Murder Mystery 2 (2023)

 

 

Streaming Service: Netflix

Movie Name/Year: Murder Mystery 2 (2023)

Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime

Length:  1h 30min

Rating: PG-13

Production/Distribution: Echo Films, Endgame Entertainment, Happy Madison Productions, Mythology Entertainment, Netflix, Splashprod, Vinson Films

Director: Jeremy Garelick

Writers: James Vanderbilt

Actors: Adam Sandler, Adeel Akhtar, Annie Mumolo, Carlos Ponce, Dany Boon, Enrique Arce, Jennifer Aniston, Jillian Bell, Jodie Turner-Smith, John Kani, Kuhoo Verma, Larry Myo Leong, Mark Strong, Mélanie Laurent, Tony Goldwyn, Zurin Villanueva

 

IMDb Blurb: Full-time detectives Nick and Audrey are struggling to get their private eye agency off the ground. They find themselves at the center of international abduction when their friend Maharaja, is kidnapped at his own lavish wedding.

 

 

Cat’s Point of View:

These days, watching an Adam Sandler (The Week Of, Uncut Gems, Hustle) comedy is a bit like playing roulette. (The dramas have been fire lately, though.) You never know until you watch his movie whether or not it’ll turn out okay. In the case of Murder Mystery 2, I’d say that it was better than I thought it would be. My expectations, however, were not very high. 

I really enjoyed the trailer for Murder Mystery 2 and felt like it hinted at some great moments that would add up to a fun experience. I just hoped it didn’t give all of the best bits away so there were no surprises. The trailer gave a lot away. Thankfully, however, it didn’t spoil the whole thing.

It’s been a little bit since I watched the teasers, thankfully, so I watched the movie fairly fresh. I probably enjoyed the surprise of a few moments a lot better due to my memory lapse than if I had the imagery fresh on my mind from the trailer. 

 

That being said, Murder Mystery 2 was fun. I laughed and was fairly impressed at the action that they packed into the story. Sandler isn’t the first actor you think about when action is involved, after all. Mark Strong (1917, Cruella, Nocebo), on the other hand, helped lend some ‘action cred’ to a few of those scenes. 

Jennifer Aniston (Cake, Storks, The Morning Show) and Sandler’s characters were very relatable as a married couple and their chemistry was fabulous. I’ve been married over 20 years, and I could identify with some of their banter and frustrations with each other on a nearly visceral level. At the same time, it was funny and a respectful take on couples squabbling that didn’t delve into darkness. 

 

I also absolutely adored the Bollywood-like segment of the production. I enjoy a good Bollywood film now and again for all of the costumes and dance choreography. It’s fun and interesting to watch. 

Overall, Murder Mystery 2 wasn’t changing the world, but it was a fun ride. I’d definitely recommend anyone that enjoyed the first movie to check out this sequel. 

 

 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 45%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 49%

Metascore – 44%

Metacritic User Score – 5/10

IMDB Score – 5.6/10

 

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5

Movie Trailer:

Kung Fu Yoga (2017)

Streaming Service: Amazon Prime
Movie Name/Year: Kung Fu Yoga (2017)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Length: 107 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Production/Distribution: ABS-CBN Film Productions, Baidu Nuomi Pictures, Beijing Herui FIlm Culture, Beijing Idea Media, Beijing Taihe Zeruo Culture Investment, China Film, China Film Co., Ltd., China Film Group Corporation (CFGC), Clover Films, Film & TV House, GEM Entertainment, Golden Network Asia, Golden Screen Cinemas, Golden Village Pictures, Hero Productions, Huace Pictures, Huaxia Film Distribution, Icon Film Distribution, Kadokawa, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, Kashgar J.Q. Media & Culture, Khorgos Taihe Digital Entertainment Cultural Development, Koch Media, Long Shong Entertainment Multimedia Company, Nextainment Pictures, Phars Film, Prosperity Pictures, Rui Off, Shanghai Taihe Pictures, Shanghai Taopiaopiao Film Culture, Shinework Pictures, Sparkle Roll Media, Taihe Entertainment, Tanweer Films, TOABH Talent Management, Top Entertainment, Well Go USA Entertainment, Xi'an Qujiang Film & TV Investment, Youth Film Studio
Director: Stanley Tong
Writer: Stanley Tong
Actors: Jackie Chan, Yixing Zhang, Miya Muqi, Disha Patani, Aarif Rahman, Amyra Dastur, Sonu Sood, Paul Philip Clark, Yuxian Shang, Jiang Wen, Eric Tsang, Guoli Zhang
 
