In this section of the IMI Newsletter, we bring you reviews on the latest movies and music, industry gossip, parties and more. Bollywood & Hollywood. Keep visiting us here to read on more.
This edition SHAIL from The IMI Critics Panel brings you reviews on : -
Hollywood - THE HEARTBREAK KID (click to read on)
Bollywood - LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG (click to read on)
In the movie, our hero is a San Francisco sporting goods store owner Eddie, played by Ben Stiller. He's been a commitment-phobic for so long that he may in fact be commitment-proof, which is weighing heavy on his mind after the Valentine's Day wedding of a woman he was once engaged to.
On his way home, though, he meets with a surprisingly vivacious and charming woman, Lila (Malin Akerman) and they fall into a whirlwind courtship, but the news that her office wants to send her to Rotterdam a few weeks into their relationship, inspires Stiller to make a leap of faith and propose. The wedding follows soon after.
On the honeymoon, though which involves a road trip to Cabo in Mexico it becomes obvious that Akerman's more loathsome than lovely. She's a bore, a fake, a sexually voracious harpy, possessed of a ruined past and dim future.With Lila out of the picture due to a sun tanning accident, Eddie seeks solace in Miranda (Michelle Monaghan). And before you know it, the two develop feelings for one another and Eddie is left in a major pickle.
The Heartbreak Kid represents The Farrelly Brothers returning to their roots. After making a couple of tame and light hearted comedies that were a hit or miss with the audiences, The Farrelly’s have gone back to their raunchy ways that were more in line with their first few efforts. But just because the raunch factor is back, does that mean it’s any good?
NOPE!
The problem as I see it, The Heartbreak Kid has no spark to it. It doesn’t have any snap. Most of all it tries too hard to be funny. The Farrelly's should break with what has worked for them in the past , make a movie based on a novel concept and tell it in a completely original way. Instead they take a very lackluster idea , having a guy get married too soon only to get attracted to another woman while on his honeymoon, and then literally just throw a pile of lame overused gags at it.
For some of the weaker jokes they spice them up with sexual overtones and obscenities and hope that it will amount to a laugh. It doesn’t. For others they repeat the joke for an inordinate amount of time thinking that if it wasn’t funny the first time, it has to be funny on the second, third or fourth showing.
THUMB RULE - to all aspiring film makers, if it’s not funny the first time you tell the joke, it will not under any circumstances be funny the second time around.
The Heartbreak Kid is one of those so-called remakes that stray so far from their source material that they practically enter another galaxy. The original, directed by Elaine May from a Neil Simon script (based on a short story by Bruce Jay Friedman), was a more bitter than sweet, and very funny, exploration of how the things, we think, we want aren't necessarily the things that will make us happy.
This updated "Heartbreak Kid" borrows the basic premise of the original and little else. It would be bad enough if the picture was just unfunny; but it also has an unpleasant, mean-spirited sheen, with none of the Farrelly sweetness we got in pictures like “Shallow Hal” or “Stuck on You”.
The movie has a load of uncharitable jokes (including a supercheap fat-person gag), and operates in some weird fantasyland in which women who like sex are sleazy, while sunny gals who wrinkle their noses adorably are real wife material.
Acting:
Ben Stiller gets better and better each time out. In fact, Stiller has never seemed more comfortable onscreen as he does in The Heartbreak Kid. Granted, he's played the flustered good guy for more than a decade but really, you can finally see him losing his many tics and affectations and becoming comfortable being himself on screen.Michelle Monaghan is the perfect romantic foil for Stiller. The two have tremendous chemistry.
Malin Akerman steals the show by making Lila both endearing and irritating at the same time.
Direction:
I’ve admired much of the Farrelly brothers’ earlier work. They have the ability to mix the nasty with the nice but that seems to have abandoned them here. The movie will probably ring box-office bells, but this hit-and-miss attempt by the Farrelly brothers smacks of comic desperation.
The Heartbreak Kid
Actors: Ben Stiller, Michelle Monaghan and Malin Akerman.
