Housefull

Akshay Kumar didn't really have a good 2009 despite having some major projects lined up, with the box office response not living up to expectations. To some, that spells a loser, and the film takes an exaggerated response in having him play the unluckiest man on Earth, Arush, and he's so unlucky that Macau casinos employ him to walk their grounds to ensure winning streaks turn into losing ones. And House Full turns out to be one half of a familiar spin from contemporary Hollywood comedies before becoming its own film after the interval.

The first half spends considerable time developing the character of Arush, whom we see leaving his job to go back to stay with his best buddy Bob (Ritesh Deskmukh) and his wife Heetal (Lara Dutta), two casino employees in London. This segment turns out to be You, Me and Dupree as his unwelcome gatecrash turns the life of the couple upside down with his bad luck rubbing off into their home. Sometimes you can feel that the comedy here is just trying way too hard that it borders on the ridiculous and was flogging the dead unfunny horse, especially with the aftermath of Arush and Bob getting electrocuted.

Then it becomes a mix of a loose Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Heartbreak Kid, with Bob and Heetal matchmaking him with their boss's daughter Devika (Jiah Khan), and it seemed like the perfect match of the Traditional Indian Boy and Girl, only for a surprise to emerge when frolicking in an Italian resort for their honeymoon, and Arush meeting up with his One True Love with Sandy, played by the lovely Deepika Padukone. Comedy here came from Chunky Pandey who plays the hotel owner Akhri Pasta with a penchant of lying and construing them as jokes, and his over the top demeanour actually was remotely funny, even though you'd learn to take everything he says eventually with a pinch of salt, with one key lie being the cause for a running gag for Arush being hurried away from the scene by Bob and Heetal each time Devika enters it.

The story is about pretences, and how in the name of saving one's face and reputation, lies lead to bigger lies, stemming from wanting to impress family members. For Heetal, she has consistently told that she's married to a rich boy and living it up in a big mansion, doing so to impress her dad (Boman Irani) who has frowned upon her decision to stay in London with Bob. For Sandy, her lie involves something similar to her brother Major Krishna Rao (a stoic faced Arjun Rampal) whom she thinks will frown upon her relationship with the loser Arush, and hence both couples have set the tone for the second half after the interval, playing on the theme and rationale of being perfectly OK to lie if it's done for a noble cause, the definition of noble being quite narrow and for personal benefit.

But here's where the entire film lifts off into the comedic stratosphere, as the people they lie to begin to turn up, and lies leading to bigger ones, with the best parts being the case of mistaken identities which the couples have to continue playing it up, and by the midway mark of their gag, there's a convoluted web of relationships that one group has to play off the other in order to keep the truth from exploding. Somehow it also turned primarily into a guy's film, with the female leads in Dutta and Padukone being largely supporting roles, and the male leads getting into plenty of shenanigans filled with homophobic suspicions. With the arrival of Krishna though there's a tinge of Meet the Parents with Arjun Rampal taking on Robert De Niro's role as the military intelligence interrogator casting that wary eye (hand singals adopted as well) on Arush, whose propensity of being the worst jinx in the house getting conveniently forgotten.

If you're game for a madcap time where comedy stem from identities being swapped and the reliance of wits to get out of sticky situations, then this film is for you although you have to endure a lacklustre first half before the narrative picks up. It's almost like Akshay Kumar's De Dana Dan from last year with that spiderweb of fake relationship ties that will keep you engaged, with finely crafted musical sequences. We know AK can dance, and for all the flak Deepika Padukone got for being stiff, I thought she's slowly gaining her groove as seen by the numerous numbers here. My favourite song here will have to be Loser, but this film, thanks to its second half, had prevented it from tanking like one.

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.

I went to watch Hosefull by knowing clearly that this is a Sajid Khan's movie, and it has to be stupid and dumb. I watched the movie Housefull with my gf and very few audiences in the cinema hall. But I laughed and enjoyed the movie through out. I wanted to give a 4 or 5 rating, and even didn't wanted to right a review for the movie. But after watching worse (BC) and worst (Kites) movies one after another, I have to do some justification to the Sajid Khan's movie. So I'm giving Housefull a fully comedy and entertaining movie 8 out of 10, after watching Badmash Comapny and Kites. I gave Kites 1 out of 10 and wanted to give Badmash Company 0 out of 10.

Houseful, another movie in a long list of Bollywood movies with stories "inspired" by a Hollywood movie.

However Houseful is unique as it has not been adapted from one but several Hollywood movies at one time. It has shades of William H Macy's The Cooler, Ben Stiller's starrer Along came Polly, Owen Wilson's You, Me and Dupree and Meet the Parents.

Being heavily adapted from so many sources makes the movie's storyline completely illogical and one would probably have to check his brain out when entering the theater to enjoy such a film.

Another thing that disappointed me was the background score. It did not support the film and felt very minimal and weak. Given the number of hit songs in the movie the background score was a complete letdown.

However, despite having the above mentioned flaws the movie still works. It has many moments which are very hilarious and which makes this movie a complete masala entertainer.

To conclude this movie may not be an intellectual masterpiece but the movie is still entertaining and is a complete paisa wassol

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.