Good little movie.

Rating: 7/10 (28 December 2008)

Slumdog Millionaire - A former street child Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) from Mumbai is arrested and questioned for knowing all of the answers on an Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" He explains, in flashbacks, his past and how he has come to know all the answers to the questions. The film is shot and diced up with three time lines: Jamal's childhood, his experience on the show, and his recounting of both to the police. It's a cool novel way to tell a story that is essentially a love story between Jamal and Latika (Frieda Pinto)
The first half of the film is gritty, urban and akin to realism in aesthetics. The rundown lived in qualities of India are rich and very human. I enjoyed them in Salaam Bombay and I liked them here. It's very pleasant to see India's culture unadulterated. India is beautiful and beautifully shot. I expect this film will get many props for Cinematography. The soundtrack is also very good, with many catchy easy-to-groove-to songs. The performances are all top notch. It's a sweet little journey Jamal and his big brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) are on. They commit all sorts of trickery and get into much hi-jinx to survive.
It's the main contrivance of the plot (the catch) that is irritating, and leads to the pulpy fluff of the second half. Nearly EVERY question asked on the show pertains to this young man's life in some key way? He didn't study at all? I just have to roll my eyes, and did several times. Many of the questions are also dead easy in addition to corresponding far too easily with Jamal's past. It's less a tale of a poor man making it to fame and riches with his own abilities than being carried there by the movie gods.
In the end, we have a rather good movie that should not be held up to the hype surrounding it. This happened for me with Babel a few years ago. It's a shame we have awards and award campaigning to cloud our judgments on films. This will probably be held up as better than it is by people looking for hope in our current depression. Slumdog's not the best I've seen this year, but it's still a good little movie that rekindles the faith lost in Danny Boyle after Sunshine. Good but not the best, Slumdog gets a B+