Director Duo: Farrelly Brothers.
Rating: *(C).
IMI Critics Panel (click to know SHAIL)
LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG
Badki [Rani Mukherji] and Chutki [Konkona Sen Sharma] live a fun-filled life in Banaras, playing pranks, sneaking off to see a forbidden mujra [Hema Malini, in a special appearance] and soak up all the excitement that goes on the ghats of the Ganga.
Badki is aware that the family is in dire straits, but she and her mother [Jaya Bachchan] protect Chutki at all costs.
When things get worse, Badki decides to go to Mumbai and seek a living for the family. Alone and unsupported in the midst of the urban jungle of Mumbai, Badki battles with the dark forces, keeping her focus on her purpose to support her family and continue Chutki's education. She deliberately morphs into someone else, leading a secret life full of murky compromises.
When Chutki comes to Mumbai to work, things take a dramatic turn. Badki's life turns into a minefield, as she has to hide her secrets from Chutki. Chutki finds success at work and love that delights her heart. Badki finds the magic of love, but lets it slip away before it can blossom, as she believes it's not in her destiny. She battles menace and blackmail alone, not letting these dark shadows fall on Chutki or her family.
But her dual life is revealed and the two sisters are face to face, in a confrontation neither had expected. And when love beckons Badki again, the whole family is thrown in a tumultuous storm.
Please don’t get carried away by the above dramatic synopsis.
LCMD is a major
Y A W N! and some more YAWN and some more….
If you have seen the trailer of this movie, you have already seen the movie. You know the family is poor, you know that the elder daughter goes to Mumbai and you know she turns into a prostitute.
What you don’t know is that all this plays out in the most absurd fashion. In this day and age, Pradeep Sarkar has attempted to recreate the Mumtaz starrer Aaina. The problem with the movie is that it has every cliché you can imagine. Pension pe jine wala baap, silayi karne wali maa, zimmedar badi beti and the little sister who is oblivion to the pareshani of the family. Can you imagine that the mother knows what her daughter does for a living in the big bad Mumbai city and she still accepts the money her daughter sends and then she has the gal to tell her not to come back home because everyone might realize that she is a prostitute.
One more thing that I wanted to point out is that when BADKI is refused a call center job and she has a friend who is willing to help her financially, why does she refuse his help and take Suchitra Pillai’s dumb advice and decides to be a hooker. Why not a model? Why doesn't she learn some English or take some computer classes?
Doesn't it send out wrong signals to people who face roadblocks in life? Is it that [prostitution] isthe only alternate profession you can take to in crisis? Ahhh! Baas karo.
That is what you feel while watching this crappy movie. Seriously, don’t waste your hard earned money on this movie. Watch Loins of Punjab or even Bhool Bhoolaiya. It might look like a masterpiece compared to this movie.
Highlights:
Konkona Sen Sharma bursts onto the screen and lifts the gloom away, proving to be the much-needed respite in this sham of a movie.Acting:
Anupam Kher hams it up as an ailing old man. Kunal Kapoor has a couple of scenes and songs,and all he has to do is grin. Abhishek Bachchan sleepwalks through the role. Jaya Bachchan is made to look like a villain. Rani is as usual, bankable.
Story:
By Aditya Chopra. Please tell me oh! Mr Chopra, what “inspired” you to write this movie?Direction:
By Pradeep Sarkar. Please tell me Oh! Mr Sarkar, what “inspired” you to direct this movie?Music:
By Shantanu Moitra. The only song that is worth mentioning is “Hum toh aise hai Bhaiya”. I can’t even recollect the other songs…or was there any??LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG
Actors: Rani Mukherjee, Konkana Sen Sharma and Jaya Bachchan.
Director: Pradeep Sarkar.
Rating: * (Z-)
IMI Critics Panel (click to know SHAIL)
© The Indian Music Industry - 2007. Content Conceptualised, Collected, Crafted & Cared by DREAM-FACTORY
