each other in disparate accents, and as this becomes more pronounced—and as the story introduces one predictable plot element after another—there's even less reason to care about the plight of the characters. Ultimately, Broken English is worth a look mainly as another example of the MPAA's ridiculous ratings system: It's rated NC-17 for a single sex scene that makes the mistake of actually looking like two people having sex.