Provocative without being thoughtful, Towelhead is an exercise in button-pushing that seems unsure of what it wants to say (except to assert, correctly, that being a sexually abused biracial teenager in suburban Houston would really, really suck).
The good guys, the bad guys, the victim, the perp: all are stereotypes.
Ball’s trying to be honest about adolescent coming of age, but since he’s dishonest about everything else, the movie collapses in on itself, ending with a laughably pat resolution that renders “Towelhead” a Bizarro World “After School Special.”
Bishil gives a touching performance in the circumstances, but it’s hard to play a confused character when the director’s just as confused as you are. Both nymphet and victim, Jasira wanders through Ball’s cracked America like an Arab-American Little Annie Fanny, as exploited behind the camera as she is in front of it.