It was okay

Rating: 6/10 (7 May 2009)

Malik (Patel) goes on a TV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire in the hope that his long lost love Latika (Pinto) sees him and still cares. The setting is India.
If the powers that be wanted a FEEL GOOD movie to win Best Picture they got their wish. It was okay. I wouldn't have nominated it for Best Picture (it won for that), and I certainly wouldn't have nominated the Director for the Best Director Award (it won for that too).
(Don't hold back Bob, tell us how you really feel)
The beginning of this movie was confusing. I had no idea what was going on, the scenes shifted so fast and the sub-titles came and went with the wind. The sub-titles were too small, often yellow on a gold background and they didn't stay on the screen too long even if they weren't yellow on gold. I never did take that speed reading course. Oh, and get this: the sub-titles were not always in the same place, like on the bottom of the picture where sub-titles usually are. No, you had to look for them depending on who was speaking. Creative, but annoying. Also, the Nervous Camera was much in evidence quite a bit in the beginning. And, a lot of the scenes were dark like it was always night time. I almost shut it down.
But, I figured out the key and just let everything go and then half of the movie came around and things began to make sense and, thank God, things slowed down so we could all understand what was going on. Sort of. And, the sub-titles went way, good riddance. And, you will (like me) figure out all the answers to the questions put to Malik on the show. Very clever, I must say. Really clever. Reminded me of The Usual Suspects (great movie, btw).
But, here is the KEY for those of you who really try to follow everything in the beginning: THIS IS A LOVE STORY. As long as you know that and you remember the names Malik and Latika, that is all you really need to know. Don't bother to memorize anything else. You'll hurt yourself like I did.
The music from time to time was very good (won for Best Original Score and for Best Original Song).
Why everyone went ga ga over this is beyond me. It's okay. The acting all around is excellent, but ga ga? No way. I guess the other nominated movies weren't of the Feel Good ilk. And, we want to feel good, don't we? Huh?
Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: I really didn't hear anything, but they talked so fast