I don’t have a lot of patience for the stories about self-centered young men being adrift and confused and having themselves a quarter-life crisis. I’m not sure why-- I totally did the quarter life crisis thing too. Right on schedule at 25, I packed up all my things, quit my job and moved 2500 miles away. But did I meet Kareena Kapoor and have wacky adventures? No. I drove across rural Canada with my mother.
Apparently this movie got a lot of praise for being “fresh” and “different”, but I must hang around the right parts of the internet because all I heard was “meh” and “bleh” which was my reaction as well. The slightly unconventional ending doesn’t really make up for the self-indulgent paint-by-numbers effect of the rest of the movie.
Rahul (Imran Khan) is depressed, his parents are overbearing and he won’t admit to them that he lost his fancy job. He meets Riana (Kareena Kapoor) who is your standard issue Manic Pixie Dream Girl but since this is Kareena, she is actually fun and I would totally be her friend. She, in typical MPDG fashion, convinces him to get drunk and somehow they end up getting accidentally married by Elvis because this is Las Vegas and that’s what you do. This whole thread was actually pretty funny, Kareena is great and Imran makes hilarious faces so their comedy works pretty well together.
As they do the paperwork to get their marriage annulled, Riana wears straight-laced Rahul down until they become friends, like you have seen in every other movie like this ever. You can almost see the director going “You were such a hit in Jab We Met! Just be Geet again!” Of course, things happened in Jab We Met, we are not so lucky here. As she tries to cheer him up, he falls for her, because she’s Kareena, who wouldn’t? This part dragged, a lot. I don’t know if it was the script, or the (lack of) chemistry, or that they didn’t bother to give Riana any character outside of her relationship with Rahul, but it was just boring.
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| What I'd rather be watching. |
It picked up again when they went to India and met Geet-- I mean Riana’s-- family. Sure, they were a total cliche, but I’d rather spend New Years with them than Rahul’s character. Then there was “Aunty-ji”, which was adorable.
Lyrics translation here.
The ending might have redeemed this movie, but it didn’t quite work for me. Summary: it did nothing to change my mind about wanting to throw Rahul through a window. Spoilers, but, you know, rom-com, not that many options here.
The ending might have redeemed this movie, but it didn’t quite work for me. Summary: it did nothing to change my mind about wanting to throw Rahul through a window. Spoilers, but, you know, rom-com, not that many options here.
While they’re in India, Rahul finally makes a move on Riana, but she rejects him. She just wanted to cheer him up and get him to have some fun, like friends do. I know this scene worked for a lot of people. Imran and Kareena do it well, but I have very little patience for “You’re not in love with me so now I’m mad”, as realistic as it was. Then Rahul finally stands up to his parents at a dinner party, because nothing displays maturity and independence like screaming at your parents like a 13 year old. Emboldened, he makes up with Riana, they stay friends, and he goes on to live a happy and mature life pining after Riana.
Yeah. The romantic comedy genre is pretty formulaic: there are two people, who according to the script, ought to be together, but are not, due to either interpersonal issues or external factors. This gives the opportunity, even to lazy script writers, for either character development and/or plot. If you are going to deviate from the formula-- that’s great! But then you really do have to think up your own story to tell, and that’s where this movie didn’t deliver for me.