Blurb from IMDb: Two professors team up to locate a lost treasure and embark on an adventure that takes them from a Tibetan ice cave to Dubai, and to a mountain temple in India.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
I’m not going to judge Kung Fu Yoga as a mainstream flick. I don’t think that’s what they were aiming for. Instead, it seems to me that it falls into the sub-genre of caricature parody.
 
If you look at Kung Fu Yoga as a real kung fu, mainstream, movie… you’re not going to enjoy it. The script was not great, everything was super campy, and there were a few CGI scenes that felt straight out of an early 2000s video game cut-scene. Once you accept that it’s a parody, however, it’s not all that bad.
 
You pretty much know what to expect when Jackie Chan is in the credits. Especially when it’s not meant to be a serious film. The fight choreography was hilarious, even when it didn’t 100% make sense. That’s his bread and butter. No one does silly comedic impressive fighting quite like Chan.
 
As a parody, it still had flaws, though.
 

I mentioned already that the script was bad. That almost feels like an understatement. However, I think only part of that quality can be attributed to the script itself. A lot of the flaw was with the delivery.
 
I have to assume the acting was intentionally bad. I mean, I’ve seen a few of the actors in other projects and they don’t strike me as bad in general. That possibility lends to my belief that it’s a caricature.
 
There were also some other genre anomalies.
 
Kung Fu Yoga seemed to blend bits of Chinese film with Bollywood aspects, there was even a bit a Westernization thrown in. I think there’s something to be said for the diversity in that. It did lead to some confusing switch ups, and a wholly unsatisfying ending, though.
 
The bottom line was that it did have qualities that I would describe as ‘so bad it’s good’. It definitely wouldn’t be for everyone, but I’m glad I watched it for the fight scenes alone.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 48%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 35%
Metascore – 50%
Metacritic User Score – 4.7
IMDB Score – 5.1/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3/5
 
Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: PG-13
 
Movie Trailer:

Heropanti (2014) - Foreign Film Friday

Number Rolled: 88

Movie Name/Year: Heropanti (2014)

Tagline: None

Genre: Action, Romance

Length: 137 minutes

Rating: NR

Production Companies: Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment

Producer: Siraj Kasmani, Rakesh Madhotra, Sajid Nadiadwala, Sameer A. Shaikh

Director: Sabir Khan

Writer: Sanjeev Dutta

Actors: Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon, Parth Akerkar, Anuradha Chandan, Karan Chhabra, Sandeepa Dhar, Sunil Grover, Priyamvada Kant, Sugandha Mishra, Prakash Raj, Howard Rosemeyer, K.C. Shankar, Dev Sharma, Devanshu Sharma, Shireesh Sharma, Samar Jai Singh, Vikram Singh, Jatin Suri, Raashul Tandon, Arun Verma, Karuna Verma

Stunts: Anal Arasu, Gn Murugan

Blurb from Netflix: Goons kidnap Bablu after he helps his friend run away with a powerful man’s daughter. While he’s held captive, he falls for the girl’s younger sister.

Selina’s Point of View:

Whenever I watch a Bollywood film from this era, I wonder if the entire genre was just really enthralled with late 80s, or early 90s, American films. There are so many aspects of this film that remind me of various movies I saw in my childhood.

The whole feel of the film, including that music video during the credits, was very early 90s action-romance. If it was in English, I’d have guessed it was made in 1992.

That said, there were some good things about Heropanti and some not-so-great things.

I have to start with a technical issue I had.

