Housefull

Given that this movie is made by one of the worst directors (Sajid Khan), I wasn't expecting much. It did make me laugh in parts (mainly because of Akshay Kumar's comic flair) but 'Housefull' is pretty much full of crap. A jinxed Aarav, or whatever his name is (Akshay Kumar), tries to find happiness but everywhere he goes, things fall apart. He finally lands on the bed of Bob (Ritesh Deshmukh)and Bobba (Lara Dutta). They arrange for him to get married to their boss's daughter Jiah (Jiah Khan). However, on their wedding night, Jiah cheats on Aarav. A heartbroken Aarav attempts suicide in the Mediterranean but he is rescued by an airhead (Peepika Padukone). What follows is more garbage as the plot changes from one thing to another. This is hardly any different from the usual trash Bollywood has been churning lately, in the name of comedy. A lot of money has been wasted on it as 'Housefull' has been expensively shot in Italy and England. The sets are lavish and grand. The soundtrack is dreadful. Of the performances, Akshay Kumar manages to be funny again but his choice of awful movies is becoming routine. Arjun Rampal is the other actor who delivers a solid performance. Of course, it needs to be mentioned that 'Housefull' rips off several Hollywood films which I won't even bother listing.

One can't help but feel pity for all the money and resources that has gone down the drain to shape up this awful film. The entire crew & cast enjoyed a royal holiday overseas under the garb of production costs. The director cleverly puts a disclaimer at the very start of the movie that "Housefull" is a tribute to the directors of 70's & 80's hinting the staleness of the product.

The saving grace of the movie is the music. SEL have backed up the product with foot tapping numbers. Background score by Sandeep Chowta is okay'ish. The comedy sequences are completely out of place. And the climax scene which everybody panned - its a straight lift from Charlie Chaplin's "Laughing Gas" only Sajid Khan raped it.

Performances::

Akshay Kumar:: In a desperate attempt to deliver a hit, his performance is sinking faster than titanic.

Ritesh Deshmukh:: Consistent as ever. Did not have much comedy sequences where he could deliver and showcase his talents.

Arjun Rampal:: No good in comedy and his characterisation was awful especially his polygraph machine.

Lara:: Miscast opposite Ritesh.

Jiah Khan:: The Jekyll and Hyde was badly written.

Deepika:: Only beautiful looks.

Chunky Pande: Was irritating in his Aakhree Raasta character.

Boman Irani, Lilette Dubey & Randhir Kapoor:: Wasted

If making a slapstick comedy was the intent then Sajid Khan should learn a lot of things from Hollywood. There exists a genre of slapstick & no brainers delivers complete wholesome entertainment. "Housefull" is a by- product of success-gone-over-the-head when a garbage like "Hey Baby" becomes a hit and the director goes on to make yet another bigger garbage. Nadiadwala & Eros, are you listening?

Housefull is a movie to watch out with your friends who don't carry their intellect always with them, at least not at places where its not required. You are finished if you are going a Sazid Khan's comedy movie with some brain. Don't put your logic, because it hurts when it fails, and it hurts more when it fails at every second scene. So Housefull is a flick to watch out for full fun and big laughter but with above mentioned condition : No Brain please :). Some sequences of the movie are killing and make you roll on your seat with laughter. It's a new kind of weirdo bollywood comedy on the ancient plot of lies and misunderstanding created out of it. Thanks Sazid for not reusing the formula of infinite chaos. Akshay Kumar's acting is Bindaas and his over innocent expressions bring numerous smiles at times. At places Sazid is 10/10 in creating situations and comedy out of it even if it is not taking story anywhere. Music is average apart from 1 track "Mar Javaan". Overall its a watch to pull out your stress. Just go, watch, laugh and enjoy it.

Sajid Khan sounded very confident in his interviews before the release of "Housefull". He even went on to predict the success of his second project which eventually raised the expectations level of the viewers to a great extent. And with the IPL season coming to an end, the movie was projected to be the first biggie to finish off the lean period. But unfortunately the final product presented before the audience does not fulfill all the promises made by its makers completely. It's a mixed bag of comic moments blended with some emotional stuff which entertains only in bits and parts and ends up in a terrible manner.

