Over-Boyled

Rating: 6/10 (3 May 2009)

The film captures the color and vibrancy of Mumbai, but the script is stupid, amateurish, contrived, melodramatic, and completely illogical. The preposterous notion that a game show contestant suspected of cheating would be tortured by the police is an insult to India. A competent director may have overcome the shortcomings of the script, but Boyle is obsessed with his distracting visual style (tilted camera, fast inter-cutting, excessive closeups) at the expense of story and character development and acting. His over-indulgent style is better suited to music videos. Also, as with his earlier "Trainspotting," this one features a revolting toilet scene. What's with that?