There was a sound problem, early in the film. At first, I thought it might be the way my TV was handling the type of music used for the fight scenes. I paused the film and tested my speakers against other similar music. It all came out fine. I then asked a few people to load up the film to the appropriate time stamp and they all had the same issue.

I don’t think it was done as an artistic choice. Around the 15-minute mark, there’s some music that sounds like it’s being played off of a worn-out VHS tape. The sound skips a little and gets fuzzy, the way it tends to do when you listen to something with harsh bass on bad headphones.

I reported it to Netflix.

I also didn’t like the positioning of some of the musical numbers. A couple of times it seemed to come absolutely out of nowhere, but I think that may be an issue I have with the entire genre… so I don’t hold it against this particular film.

On a good note, there were some visually stunning scenes, the acting was decent, and I found myself liking characters I wouldn’t normally like. The antagonist even managed to pull at my heartstrings a little and, considering some of the heinous things he was threatening, that’s a bit of a feat.

Despite the length of the film, which was significant, I did manage to enjoy it. It didn’t even feel all that long. If you’re a fan of Bollywood, give it a shot.

Cat’s Point of View:

I’ll admit that I wasn’t entirely thrilled to watch this movie today. My mood wasn’t ideal, to be honest. I do really try to keep an open mind even when I’m feeling meh. Surprisingly, however, this film won me over, anyway.

Somewhere along the line I forgot I was even reading subtitles – that’s a sign that a foreign film has hooked me. We’re not even going to talk about the tears towards the end – these were not the feels you were looking for. I have allergies, ok?! Fine. It was emotional.

This movie was a bit like they threw an action martial arts flick in a blender with the story of Romeo and Juliet. It worked in the oddest and yet most satisfying way.

When I say action movie – we’re talking some seriously crazy-good fight sequences. There were chase scenes and parkour…the works! There was a lack of explosions, but I don’t think anything that drastic would have been remotely called for so it wasn’t missed.

This film was the debut for the lead, Tiger Shroff (Baaghi, The Flying Jatt, Munna Michael). It’s said that he trained for three whole years to prepare for this role, and I believe it. He performed all his own stunts, and let me tell you that some of them had my jaw on the floor.

Some of the dialogue was a little cheesy, but that’s something I’ve come to expect from Bollywood movies of this nature. I’m not quite sure what the snow theme is all about – there was a similar sequence in the movie Krrish (2006) that I’d previously reviewed. I’m not sure if it’s something with thematic symbolism or a cultural thing, or if someone just thought it looked cool. It was a little odd in the middle of the movie, but hey – overall, it worked.

What it boils down to is that this film is a solid offering in the Bollywood genre with a heartfelt story, some comedic elements, romance, and a heavy dose of action well worth the nearly two and a half hours of view-time.

Languages

Speech Available: Hindi

Subtitles Available: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, Spanish

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 32%

Metascore - None

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 5.4/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3.5/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4/5

Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: PG-13

P.S.  Music video during the credits.

Movie Trailer:

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015) - Foreign Film Friday

Number Rolled: 69

Movie Name/Year: Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015)

Tagline: Expect the unexpected

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Action, Drama, Bollywood

Length: 137 minutes

Rating: NR

Production Companies: Dibakar Banerjee Productions

Producer: Dibakar Banerjee, Vikas Chandra, Aditya Chopra, Smriti Jain, Gaurav Mishra

Director: Dibakar Banerjee

Writer: Urmi Juvekar, Dibakar Banerjee, Saradindu Bandopadhyay

Actors: Sushant Singh Rajput, Anand Tiwari, Neeraj Kabi, Divya Menon, Swastika Mukherjee,  Meiyang Chang, Mark Bennington, Takanori Higuchi, Shivam, Kaushik Ghosh, Anindya Pulak Banerjee, Arindol Bagchi, Pradipto Kumar Chakraborty, Manoshi Nath, Moumita Chakraborty, Tirtha Mallick, Shaktipada Dey

Stunt Doubles: None

Blurb from Netflix: Plunged into the chaos of Calcutta during World War II, a rookie detective finds himself opposing a malevolent genius with world domination plans.

