3 Idiots (2009)

Rating: 4/10 (4 January 2012)

I really tried to like this. And just to be fair, there are a few entertaining moments, it's professionally produced, and the performances for the most part aren't that bad. Heck, I'll even go so far as to say all the protagonists are pretty good. But good lord, what an awful script. Melodramatic clichés galore, terrible humor (why so many pee and fart jokes?), simplistic messages, a hero who can absolutely do no wrong and villains for whom the phrase "one-dimensional" is generous. It's as if someone marathoned through the absolute worst Hollywood has to offer and took notes. The sad scenes are laughable, the comic scenes are painful, and all of it is predictable (except the final little twist, which I admit was kind of a nifty surprise). Much of the film resembles REAL GENIUS, from the unflappable, infallible hero to the evil professor and the suck-up rival. And that's not a movie you want to aspire to. And there's a scene I know I've seen somewhere else before, but I can't place it. Teacher tells student his exam/paper won't be accepted because it's late, student asks if the teacher knows his name, teacher says no, student stuffs paper/exam in the middle of the stack. It'd be a clever bit, if not for this nagging feeling it was lifted from something else. Even the songs aren't that great, although the accompanying spectacle is sometimes charming. In the end, it's the three leads (Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi and Madhavan) and the romantic interest (Kareena Kapoor) and their endearing performances despite the horrible material that save this from being a complete waste. But I certainly wouldn't recommend it.