Read More... The Idol (Credit: Adopt Films) “This place sucks,” the gangly, handsome hero tells his friends, sounding exactly like the would-be dreamboat pop star of every rags-to-riches showbiz fable ever made. Except this guy’s name is Mohammed Assaf (played by the fine young Arab actor Tawfeek Barhom), and the place where he lives really does suck, probably worse than a small town in Kansas or the back streets of the Bronx or the slums of Dublin or the other places such a story might be told.