Selina’s Point of View:

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! was basically the Hindi version of Sherlock Holmes. Not the original version from the books, but what it’s morphed into over the years. I’d compare it more to the Robert Downey Jr. (Chef, Iron Man, The Judge) version than the Benedict Cumberbatch (Zoolander 2, Black Mass, The Imitation Game) version, too.

There was almost equal parts amusement and seriousness that I kind of enjoyed. The main character, played by Sushant Singh Rajput (PK, Raabta, Shuddh Desi Romance), would do something to make me grin or chuckle, but the moment a dead body was involved he reacted appropriately. One of my biggest pet peeves in films involve when characters not used to the site of a dead body just seem to take it in stride when they’re finally exposed to it.

Let me tell you, that’s not how that works.

Rajput successfully represented someone who wasn’t used to being exposed to death a great deal. There was shock and sadness and mortality in his expression. As someone who’s spent some time at the morgue, let me tell you, that is normally the truth of it for newbies.

The plot was a little all over the place and the film was much longer than I would have liked… but it wasn’t difficult to watch. I enjoyed the interaction between the characters.

I was a little thrown off when I saw the name of the actor that played Anguri Devi. Her name was Swastika Mukherjee (The Last Poem, Take One, Incomplete). That’s a hell of name. It threw me off for a few, but it’s always important to remember the cultural differences involved here. In India, the swastika originally represented peace and university – which is likely what her name was meant to represent. Hitler corrupted the word and the symbol, but the original meaning is still a part of Indian culture.

That doesn’t really affect the film at all, but it’s worth noting.

I really kind of enjoyed this film. The plot caught me off guard a lot, though I’m not sure if that’s because the mystery was in depth or because I was too busy paying attention to the subtitles to really be able to suss out what was happening. Still, I’d recommend it to anyone interested in Hindi films.

Cat’s Point of View:

I’ve been looking forward to this Foreign Film Friday all week. I’m a sucker for the occasional period piece and mysteries are usually fun. Combine the two, and I was all set for a noir gumshoe film with Bollywood flair. That wasn’t exactly what I got.

Don’t get me wrong – the movie is interesting for a World War 2 mystery set in Calcutta. I liked it. Here comes the ‘but.’ I would have liked it more if not for one glaring issue – the soundtrack.

What was the production team on when they decided that all those anachronistic tracks – along the veins of growly metal and modern quasi-dance music – were a good idea?! Seriously. Air raid sirens one moment and rapping in Hindi the next. It wasn’t through the whole movie, but it was just often enough to knock me right out of the setting.

I get it that they maybe wanted to be different and not like a typical Bollywood feature; especially in scenes with building tension, danger, or action sequences – but metal or rapping in a movie set in the early 1940s? Bad call. 

With the right premise, movies can sometimes get away with infiltrating ‘modern’ music into tales of yore – case and point being A Knight’s Tale (2001). Each of those modern musical numbers was retooled or carefully selected with lyrics fitting the scenes and worked into the medieval landscape. What was happening in this movie was just tantamount to background noise. Of course, I don’t speak Hindi and the subtitles didn’t offer translation for the rapping. Given the rest of the selections, I highly doubt it was topical.

I do want to leave with a positive note here. Aside from the musical mishaps along the way, the story was interesting. I loved the parallels in homage to Sherlock Holmes. If you stay on top of it, the mystery is fairly predictable in its resolution. There’s enough twisting of the plot, however, to keep you guessing at least a good while if you’re not seeking to puzzle things out for yourself.

I wish I could rate this movie better, but the discord created between the movie and score took a lot of the fun out of it for me.

Languages

Speech Available: Hindi

Subtitles Available: English

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 67%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 75%

Metascore - 70/100

Metacritic User Score – 7/10

IMDB Score – 7.7/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3.5/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 2.5/5

Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: R

P.S.  Based on a series of novels referred to as Byomkesh Bakshy Mysteries, written by Sharadindu Bandopadhyay.