In short, "Housefull" fails to come out as a thorough entertainer and lacks the required pace which is a must for a hilarious laugh riot. It starts off very calmly and goes on with its storyline about a loser, in a very lethargic style. Surprisingly, I found the energy levels very low in the movie, particularly in the first half, which is not normally the characteristic of a Sajid Khan project. Sajid has always been fast, witty and highly energetic in all his previous ventures, be it a movie or a serial. But in "Housefull", his famous style of humor is visible only in parts and that too more in its second half.

The film can be divided into two different parts as far as its story plot is concerned. The first half deals with the story of Akshay getting married to Jiah Khan, facing an immediate shock after the first night and then meeting Deepika Padukone as her next love. Along with that there is another angle of a married couple, Ritesh Deshmukh & Lara Dutta, living in London against the will of Lara's father, played by Boman Irani. This part purely deals with the love story of these two couples and their related problems.

Post interval, the script moves on to the same seen before plot of "Mistaken Identities" which was also used in the last year Hit comedy "All The Best". Here both the couples are expecting one senior person from their families, coming to visit them in London. At their simultaneous arrival, they wrongly identify the characters living together, which leads to further confusions and chaos. Thankfully, the movie picks up post intermission and you get to see some good funny sequences which entertain. But again the climax comes as a big let-down, written around a silly thought of laughing gas, which miserably fails to generate any laughter and ends the movie on a terrible note. I really wonder how the director Sajid Khan, who is known for his wide collection of Home Videos couldn't think of any other climax for his big movie.

In a few words "Housefull" is not able to hold the viewer consistently. It's a kind of bumpy ride, which becomes slow at times, then picks up a little and again goes back to its snail pace at regular intervals. Though it has some good moments to enjoy mainly in its second half, but still they are not enough in numbers to provide a satisfactory result to the viewers. In short the movie only reaches half the mark with its routine emotional plot and uneven funny sequences.

On the performance front, Akshay Kumar doesn't play it loud this time and acts his part calmly. But I really missed his famous cunning smile in the comic scenes. Ritesh displays his comedy skills like a child act. In fact he can now easily be called as a master of comedies. Arjun Rampal impresses as the tough man. Out of the three girls, Deepika scores the most with her new found confidence and her stunning revealing water act in the beach song. She even excels in her emotional scenes this time, which shows that she is working on her skills. Lara looks gorgeous and like Ritesh, she is also fast becoming a pro for comedies. Jiah Khan gets less scope in the script, but looks great and sizzles in her few scenes in the movie. Boman Irani is perfect in the role of Gujrati father and Randhir Kapoor is fine as a London Casino owner. Lilette Dubey does a routine seductive act whereas Malaika Arora is just wasted.

Amusingly, out of its entire star-cast the most entertaining cameo comes from Chunky Pandey as an Italian Hotel owner. I seriously found his few scenes in the first half as the most refreshing and funny moments of the entire movie. And I wish he was given more footage along with Akshay in the later part too.

From melody point of view "Housefull" has a fairly good soundtrack with few melodious songs shot well in the exotic foreign locations. But the remix track "Apni To Jaise Taise" lacks the solid punch which still sounds more impactful in its original. Another unimpressive and strange aspect of the movie is its Background Score, which I found very slow and unenergetic which literally did not match the movements on the screen. On the other hand, its cinematography is simply outstanding capturing the outdoors and the beaches in a mesmerizing style. On a funny note, the 3 beauties and their bodies flowing in the waters can also be well used for Sajid Khan's production's next new-year calendar.

Lastly, I would only like to say that "Housefull" will no doubt reap the benefits of being the first big movie released after the IPL season. But as a complete entertainer it doesn't live up to the expectations. With a sloppy script and sluggish pace it leaves you largely unsatisfied.

After having watched all the video blogs and so forth on Bollywood Hungama, I was really looking forward to this one. But what a major disappointment. I don't think they were able to carry a common thread of a plot throughout the movie and only parts of it were funny. And those funny parts were so reminiscent of this other Bollywood film. What was the name.... it had Anil Kapoor, Fardeen Khan, and Salman Khan.

I was also SHOCKED to see a 4-star rating on Bollywood Hungama. Definitely won't put any faith in to Taran Adarsh's reviews from here on out. Just because the movie heavily advertised and promoted via the site, they inflated the ratings. Complete BS. That made it all the more disappointing to watch.