In a film any less composed than the excellent Man Push Cart, a central character’s insistence that "This is America, and whatever I want to do, I will," could be justly dismissed as a slice of star-spangled bunkum. But Ramin Bahrani’s elegant character study of a Pakistani street vendor in New York City is plainly more articulate fare.
Bahrani’s film succeeds in questioning an entire country’s value system by the graceful promotion to the centre of attention those more habitually cast to the peripheries. "I’m just a Pakistani guy selling coffee and doughnuts, that’s it," claims Ahmad, but Man Push Cart defiantly refuses to allow anyone to be written off so casually.
Howard Swains, The Times.

An example of spare, slice-of-life indie cinema at its most unpretentious, Man Push Cart adeptly and subtly layers facts about the protagonist's history and character into his story. Ramin Bahrani, an American of Persian heritage, enters the normally hidden world of a morning coffee vendor in Manhattan, simply and affectingly capturing the vendor's struggle for identity and self-confidence. Lead actor Razvi was himself a pushcart vendor, and his experiences were partly incorporated into his character. He doesn't speak much, but carries with him a palpable sense of defeat that adds to Ahmad's dignity and sorrow.
Jay Weissberg, Variety.