Housefull (2010) Reviews

• Could qualify for a horror film

  sashank_kini-12010-05-08

  Hindi movies have become messiahs of brainless, slapstick yet enjoyable humor. These movies are devoid of intellect, refined stuff and compromise it for jokes on gays, stereotypes and women. Some succeed,some fail, while a very few of them like Housefull turn out so diabolic that they find it impossible to redeem themselves throughout. This movie had one gag that was actually funny (not hilarious) in the second half that barely made me smile. However, slapstick movies aren't there to make people smile; they should make you roll with laughter. Housefull is a plethora of clichés and contrived humor. There are times when I felt that the director, the script and the actors were at their wit's end and just completed the movie for the sake of raking in the moolah with big names. All in vain since the movie itself is like a couple of trailers played one after another without having any coherency. The movie is so desperate that it named its title as Housefull with tag lines like "Catch it now or it'll be booked" or something like that. During one of the supposedly sad scenes, I and my father were sneering and passing comments like "Sajid should be prosecuted along with Kasab" etc. Sajid Khan has directed Heyy Baby prior to this film which had some coherency and heart and managed to stay aboard. It is almost shocking to see what he has made here. An immature, first-time director would make a better film than this. There is no heart in this film. The director himself lacked interest while filming the movie. This shows the mark of a failed director. His movie is unlike some other bad ones which could be salvaged because the director's love for direction is visible. Nothing is seen over here. No passion for direction. Sajid doesn't try to utilize the maximum potential of the actors and instead allows them to manipulate the characters their way which is disastrous. In one of the scenes, when Riteish Deshmukh tries to seduce Lara Datta in bed but instead finds Akshay Kumar, he overacts so much to the point of nausea but Sajid must've felt "He has given hits like Masti etc. Why stop him? His acting could make this film worthwhile" rather than telling him "You're overdoing it. Settle down a bit, think about what you are doing and then do the same thing in a manner that would please the audience". It's good that the President or Prime Minister hasn't seen this film otherwise Sajid would be behind bars by now! Let's talk about the acting now. Since I have decided to give this movie an elaborated review, I am going to tear apart all the actors one by one and no one will be spared. Akshay Kumar: And the worst performance of the year goes too…. him. He has played this lovable (not so lovable rather) loser innumerable times with the same expression and same mannerisms etc. He has some good roles to his credit but off late his roles have become one-dimensional and completely flat. The washing machine scene was so overtly exaggerated and ripped off from Mr. Bean into a disgusting one and the electrocution sequence was even worse and the dance sequence after that with the foreigners was cringe worthy. Riteish Deshmukh: He actually has a good comic-timing but over here, he stinks. He plays the loyal and trustworthy friend of Akshay who readily keeps him in his house. In the first part there is too much of him and in the second part, his role is minimized to a gay pretense. It's so sad that in most of the performances, he generates laughter by imitating homosexuals. And it's the same over here. The portrayal of homosexuals is stereotyped into roles that require characters to completely act like females and spurt dialogs like "I'm ready for it!" Lara Dutta: This is the second time that I have seen her in a movie. She seems to be a contender for the worst actress of the year (Deepika should win it). In a character that shifts from a emotional daughter to a bikini-clad, shameless woman, she ain't Meryl Streep to shift her character so seamlessly. In one of the scenes, she breaks down on the phone, and in the next, she wishes her father to leave. He in short has no character at all. Deepika Padukone: She on the other hand does the same thing that she does in every other movie: look stunning, act trash. I have never been mesmerized or even attracted by her performance and here too she shows what an incapable actress she is. She doesn't even try. Her talking style is the same,she is devoid of funny bone and she is simply present to show off her gorgeous body. I find her to be very beautiful but her acting is lame. Boman Irani: He is a credible actor who does try to sound like a Gujarati but due to a lame script is reduced to Kanthaben by the second half of the film but didn't make me laugh like the way Kanthaben did in Kal-Ho-Na-Ho. Arjun Rampal: He was just too serious to be funny. The lifeboy soap gag was pathetic. In the Buckingham scene, he hammed. Jiah Khan: Where was she? Was she even required? Chunkey Pandey: "I was just joking!!" The same thing can be said about his career. A joke! The lazy script doesn't help either. Some of the sequences were so bad like the monkey-slapping scene; I had to close my eyes. I summarize it by saying one thing "The apocalypse of film industry is looming close"

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• This was a very average movie. One in which I expected a lot more

  anujsahni2010-05-02

  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.

