Good...Yes. Best Picture...No.

Rating: 7/10 (18 February 2011)

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad film, but it just seemed to unrealistic for me to get over. It's got a lot going for it: great acting, a pretty interesting story, great direction, cool editing (video and sound), great cinematography, etc. It's an academy pleaser, but it's a shame they failed to notice the glaring unrealism in the premise.
I'll keep this short, given that everything aside from this point in the movie was very good. I can't help but notice how coincidental the questions were in the show, and that they just so seemingly coincided with memories he remembers. Some of the things he remembers I can understand, like the God Rama, or whatever it was, question, given that it was the day when his mother died. But does he really remember so far back as to giving a poor kid a 100 dollar bill and then the kid tells him that Ben Franklin is on the bill? I don't know about him, but I probably wouldn't remember something as simple as that. Also, the question about who created the revolver still puzzles me. Just because a Colt .45 is named after Samuel Colt does that really mean that he created the revolver? I mean one of the choices names was ....something...... Revolver. I mean that's not a common last name, but if I were to create something, I'd name it after myself, not out of greed, but just so people can know subconsciously that someone with my name created it. Maybe I would just want to be nice to people on game shows, I don't know. Another main one though is how the final question of the show just so happened to be the question he was asking when he was a young kid, and he never learned the answer to, and how the movie simply avoids telling us the answer to this question. Then when Jamal is on the phone with Latika, he seems so sure that she knows the answer. Why? She never gave any reason to imply that. But then she says, "I don't know, I've never known the answer." Jamal was the one who asked it a couple times at the beginning of the movie. But the way she forms her words implies that WE were suppose to believe earlier on that she knew who it was but never said. Are you confused? Yeah me too. This is all nitpicking, but that's what I do best in a movie, and when seemingly impossible odds are met and surpassed in a film, it sets me off. The movie's excuse would probably be something like, "It is written," but that's just an excuse for contradicting writing. Anyway, the last thing that I didn't get was why Salim put all his money in the tub, then proceeded to get in the tub of money to die. What this suppose to symbolize something that I missed. If you know the answer, then good for you, but it never made sense to me.
Once again, it's not a bad movie, but I will say it is very overrated and did NOT deserve to win Best Picture or some other of the Oscars it won. Worth one watch. If you're big on movie romances, then maybe a couple watches. This movie is no means a masterpiece though, check out 127 Hours; it's by Danny Boyle as well and is far superior in my opinion.