Priya Kansara in Polite Society (Parisa Taghizadeh/Focus Features)

Breezy, buoyant, and populated with a charming cast, writer/director Nida Manzoor’s martial arts-fueled action/comedy is a pleasant diversion, with a plucky British-Pakistani London teen, Ria (Priya Kansara), at its center. She doesn’t want to be a doctor, as her parents want her to be, but a stunt woman like her idol, Eunice Huthart (a real-life, revered stuntwoman).

Ria has a tight bond with her older sister Lena (Ritu Arya), who, with her heavy eyeliner and choppy bangs, is in a morose funk after recently dropping out of art school. Both sisters are outcasts. Their dreams—of being a stuntwoman, of being an artist—are viewed as irrelevant by their parents. As in a Jane Austen novel, Lena is soon whisked away in romance and engagement by the rich and mysterious Salim Shah (Akshay Khanna). After Ria discovers the dark secrets and intentions of Salim and his mother, Raheela (Nimra Bucha), Ria unites with her goofy, sidekick prep school classmates—Clara (Seraphina Beh), wide-eyed Alba (Ella Bruccoleri), and former nemesis Kovacs (Shona Babayemi)—to overthrow Lena and Salim’s lavish wedding.

Polite Society is awash in pop and literary references: Bollywood; American films such as Kill Bill, The Matrix, Get Out, Thelma & Louise; and British staples like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens (one of the film’s chapters is entitled “A Tale of Two Sisters”). The movie juggles a lot, occasionally silly and fluffy and then suddenly bloody and violent (as when the two sisters have their own martial arts confrontation). Sometimes this dissonance between action and comedy doesn’t quite connect, or the comedy feels a bit corny (such as a cross-dressing gym heist in attempts to steal secrets from Salim’s laptop). Yet the punchy visuals and the committed cast are lively enough to sail through the story line.

The film has a vivid look of bold colors and intricate backdrops (from the poster-lined walls of the sisters’ suburban bedrooms to the luxurious absurdity of the Shah mansion). The strong cinematography is by Ashley Connor, who has also shot distinctive work on The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Lena Dunham’s recent film Sharp Stick. A scene of the two sisters in a burger joint is wonderfully lit, detailed, and framed. PC Williams’s costume design is notable as well, from its incorporation of Ria’s drab school uniforms to the subtle changes of Lena’s look as she falls in love, to the gorgeous wedding attire.

Lead Kansara, akin to her character’s determined mantra (“I am the fury”), carries this busy, physically demanding movie with charisma and resolve. The standout of the ensemble is Nimra Bucha, who plays the wicked mother-of-the-groom with cackling relish and abandon. Her form of brutality—hot wax treatments—is more far more visceral than any martial art fighting, but her over-the-top villainy makes Ria’s ultimate fight momentous.