Movie Trailer:

Krrish (2006) - Foreign Film Friday - Through the Eyes of Cat

By Cat

Number Rolled: N/A

Movie Name/Year: Krrish (2006)

Tagline: He was born with a gift ... he was special ... like his father.

Genre: Bollywood, Action/Adventure, Romance, Sci-Fi

Length: 154 minutes

Rating: NR

Production Companies: Film Kraft

Producer: Rakesh Roshan

Director: Rakesh Roshan

Writer: Rakesh Roshan, Robin Bhatt, Sachin Bhowmick, Honey Irani, Akarsh Khurana, Sanjay Masoom

Actors: Rekha, Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Sharat Saxena, Hemant Pandey, Manini M. Mishra, Naseeruddin Shah, Puneet Issar, Akash Khurana, Xia Bin, Archana Puran Singh, Kiran Juneja, Preity Zinta

Stunt Coordinators: Siu-Tung Ching, Shyam Kaushal

Blurb from Rottentomatoes: Krishna is born with magical powers -- a legacy from his father, Rohit Mehra. Priya comes into his life and becomes his world. When she beckons him to Singapore, he follows. In Singapore, Dr Siddhant Arya, the megalomaniac scientist is on the verge to change the future forever. Only one man stands between Dr Siddharth Arya and his destructive dreams. To block his ruthless ambitions, Krishna must become Krrish.

Why is this edition special, you ask? Today, I get to take you ‘off script’ so to speak. Since Foreign Film Friday was added to our format this year, there aren’t any movies for me to pick out of Selina’s archived solo reviews to give you a different perspective on. So rather than rolling, I’ve selected a movie just barely outside of our list timeframe (releases within the last decade).

I remember watching a trailer for this film around the time it was released, and how I had been so curious about it then. Then, I noticed that there was a sequel to Krrish available on Netflix that is within our list-range. Win-win! This movie looked really interesting and it gives you some groundwork frame of reference prior to the dice potentially giving us Krrish 3 (2013) at some point in the future. You might be wondering what happened to ‘Krrish 2’ – I’ll get to that here in a second.

First, I want to caution our readers to entirely ignore the blurb description in Netflix for this movie. It’s entirely wrong. This is one thing that galls me about these little summary descriptions. It’s not just Netflix that falls prey to this – it’s everywhere. I’ve experienced it with my Xfinity cable service as well. Someone either snarky or plain lazy writes whatever the hell they feel like without really getting a grasp of what the programming they’re summarizing entails. I have had to double-take before in an instance where the blurb-writer interjected their personal opinion of the production. Whether or not some bozo who thinks they’re funny likes something or not has no bearing on my desire to know what the general plot of something is as I’m scrolling through my guide. Can you tell that this is a pet peeve?

I digress…

Back to the movie! To answer the conundrum posed before, there simply is no Krrish 2. Krrish is actually considered the 2^nd movie of this franchise. It all starts with the film Koi... Mil Gaya (2003), which features the parents and grandparents of Krrish’s main character. It seems they didn’t use the ‘2’ in the title because this is an origin story for the Krrish superhero. Krrish 3 (2013) picks up at some point after the events in this movie, and there’s a Krrish 4 currently in production with a release date tentatively set for Christmas of 2018 in India.

Following Krrish, and especially around the timeframe of the 3^rd installment of this series, comic books and cartoons came out featuring this superhero. This series is considered one of the most successful Bollywood franchises of all time. I can see why – it was fantastic!

There are only 2 things that kept this from getting a 5-star rating from me. The first was those infernal subtitles. The text was in plain white and over the movie, and had a few issues here and there. The subs did follow the lyrics of the traditional Bollywood musical numbers sprinkled through the movie, though. To be honest, I got so drawn into the movie that at some point I stopped caring and wasn’t even realizing I was reading as I watched.

The second issue wasn’t really all that bad. The film is a little over 2.5 hours long. At some points it feels a little slow-moving, but it doesn’t really take away from the story. The movie needed the time it took for character development. A few minutes here or there could have been streamlined but other than that, the length was justified.

