I’ve always felt it important to get your London Film Festival off to a good start and West is West, the sequel to the popular East is East (1999), managed to (belatedly) kick-start my festival in a suitably feelgood manner.

Feelgood has become a maligned term, however, coming to signify a film lacking in substance, something trivial that aims for the lowest common denominator – and most likely misses. But I’ve often felt that the criticism misses the point of the cinema experience for countless viewers: that moviegoing can and should be pleasurable and not always weighed down by ‘importance’, subtext or, I’d suggest, even subtlety.

West is West, which opens in cinemas in February, certainly aims for the feelgood factor and for a significant proportion of its running time manages just that. It’s mainstream and witty; it has clever lines but runs a dose of irreverent, bawdy humour as well. But for me, one of the most intriguing aspects of West is West (and East is East for that matter) is how its themes of identity, tradition, family and betterment are actually dealt with in a bittersweet manner that’s actually removed from the way the movie is promoted.

So, in effect, this mainstream film creates more than just a warm, fuzzy glow. It does at least attempt to deal with some universal themes in a way that ‘the majority’ can understand and empathise with, and while it may not leave a legacy in the style of Citizen Kane, Chinatown or in the way reviewers believe obscure arthouse cinema does (but doesn’t) it will connect, entertain and perhaps maybe even provoke. Not a bad effort for 90-odd minutes of mass-market fun.