Can't Quite Put My Finger On Why It Wasn't Great...

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2017)

I just recently finished watching the film sensation of 2008-2009, Slumdog Millionaire, and I wanted to share with you my initial reaction: It was a good film, with a few touching moments, but nothing that will really stick with me long after viewing.
I'm not exactly sure why I'm not caught up in the hype surrounding this film (plus its selection for Best Picture at the '09 Academy Awards), but I just don't consider it to be in any way groundbreaking or special. I don't want to steal a thread that has been circulating around the reviews for this product, but it does seem to be a bit contrived in its storytelling method, where a poor contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" wows the entire nation with his knowledge of matters that should be beyond him. Over the course of the movie, though, viewers are shown exactly how he came to know the answers to those questions through a series of flashbacks.
The film did a good enough job of building suspense that I could give it four stars over three, but I think its biggest downfall was that the central romance of the film was not a little more fleshed out. The romantic angle is supposed to provide the great drama at the end of the film, but instead (at least to me) it fell a bit flat in the notion that there wasn't enough romantic chemistry built up along the way.
Thus, while I loved the "Millionaire" segments and the ensuing drama that this film created, I felt that the background stories weren't quite compelling enough to turn this film into a classic. However, it is one of those unique movies that a person must see for themselves to make an accurate judgment on, so I would urge you to check it out. You may not LOVE it, but you will almost certainly LIKE it.