The first act of the story follows the main character, Krishna, as he grows from a boy into the strapping young man, isolated from the world. The second act comes when the outside world comes to him and he has an encounter that changes him forever – because his feelings get involved. The third act is what follows as a result, and so on. I can’t really give more detail away without spoiling things.

The cast is fabulous here. When Rakesh Roshan (King Uncle, Koyla, Karobaar: The Business of Love); whom was writer, director, producer, and actor playing Krishna’s grandfather; wrote the story for this movie, he must have had his son in mind for the lead. It suited Hrithik Roshan (Lakshyta, Kites, Mohenjo Daro) perfectly. This guy has some serious action skills. You read that right – the lead in this film is Rakesh Roshan’s son. (The musical composer Rajesh Roshan (Love at Times Square, Aetbaar, Valley of Flowers), is also Rakesh’s brother!)

Hrithik had his work cut out for him in preparation for this movie. He had martial arts skills to execute (impressively, I might add), and TONS of wire-work. In fact, there was a freak accident involving snapped cables while filming in Singapore that was a near-miss to catastrophe. Hrithik makes this stuff look easy – and he looks good doing it, too.

This movie has all the classic Bollywood elements – humor, drama, romance, a twist, group dance numbers, fantastic visuals and costuming. There’s breathtaking scenery, and interesting cinematography. I loved the action special effects. It reminded me in some places of watching anime where the background blurs behind the character to highlight whatever power move is happening. In some places it almost felt like a comic brought to life – done the right way. Then, of course, there’s a sci-fi element woven in. Since I was unfamiliar with the first movie, it came at me out of nowhere; so I won’t spoil it for you!

All told, the movie was engaging and full of heart. It’s a must-see for anyone that loves superhero origins and musicals Bollywood-style. This film, in fact, would be great for anyone looking to test the waters with the genre.

Languages

Speech Available: Hindi

Subtitles Available: English

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 100%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 72%

Metascore - 68/100

Metacritic User Score –6.5/10

IMDB Score – 6.3/10

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4.5/5

Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: PG

Movie Trailer: 

Bonus! - If you don't mind mild spoilers, there's a 6-minute behind-the-scenes video available here. There's interview content, a look at the martial arts training Hrithik Roshan underwent, and production footage. 

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015) - Foreign Film Friday

Number Rolled: 27

Movie Name/Year: Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015)

Tagline: None

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Bollywood

Length: 163 minutes

Rating: TV-14

Production Companies: Rajshri Productions

Producer: Ajit Kumar Barjatya, Devaansh S. Barjatya, Kamal Kumar Barjatya, Kavitha Barjatya, Rajat A. Barjatya, Rajkumar Barjatya, Ruchi Ajit Barjatya

Director: Sooraj R. Barjatya

Writer: Sooraj R. Barjatya, Aash Karan Atal

Actors: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Deepak Dobriyal, Arman Kohli, Swara Bhaskar, Aashika Bhatia, Deep Raj Rana, Manoj Joshi, Sanjay Mishra, Samaira Rao, Anupam Kher, Prem Khan, Suhasini Mulay, Sameer Dharmadhikari, Lata Sabharwal, Karuna Pandey, Brijendra Kala, Vishwa Mohan Badola, Mukesh Bhatt

Stunt Doubles: Adam Horton, Peter Pedrero, Calvin Warrington-Heasman

Languages

Speech Available: Hindi

Subtitles Available: English, Chinese, French, German, Spanish

Blurb from Netflix: While recovering from an assassination attempt four days prior to his coronation, a stern prince is replaced by a joyful and generous doppelganger.

Selina’s Point of View:

This movie was three fucking hours long. I need to check run-times before I watch. A while into the film I thought to myself, “Damn, this feels like it’s been going on forever and I don’t think I’m near the climax.” So, I checked to see how far in I was. An hour and eight minutes… and I had roughly two hours to go. Holy hell.

I don’t even like watching fantasy-based three hour movies. I get antsy.

That was my only issue with it, though.

This film was more like what I expected from Bollywood than the last Hindi film we watched. There were lots of colors, flashy sets, music numbers, and a fable-like tale being told. In fact, it felt a bit like a live-action Prince and the Pauper story.

One of the things that made this incredibly long film watchable, was the main characters. Salman Khan (Lai Bhaari, Phata Poster nikhla Hero, Veer) and Sonam Kapoor (Khoobsurat, Raanjhanaa, Aisha) were both great, in different ways. Khan had phenomenal comedic timing. He almost always got a chuckle out of me. Whereas Kapoor was so enchanting that I couldn’t take my eyes off her while she was on screen.

I really enjoyed this film. In fact, I believe I had such a negative outlook on Bollywood films because they’d never been described to me properly. If I had to describe the genre to someone else, I’d call it a kind of opera. The music is meant to hold the majority of the story and the dances seem to be where the chemistry between the characters truly comes into play. The only reason it looks over the top to Westerners, is because we’re used to the popularity of darker colors and more toned down sets. Culturally, the opposite seems to be the norm for Bollywood.

Perspective. It’s a hell of a drug.

If anything, I’d say our last Bollywood film – while more normal to me and Cat – is quite toned down for its genre.

In the end, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo was a very long film… but it had a hell of a pay off at the end and I don’t regret taking the time to watch it. I will remember it fondly.

Cat’s Point of View:

I was excited to see this movie come up for our Foreign Film Friday. It didn’t disappoint in the least.

Just to get this out of the way; I’ll tell you that this film stomped all over my subtitle pet peeve – but only at first. I got so into the movie that it bugged me less and less as time went on until I just didn’t think anything of it at all. The words were placed over the movie, but they seemed to have a little shadowing to separate from the background. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Like I said, however, I got far enough enmeshed in the movie that reading along became second nature. I found myself paying more attention to what was going on in the scenes. There were a few cultural references that I didn’t understand due to lack of general knowledge such as folklore and festival days. The film gives enough context to keep the uninitiated from being horribly confused, at least.

This movie was a more traditional Bollywood than the last we watched. There are song and dance numbers sprinkled throughout the whole movie. Each instance of such had story purpose and felt like it flowed together smoothly with the rest of the scenes rather than falling into the trap of seeming like random flash mobs were happening.

The lead roles in this film were also apparently Bollywood royalty. Salman Khan (Son of Sardaar, Jai Ho, Sultan) has been a leading man for many years and has worked on several occasions with Sonam Kapoor (Mausam, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Neerja), whom was his costar in this movie. Their chemistry was spot on and that likely had a good deal to do with a comfortability with each other.

I am happy to say that while this wasn’t the most original concept, the tale was told well and it was endearing. I love the vibrant colors so often present in this culture. Some of the set pieces were absolutely stunning. Overall, the film was a visual feast.

I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone wanting to get their feet wet with Bollywood, and I wouldn’t even mind watching it again.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 48%

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 2/5

Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 4/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 3.5/5

Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 4.5/5

P.S. Extra scenes during the credits.

Movie Trailer:

I, Me aur Main (2013) - Foreign Film Friday

Number Rolled: 19

Movie Name/Year: I, Me aur Main (2013)

Tagline: None

Genre: Bollywood, Comedy

Length: 98 minutes

Rating: TV-PG

Production Companies: Only Distribution companies listed

Producer: Goldie Behl, Shrishti Behl, Sada Bhuvad, Niraj Kothari, Sanjeev Lamba, Anup Poddar

Director: Kapil Sharma

Writer: Devika Bhagat

Actors: John Abraham, Chitrangda Singh, Prachi Desai, Mini Mathur, Zarina Wahab, Sheena Shahabadi, Mukul Chadda, Raima Sen, Krish Chatterji, Arlette Evita Grao, Deepti Gujral, Sai Gundewar, Micky Makhija, Errol Peter Marks, Prianca Sharma, Amar Talwar

Stunt Doubles: N/A

Languages

Speech Available: Hindi

Subtitles Available: English, Spanish

Blurb from Netflix: A narcissistic music producer who has been indulged by the women in his life must finally grow up and take responsibility for his ne’er-do-well ways.

