Patel is the best part of the film, though to be fair he’s given far more room to act than Irons, whose character hits the same handful of notes for most of the film. Eventually their relationship warms, but it takes a long time and Patel is the one that ensures there’s actually some goodwill left to be drummed up. Irons does fine, but the “socially inept scholar” has been done a million times before.