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• See if you can neatly side-step this mess...

  ilpintl2010-05-03

  Why do I never learn? Why do I keep going to Akshay Kumar films, when they disappoint so consistently? My latest Akshay Kumar mistake is an unfunny comic caper named "Housefull". After the debacles that were "Blue", "Kambakht Ishq", "Chandni Chowk to China", now comes this new atrocity from Sajid Khan, who earlier had made the rotten-only-in-patches film "Heyy Babyy" (what's with the atrocious spelling?), a genial Indian take on "Three Men and a Baby". Somehow I evaded "Singh is Kingg" (there we go with the spelling again). Even I could tell that Akshay plus the blandly beautiful and seriously wooden Katrina Kaif would be an industrial-strength double whammy to be avoided at any cost. I have a soft spot for Sajid Khan, because his sister Farah Khan makes the most awesome Hindi entertainers ("Main Hoon Na" and "Om Shanti Om") and is possibly one of the smartest, funniest, wackiest people in India. In short, I adore Farah Khan, and feel I must support any cinematic endeavor by her or her many family members. Her husband Sirish Kunder, a topnotch editor, made the passable "Jaan-E-Man" with Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, and Preity Zinta, and Akshay was actually kind of endearing in it. Her cousins Zoya and Farhan Akhtar have made some excellent films: the flawless "Luck By Chance" and the clever and charming "Dil Chahta Hai"; as an actor, Farhan hit the bullseye in "Luck By Chance", "Rock On!!", and the psychological thriller "Kartik calling Kartik". So, I'm not a total loser for going to watch Akshay Kumar movies. It's just that he appears to have absolutely no instinct for choosing good films, and sometimes, inspite of this, he ends up in a competent masala Hindi entertainer ("Dil To Pagal Hai", "Aitraaz" was a guilty pleasure...tacky, but Priyanka Chopra was fascinating. Akshay was very good in "Dhadkan", co-starring Shilpa Shetty after her first nose job and Suneil Shetty.), but mostly he works in simply dreadful movies. At the wrap of each awful flick, he probably drawls, "I'll have my check now, thank you very much!" and toddles off to the next excruciatingly bad film, gummy grin and all. Arjun Rampal, Riteish Desmukh, and the ever reliable Boman Irani (playing a Gujarati businessman, this time) are the other men in this movie with a frat boy sensibility. And for the frat boys, we must have bodacious babes, so the polished and professional Deepika Padukone, the usually smart and sensuous Lara Dutta, and the sexy, but frankly terrible Jiah Khan, a fully clothed Malaika Arora (hello!), and Lilette Dubey are roped in to do the needful. Except Arjun plays Malaika and Deepika's brother...he must be still wondering how that bit of injustice came about. To be fair, there is about 10 minutes of delightful nonsense, when practically the entire cast lands up under various pretexts at a house to make it the titular "Housefull" and I did laugh out aloud once, but that meant sitting through 1.5 hours to arrive at the funny bit, and then another 45 or so minutes when things went back to being unamusing. Randhir Kapoor, looking porcine and hollering all the time, makes one of his periodic comebacks, playing Jiah Khan's father. These days he is more famous for being Karisma and Kareena Kapoor's father. Randhir Kapoor, you will remember, had quite the busy career in the 70s and 80s. Even as a romantic leading man, he was fat, cheerful, laid-back, wickedly funny in print, and on screen, as well. He had the Kapoor weakness for plenty of fine food and drink, never ever worked out, and was best buds with Rekha. Together they gave many politically incorrect, hilarious interviews in various film periodicals, poking fun at career-minded, goody-goody colleagues like Hema Malini and anyone who made the mistake of crossing them. They worked together non-stop in a few A, but mostly B-grade potboilers, and were like truant school kids having the time of their lives. Then Amitabh Bachchan happened to Rekha: she shed many kilos (including Randhir Kapoor), her screeching laughter and her irresponsible teenager ways, learnt Urdu, how to conduct herself like a lady, and took to giving those ambiguous, mystical New Age interviews which were all about the mysterious "He", "Him", "the One" in her life. I wish she would return to being the hugely fun person she was, and do a riotous comedy. Her "Khoobsurat" days are over, but surely someone can do an "Auntie Mame" or "Travels with my Aunt" with her, and she would be an absolute hoot in it. Randhir Kapoor could only have had a career during that period of Hindi cinema. In these times of buff bodies, six-pack abs, and bulging biceps, he would never have landed a gig. It's a shame, too, because now it appears to be all about the toned body and not quite as much as the performance or personality. Arjun Rampal is an anachronism: he has the looks, body, dignity, plenty of screen presence and talent of a matinée idol of old. He did very well in this idiotic movie, giving much more than it deserved. I don't know if these observations have anything at all to do with "Housefull", but I felt like letting off some steam after being gypped yet again by an Akshay Kumar movie.

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• Probably the worst comedy I've seen till date. Sajid Khan should not make movies and stick to stand-up.

  jaspalsinghis2010-04-30

  I just saw this movie and I think I need to write about it. I missed his debut "Hey Baby" but heard from friends it was good and the new one "Housefull" seems promising. Well, they were wrong. This film is as bad as it can get. The story revolves around Akshay Kumar who has the worst luck and brings bad luck to others. Finding and marrying his true love should supposedly cure it. However this thing loses focus pretty early as many other characters keep coming with their own stories and agendas. Story takes a new turn every few minutes and you kinda forget what happened before or why is what's happening, happening. Bad slapstick throughout (very hard to laugh, you actually think 'was i supposed to laugh on this?'), super bad over acting, bad or no story line, no character development, no justification for whatever's happening and of course bad direction. I can go on and on, but let me summarize with this - If a Hollywood comedies fan (ben stiller, Adam Sander kinds), with no movie making experience, makes such a movie because he can afford it. Well that's what "Housefull" is more or less like.

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• Howlarious somewhere, slapstick elsewhere

  kunalkhandwala2010-05-06

  From the days of 'Ikke Pe Ikka' to 'Heyy Baby', Sajid Khan has portrayed himself and his ideas as nothing but slapstick. Drawing enormous criticism for the stupidity that was 'Heyy Baby', he seems to have come to his best.... which doesn't put him on any sort of pedestal but certainly gives you fair returns for your ticket price. While paying tribute to film makers of yesteryears, Sajid Khan introduces us to his latest concoction of slapstick silly comedy - 'Housefull'. Arush (Akshay Kumar) is such a loser..... smitten with bad luck, his remorse takes him to his childhood buddy, Bob (Ritesh Deshmukh) in London. The attempted comedy in this part, with Hetal (Lara Dutta) falling out of the window, the super powered Vaccuum cleaner and Prada leave you worried about the rest of the film. In the hope of eliminating his bad luck spree, Arush gets married to Devika (Jiah Khan), the daughter of millionaire Casino baron Samtani (Randhir Kapoor) but all is not well after they arrive in an Italian holiday resort. Chunky Pandey at this point provides some refreshing comedy, far better than any he has attempted. Arush meets Sandy (Deepika Padukone), they meet Bob & Hetal, they all meet Hetal's Pappa (Boman Irani) and they in turn meet Sandy's Anna Krishna Rao (Arjun Rampal) and in the end, they all meet the Queen of England. The bits with Chunky Pandey and Boman Irani are indeed funny but out of the lead actors, Ritesh Deshmukh gets much of the fun dialogues and scenes whereas Akshay Kumar has to cope with being the loser who is put in impossible circumstances. Deepika was anyways only good at smiling so she gets to do that a lot here, Lara Dutta has given her best especially with the Gujrati dialogues while Jiah Khan remained skimpy at best. Chunky Pandey was very passable, given some funny dialogues and situations whereas Boman Irani rose to yet another challenge of being a part of this madness and yet standing out with such a convincingly funny character. Not only does he display his versatility but he rises above all with his spontaneity and hilarious expressions. Watch out for his remarkable thumkas while sleep-walking during a song. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy may seem over-qualified for this film but their rocking remake of 'Apni toh Jaise Taise' (It's Jhakaas!) and 'O Girl you're mine' with some hilarious lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya in 'He's such a loser' and 'Papa jag jaayega' make this a fun soundtrack. Sajid Khan has by no means done anything revolutionary here. Pretty sure he didn't intend to either. 'Housefull' falls in the category of 'Welcome', 'Dhamaal', 'Partner' etc and not among the all time greats. Thus, you get a silly but crazy entertainer which thankfully in many parts is howlarious with some really funny one-liners. But then you also have inane slapstick with a vaccuum cleaner, tiger, monkey and laughing gas to no effect. These days, such scenes are just embarrassing to watch..... Yes, be sure to leave your brain at home as they say and only then will you be able to enjoy this movie to an extent. After a dry spell that consisted only of live IPL matches in theaters, this is a comedy we need before some serious stuff that is lined up for the next 2 months. Don't spend more than Rs. 150 and you will agree that it was at least 'Paisa vasool'.

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