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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 - GOOD LUCK CHUCK (click to read on)
Bollywood - DHAMAAL (click to read on)
The reason I went and spent $10 on this movie is because I am a sucker for romantic comedies. What a waste of time and money. This movie has not a single romantic moment and the comedy is grossed out. I mean, are you freaking kidding me? Are there really any studios ready to fund these kind of movies?
Check this out. The problem's not the pitch, you could probably make a sweet, silly, movie from that premise, but in the execution, which is so ham-fisted and blunt that you feel like you're being beaten on the head with clubs made out of artificial breasts, sexism, gross-out humor and Dane Cook's naked body. I mean I wouldn’t have minded Jessica Alba’s (who cannot act to save her life) naked body but Dane Cook’S????!!!!come on... now give me a break…Anyways let me give you the synopsis of the movie....
The film opens with young Charlie "Chuck" Logan and his best friend Stu playing spin the bottle with friends. When Charlie refuses to make out with a sexually assertive goth girl, she hexes him. Fast forward to the present, where Charlie works as a dentist and Stu (Dan Fogler, seen recently in Balls of Fury) is a breast-obsessed cosmetic surgeon, keeping Pamela Anderson's former silicone implants in a shrine in his office. After beautiful women start lining up in Charlie's waiting room to sleep with him, he discovers a Web site has labelled him a good luck charm: Every woman he sleeps with will marry the next man she dates.
That gimmicky set-up leads to an encounter with the lovely yet clumsy Cam (Alba), and he is smitten. Chuck doesn't want the curse to affect her feelings for him or, rather, to lose her to another guy, so he starts lavishing affections on her and also tests the curse by sleeping with the most unattractive woman he can find.
The film ultimately fails as a strange hybrid: a gross-out romantic comedy. It's a love story built on screenwriter Josh Stolberg's script of boob and fart jokes and first-time director Mark Helfrich's lazy visual gags.
Some people might like or think Good Luck Chuck is funny, so who am I to argue with anyone’s twisted sense of humor.
Watch it if you like grossed out humor. Good Luck Chuck might make money too but so does cocain. So is cocain good? Well! I should have tried it instead of watching this trash movie, I would have been high atleast (just kidding).
Good Luck Chuck thinks the following things are funny: Old lady hit by a frisbee; fat woman eats a lobster; girl walks into a post. Skin eruptions. Fake breasts. Sand in the genitals. Overweight people in lingerie. Overweight people in swim suits. Overweight people in general. Barbershop quartets performing pop singles. Chipped teeth. If these things in and of themselves, without any attachment to plot or character or elegant construction or witty execution are funny to you, you'll love Good Luck Chuck.
And may God have mercy on your soul !!
Acting
Dane Cook looks uncomfortable taking on the mantle of the leading man; his delivery is stilted in quieter scenes with Alba, lacking the timing of his stand-up routines. After this movie he will need all the luck to further his career if he has any left.
Jessica Alba might be cute and all and a fantasy girl of pre teen guys but she cannot act. She is as wooden as an oak tree!!Direction
Mark Helfrich is making his debut here and well…hmm..ahh…never mind. We will talk about him if he makes another movie, which I doubt. But strange things happen in Hollywood.Screenwriter
Josh Stolberg is credited for writing this movie. I don’t have any words to describe his skills. Seriously I don’t. It would be a waste of time.Good Luck Chuck
Actors - Dane Cook and Jessica Alba
Director - Mark Helfrinch
Rating - This movie SUCKS.
IMI Critics Panel (click to know SHAIL)
DHAMAAL
So, here comes Dhamaal on the heels of Partner and Hey Baby and makes it intentions clear right in the beginning. The movie is not here to challenge your gray matter, its here to make you laugh and it does succeed most of the time.
Just leave your thinking cap at home and you will have fun.
Roy [Riteish Deshmukh] believes that he is the best detective in the world. Manav [Javed Jaffrey] actually happens to be the biggest idiot in the world, but is blissfully unaware about it. His brother Adi's [Arshad Warsi] half knowledge about everything only adds to the great expertise of this group. The final component is Boman [Aashish Chowdhary], who's Mr. Phattu.
These four idiots live and work together. Their idea of work? Doing small-time con jobs! The thought of earning an honest living has never even crossed their minds. One day, while trying to save a dying man, Bose [Prem Chopra], they get their big break. Their life is made! Unfortunately for them, Inspector Kabir [Sanjay Dutt] has been chasing Bose for the last ten years. He finally finds him. Only dead!
Desperate for his promotion, he questions the suspicious-looking foursome he finds next to the body. Inadvertently, they blurt out the secret before managing to escape.‘Dhamaal’ progresses through several hilarious situations as the four friends search for the booty. Their search is fraught with dangers they are not prepared to face.
Dhamaal is funny is parts and like every other comedy being churned out by the industry these days, some jokes works and some don’t. The writers have tried really hard to inject the movie with one gag after another but they should have known when to stop a funny scene from being really great to plain mediocre. For example, the plane sequence and the Sanju accident sequence which is inter-cut, goes from hahaha to haha to ha and then you are like stop the freaking thing already. Editing is all over the place.
Highlights
Although an old joke, the horse painting at condolence meetings is really funny. It works because of the four main characters of the movie. Ditto for the sequence when they're mistaken as gangsters and arrested by the cop.
Acting
The movie works primarily because of performances by its starcast. The funniest of the lot is Javed Jaffrey, who, with his imbecilic humour, brings the house down. A close second is Ritesh Deshmukh whose natural flair for comedy injects dollops of humour in the narrative. Watch him imitate Sanjeev Kumar. Sadly, Arshad Warsi is out of form this time. His performance doesn’t have his involvement and energy. He looks tired and as if he wants to be somewhere else. Even, Ashish Choudhary is better than him.
Writers
I wish Paritosh Painter, Balwinder Suri and Bunty Rathore would have been more creative and written some original scenes instead of resorting to old gags and jokes. They had a great star cast, all they had to do was write some really imaginative scenes which would have done justice to the immense talent of the four main actors.
Music
Was there any songs in this movie? I am sorry I didn’t notice.Direction
This is Indra Kumar’s brand of comedy and the movie has his stamp. He likes slapstick comedy which is ok but it would have been better if he had some great scenes which would have allowed him to let his four main characters go beserk.
Dhamaal
Actors - Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Javed Jaffery, Ritesh Desmukh and Ashish Choudhary.
Director - Indra Kumar.
Rating - ** (B-)
IMI Critics Panel (click to know SHAIL)
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