Selina’s Point of View:

In foreign films the biggest hurdle is usually the cultural differences. Happy endings in one country are not necessarily happy endings for others. Morality and ethics differ from culture to culture. Some value love highest while others value responsibility highest.

That being said, I was actually incredibly surprised that there was really a complete lack of cultural difference between a romantic comedy that would be made here and I, Me aur Main. In fact, it followed a recipe that I was almost certain only applied to American cinema. I’ve seen foreign romantic comedies before and they usually have much different recipes they follow.

There was so little cultural difference here that parts of the film were actually in English.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t fond of the language swapping. I’d be reading the subtitles, then start listening to the English being spoken, then not return to the subtitles quickly enough to see what the next Hindi line meant. It was a little on the annoying side. I did get used to it after a bit and managed to just stick to the subtitles, but still.

I did find it incredibly amusing that whenever they said “shit” in the film the subtitles actually said “darn.” What was up with that?

As far as a recipe film goes, this one was fine. There was nothing overly spectacular about it, but it did make the plot its own.

The main actor was charming enough to keep his character’s narcissistic tendencies just the correct side of unbearable. John Abraham (Shootout at Wadala, Rocky Handsome, New York) managed to keep Ishaan relatable enough for the audience to sympathize with him instead of taking joy in his failures. I was also completely enamored by Prachi Desai (Azhar, Life Partner, Once Upon a Time in Mumbai). Her portrayal of Gauri was absolutely adorable and fun to watch. The chemistry between her and Abraham was off the charts.

I haven’t seen much in the way of Bollywood films. I heard that they were all really over the top, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was easy to follow.

It was a perfectly adequate film. I’d actually sit through it again. Even without the subtitles I’m pretty sure I’d be able to keep up.

Cat’s Point of View:

I’m going to be honest – when we rolled this movie for Foreign Film Friday, I inwardly groaned. The description made it sound like some sort of romantic drama. Of course, I try not to ‘pre-game’ by looking up movies on IMDb before watching, if I haven’t seen them before. So when the comedic and musical elements came into play it was a surprise.

This movie had to be nearly the complete opposite of the last film we watched hailing from this region of the world. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. My reaction to the film was pleasantly unexpected.

So I mentioned last time about feeling like I missed something because there was no translation available for the background music. That is not a problem in this movie. I will admit that keeping track of the subtitles between the musical score, the speaking, and watching the story unfold visually was sometimes a challenge.

I have one beef with the subtitles, though. It’s a big one. I absolutely can’t stand when someone translating takes liberties with what they’re conveying. Now, in this case – the most noticeable of the discrepancies occurred with profanity. They said ‘shit.’ The subtitles did not. So is this some sort of censoring going on? Did that happen to maintain the “TV-PG” rating that Netflix proclaims? The language of the characters is sprinkled with English, so it’s not like I heard the Hindi word and knew it was misrepresented. It was English plain as day. That wasn’t the only instance.

I guess that’s a risk you take with subtitles.

Bollywood movies are fun and engaging as the song and dance numbers work their way into the plot. The movements are so intricate and high energy. This movie didn’t go 100% into that genre as it’s usually represented. My primary reference for such is the movie Bride and Prejudice (2004). I absolutely love that movie. I digress. I’ve been told it’s a good example. Given that the main character is a music producer, I think they incorporated those elements in a savvy way.

I enjoyed the strong female characters portrayed and the story was pretty good. Sure, it was a bit predictable and I wouldn’t put it up for award contention – but is that really why we watch movies like this?

Adorable dimples. That’s why. No, wait. Fun. The message in the movie didn’t take away from its enjoy-ability, and it was entertaining. I wouldn’t mind watching this one again – and can’t wait to see what the dice gives us next week.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 13%

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 2/5

Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 3/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 3/5

Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 3.5/5

P.S. There is a music video during the credits.

Movie Trailer: