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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Thank You



A STILL FROM THE MOVIE 
Critic's Rating: 
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Irrfan Khan, Bobby Deol, Suniel Shetty, Sonam Kapoor, Rimmi Sen, Celina Jaitley
Direction: Anees Bazmee
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 2 hours 28 minutes
Readers Rating: 
More from Thank You

Photogallery
Official Website
Slapstick comedy with intermittent humour 

Story: Bobby Deol, Suniel Shetty and Irrfan Khan are a trio of philandering husbands who don't think twice before being unfaithful to their wives, Sonam Kapoor, Celina Jaitley and Rimmi Sen. Enter marriage therapist, Akshay Kumar, who is determined to teach them a lesson and bring them back to the happy family fold. 

Movie Review : Anees Bazmee seems to be re-visiting familiar terrain with his new film. Thank You is heavily inspired by his earlier comic caper, No Entry, where Salman Khan had the onerous task of curing a motley group of errant husbands from their chronic infidelity. This time, it is Akshay Kumar who wields the baton -- or is it the flute -- to underscore the sanctity of the institution of marriage. Is this a case of playing safe for the director who has recently burned his hands at the box office or is it a drought of story ideas that seems to be Bollywood's biggest scourge?

Repetition notwithstanding, Thank You ends up as timepass fare, although it isn't as rollicking as No Entry. The first half of the film seems to be an exercise in nothingness and has you fidgeting in your seat as you try to look for the rare laughs in a script that is supposed to be funny. The bit-on-the-side sequences of the three husbands are hardly hilarious nor does the fuming wives club set the screen ablaze with hysteria. It is only in the second half that the film acquires form and substance and has you grinning at certain goof-ups. Akshay Kumar's elaborate plans to set the three marriages straight provides scope for actors like Irrfan Khan and Suneil Shetty to kick up a bit of fun, although Bobby Deolhas hardly any humour tailored into his role. By and large, he remains dour and angry as he begins to suspect his sweet wife Sonam of adultery. The girls, on their part, mostly remain cosmetic with Sonam looking terribly out of sync, Rimmi not being allowed to play her feisty self and Celina being forced to do the disappearing act for a large part of the film.

So what's funny about Thank You? It's the guys who reiterate the worn-out cliche that fidelity isn't an intrinsic part of male physiology. Add to this the high production values -- glitzy locales, jazzy styling -- and Pritam's pop numbers and you have a film that can be an average weekend getaway. Nothing more, not even Mallika Sherawat's item number.

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