Housefull Movie Review

Finally, after many boring films and the IPL season.. Sajid Khan and Akshay Kumar return with a film that is expected to bring back the “Housefull” hoardings outside theaters. Apart from Akshay, the film stars Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal, Boman Irani, Lara Dutta, Jiah Khan and Ritesh Deshmukh.

Sajid Khan, the director, has been shouting from roof-tops that Housefull will, not just be the biggest hit of the year but also of Akshay Kumar’s career! The expectations too have been high, since Housefull is the first big release in a long-long time. Does the film live up or fall below expectations?

Housefull is about Aarush (Akshay Kumar) who is unlucky and considers himself to be “bad luck”. One day he moves into Bob’s (Ritesh Deskmukh) house, who is his best friend. Bob is married to Hetal (Lara Dutta). With him Aarush brings in plenty of bad luck too and this leads to several confusing, complicated situations. He marries Devika (Jiah Khan), who is in love with someone else and married him only because of her father.

Enter Sandy (Deepika Padukone) who saves his life and Aarush falls head over heels in love with her. Does he marry her? Does Sandy’s brother (Arjun Rampal) accept him as the perfect choice for his sister? Watch Housefull to find out.

Why Housefull is worth a watch in theater (Positives)

• Housefull starts off well and although the pace does dip a bit with the introduction of Jiah Khan’s character, Chunky Pandey’s dialogues and performance manages to keep you in splits.
• Some of the situations are extremely funny and the actors make it funnier. Akshay and Ritesh share great chemistry and when Boman joins in, the movie is a laugh riot.
• The leading ladies – Deepika, Lara and Jiah in the skimpiest of clothes are a treat to watch. None have much to do, Deepika and Lara quite obviously have bigger roles without much scope for histrionics.
• The pace is pretty consistent in the second half, which has plenty of funny scenes. If you love slapstick comedy, you’ll love the post-interval portions of Housefull which is more like a David Dhawan – Anees Bazmee film.

Negatives

• Jiah Khan’s character doesn’t work and is infact one of the reasons why the pace slackens considerably in the first half.
• A couple of scenes with the tiger and the monkey are not-so-funny and seem forced.
• The typical homosexual jokes made popular by Shahrukh, Saif and Kantaben are getting way too boring.
• The climax is a let down.

Performances

• Akshay Kumar is fantastic. Its good to see the actor never really go over the top or exaggerate with his expressions. As a simpleton with a heart of gold, Akki delivers one of his best performance in a long time. Tremendous effort.
• Ritesh Deshmukh does well and shares good chemistry with Akshay and Boman.
• Chunky Pandey in probably being type-cast in roles that have a funny accent, yet he impresses with his ‘just-joking’ act.
• Lara Dutta has the meatiest role amongst the ladies, she irritates at times with her funny faces but overall is quite okay.
• Deepika Padukone with push-up bra’s and hot-pants/shorts looks sexy.
• Jiah Khan has one song and a couple of scenes.
• Arjun Rampal looks great and acts well. Boman Irani is good. The rest are okay.

Overall,�Housefull is way better than every Akshay Kumar comedy in 2009. The film has many genuinely rib-tickling sequences and some good performances. Worth a watch.

Rating: