Housefull Review: Decent Movie; Don’t Believe the Critics

Don’t believe the critics, whaddya mean?

Schmuck, we mean don’t believe the other critics.

Entertaining Nonsense
Folks, Akshay Kumar’s new movie Housefull is Total Nonsense but Fairly Entertaining Nonsense.

After reading several Indian critics, we were a little wary whether our money and time were being flushed down the loo this time too.

Thank heavens, No.

For sure, Housefull is no masterpiece but a gazillion times better than Akshay’s recent movies like Chandni Chowk, Kambhakkt Ishq et al.

Housefull is a nice  slapstick comedy with all the illogical, wild nonsense that the genre entails.

The nonsense includes a slapping and boxing match between Akshay Kumar and an Italian monkey, a black baby for an Indian couple, deliberate suggestions of homosexuality, a full-grown tiger on the sofa et al.

By the way, no marks for guessing who’s the winner in the battle between Akshay and the Italian monkey. 😉

The movie opens with Akshay Kumar employed as a jinx or Jonah at the Venetian casino in Macau (looks so like the Venetian in Vegas). When the casino sees a gambler with a winning streak, they trot out Arush (Akshay Kumar) whose presence at the table breaks the good luck of the players and boosts the casino’s profits/reduces losses.

The man is said to be so unlucky that Friday the 13th is just no match for his birthday.

So unlucky that we even have a song He’s such a loser.

Dejected when his proposal is rejected, he’s off to London to stay with his buddy Babu Rao a.k.a. Bob (Riteish Deshmukh). No sooner does he arrive in London, things begin to collapse at Bob’s place much to the irritation of Bob’s wife Hetal (Lara Dutta).

Before you know it, Arush is married to Devika Khan (Jiah Khan) daughter of casino moghul Kishore Samtani (played by Randhir Kapoor), who’s also boss of Bob and Hetal).

What a delight to see Randhir Kapoor on the screen. The geezer was good in the short role. Old certainly is Gold.

Confusion Galore, Delight Galore
The marriage is when the confusion and nonsense get into full gear, particularly when we see the newly wedded bride smooching a white guy Benny on the beach.

Soon, we have more characters including Sandy (Deepika), the sister of Major Krishna Rao (Arjun Ramphal) of the Indian military intelligence, entering the picture.

Then there’s Hetal’s estranged father Batuk Patel (Boman Irani).

Quite a menagerie, eh?

With such a colorful cast, you can guess the wild confusion, lies and more lies to cover up the earlier lies.

Akshay Pleasing
Akshay Kumar has done a decent job.

The fella is very endearing in a lot of scenes like for instance when he apologizes to Hetal (Lara Dutta) and offers to leave their place for irritating her in a countless ways including getting a full-grown tiger Prada to replace her pet parrot Prada or following the mouth-to-mouth with Deepika on the beach.

One of the irritating elements we could have done without is Chunky Pandey’s character of the Italian hotel owner Aakkhri Pasta.

Riteish Deshmukh acts pansyish a lot but manages to do a passable job.

Boman Irani is good as always.

We still believe Arjun Ramphal can’t act but mercifully he doesn’t have that big a role here.

The three skimpily-clad girls Lara Dutta, Jiah Khan and Deepika Padukone may not have covered themselves in glory but they kept enough of their body uncovered to show lots of skin, both top and bottom,  that had us happily drooling. 😉

By the way, are Jiah Khan’s boobies real? We really, really wanna know.

The music or the picturization are nothing to write home about but the comic moments amply compensated.

Go for It
There were a total of 7 people for the opening show on Friday afternoon at a theater on the East Coast.

And from the loud guffaws, all seemed to be enjoying the film.

Bottom line, we recommend Housefull. Just don’t expect to be a 100% laugh riot.

But there are more than enough laughs to keep you in good humor.

Overall, as they say in India, Housefull is a paisa vasool movie.

Related Stories:
Critics Bugger Akshay Kumar’s Housefull

13 Responses to "Housefull Review: Decent Movie; Don’t Believe the Critics"

  1. amitshetty   April 30, 2010 at 11:07 pm

    for you housefull must have given a good relief after watching Sura – the ultimate crap.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    With several Indian reviewers (we mean the ones in India) f*cking the movie badly we doubt the movie has much of a chance.

    That, of course, assumes reviews matter in India.

    BTW, we watched Raavan film trailer too during the Housefull show.

    • sganeshkumar1989   April 30, 2010 at 11:58 pm

      Akshay movies’ runnings won’t depend on reviews!

      It all depends on whether the audience got bored of his stuff or won’t mind continuing to watch his movies.

      Welcome,Bhool Bhulaiya,Singh is Kinng,Heyy Babyy fared well despite being trashed by the critics; but Chandni Chowk to China,Blue turned out to be duds(No wonder it’s tough to predict what works at the Box Office.)

      Like Kambhakt Ishq and De Dana Dan,it’ll get a big opening;let’s see how well it proceeds after 3 days.

      SearchIndia.com Responds:

      After Singh is Kinng,, Akshay has generally had a ho-hum if not outright hostile reception to his movies.

  2. amitshetty   May 1, 2010 at 1:26 am

    If Indian critics opinions had impact on box-office then MNIK should have grossed 300 crores in India given 4-5 star rating it had recieved.
    Indian critics are the biggest idiots I have ever seen.
    Dont believe just check this review of Sura :
    http://sify.com/movies/tamil/review.php?id=14940176&ctid=5&cid=2429
    http://movies.rediff.com/review/2010/apr/30/south-tamil-movie-review-sura.htm

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Read the two reviews. We don’t agree, of course.

    Only in Incredible India are people asked to Leave your brains at home before going to a movie. Really Weird. 😉

  3. sam   May 1, 2010 at 4:26 am

    Taking your word and going to c it tonight. Confusing Review though!

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Now, don’t come back and ask us for $12 because Jiah Khan’s ‘Kanchenjungas’ were smaller than you thought. 😉

    • The Mahatma   May 1, 2010 at 8:41 am

      Have you watched Nishabd? I watched a few scenes.. Jiah’s were like ‘Doddabettas’ in that..
      but she was only 18 in that movie.. not sure if the Kanchenjungas are natural or not.. most probably not.. Waiting for James Cameron to bring forth the 4D technology where you can touch and see..

      SearchIndia.com Responds:

      1. Nishabd, no.

      2. You write: Waiting for James Cameron to bring forth the 4D technology where you can touch and see..

      We don’t care about 4D…only about 40D. Hey, we can touch & feel 40D too. 😉

      (We typed this response via iPhone but apparently it never got processed). 🙁

  4. ravihyd84   May 1, 2010 at 8:03 am

    This is one comment in ibnlive on rajeev masand’s review of Housefull – “the story is a rip-off of a Kamalhasan gem in tamil called “Kadhala-kadhala”. The original in tamil is a rib-tickler. Do get a copy of the original and have a great time. It is available with sub-titles. Too bad our own Tamil movies do not get credit but some B-grade Hollywood movies get too much credit.”

    Have you seen Kadhala-Kadhala?

  5. yourmate   May 1, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    “Kadhala-Kadhala” is a good movie and pretty decent comedy, but it is also inspired by the Anotonio Banderas Starrer “Two Much”. In fact Tamil film directors saw too much potential in “Two Much” that there were atleast two or three inspirations “Jeans” was one of them.

    In these days of information explosion it is just a matter of minutes to identify whether a movie is a inspiration or a plain lift off. But Directors like Sajid Khan (Yes the man behind housefull) never seem to understand that, look at the interview below.

    http://movies.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/apr/30/slide-show-1-sajid-khan-on-housefull.htm

    Seems like Sajid khan has 4 or 5 balls (Or he does not have one), he talks as if he is the most original director in the whole earth and the entire universe should be proud of his and sister’s (The Great Farah “Original” Khan) genius. No wonder none of the Indian critics like him and would have had a field day when housefull released, Payback time.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Sajid Khan is a shameless chor (thief).

    His Heyy Babyy was stolen from Three Men and a Baby. Here is the SearchIndia.com (pre-blog) review of Heyy Babyy.

    We;ll watch Two Much in a day or two. It’s available on Instant Play at Netflix.

  6. amitshetty   May 2, 2010 at 2:16 am

    No Housefull is not inspired from Kadhala Kadhala.
    Just see synopsis – both are different.
    And for two much – Antonio Banderas openly tells lies by saying he has twin brother – in order to pursue relationships with two women he loves.
    And in Housefull, Akshay Kumar hates to lie.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    What’s the word of mouth opinion toward Housefull in your group of friends/family?

  7. amitshetty   May 2, 2010 at 3:42 am

    @SI: What’s the word of mouth opinion toward Housefull in your group of friends/family?

    Well,
    My parents – opinion same as Indian critics
    Me – opinion same as your opinion.

    Housefull will appeal to youngsters rather than old generation who have grown up watching comedies of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chaterjee.

    Many of my friends are wary of watching this movie after mental shocks they received from De Dana Dan.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Early reports suggest the movie is doing alright but let’s wait and see if it can sustain the momentum in the coming days.

    Given the trash Akshay Kumar has delivered lately and his shameless profiting from theft (Heyy Babyy), it’d be just desserts and really nice if Housefull fails. Will teach this scumbag a lesson not to profit from theft while preaching anti-piracy to the masses.

  8. rajesh jagetia   May 3, 2010 at 2:26 am

    Housefull opened to excellent response in India. The early reports suggests that weekend collection are 3rd highest after 3i and gajani or even at par with gajani.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    God, let Housefull fail.

    Please, let it become HouseEmpty soon.

    Then those scumbags Akshay Kumar and Sajid Khan will learn a lesson and not profit from theft ever again (Heyy Babyy).

    These Bollywood Chutiyas think morals and laws apply only to lesser mortals. 🙁

    • rajesh jagetia   May 3, 2010 at 7:25 am

      That doesn’t happen. As per BOI’s recent report, HF has broken the record of gajani and is now 2nd highest after 3i only.

      SearchIndia.com Responds:

      We’ll see if the movie can sustain the early gains.

  9. amitshetty   May 3, 2010 at 10:49 am

    Housefull will do marginally better than SRK’s MNIK in India.

    Like MNIK, Housefull will crash due to lack of repeat value and trashing receiving from Indian critics.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write: Like MNIK, Housefull will crash due to lack of repeat value and trashing receiving from Indian critics.

    From your lips to God’s ears! 😉

    If it crashes badly, we’ll review any Bollywod movie you want us to (within reason, of course).

    The two Chutiyas (Akshay Kumar & Sajid Khan) deserve to fail for profiting from theft (Heyy Babyy).

  10. guruprasad.s   May 6, 2010 at 4:46 am

    Watched Housefull here in Hyd’bad, and found myself laughing more often than not.
    Barring some Mr.Bean like antics, I found the movie quite OK and Akshay Kumar’s performance rather endearing. His impromptu African song and dance (ojavay oja, hey hey oja….), the prada scene, his encounter with Boman, were all quite funny.
    He is subdues rather than loud, which works for him and the movie.
    And Randhir Kapoor, albeit in a very small role, is still refreshing.
    Far better than Singh is king, Chandni Chowk…, and Kambakht Ishq.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You Write Above: Randhir Kapoor, albeit in a very small role, is still refreshing.
    Far better than Singh is king, Chandni Chowk…, and Kambakht Ishq.

    We agree 1million % on both counts.

    Overall, a decent film as we said in the review.

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