Movie Review: All The Best

By Taran Adarsh Bollywood Hungama News Network

Sometimes, we laugh at movies. At times, we laugh in movies. Thankfully, ALL THE BEST, helmed by Rohit Shetty, belongs to the latter type.

ALL THE BEST makes no claims of catering to the intelligentsia or the elite. Instead, it's aimed at those who want to spend two hours of their precious life flexing their facial muscles. ALL THE BEST is for those who expect fun and laughter unlimited in those two hours. This one makes you smile, laugh, even break into a guffaw at times.

The jokes and the goings-on may appear silly, but who cares! As long as one feels positive and wears a smile on the face even after the show has ended, nothing else matters.

Comedy is serious business and Rohit Shetty is a pro at this genre now. This time, the talented director seeks inspiration from RIGHT BED, WRONG HUSBAND and what works to the advantage are two factors - the written material and the right casting. Both are just right!

From time to time, it has been noticed that some films are made with the motive of keeping you entertained. ALL THE BEST is one of those films. Go, have a blast this Diwali!

Veer [Fardeen Khan], a singer by profession, is greedy of extracting extra pocket money from his brother Dharam [Sanjay Dutt], a business-honcho. Veer lies to Dharam that he has got married and his friend Prem [Ajay Devgn], a concept car expert, lends a helping hand in cooking up this alibi.

Veer is in love with Vidya [Mugdha Godse], but has qualified in the hate list of her father. Prem is happily married to Jhanvi [Bipasha Basu], who takes care of his ancestor's outdated gymnasium. Veer and Prem land up in debts as they had opted for a short-cut to earn easy money.

The two get into a bigger soup when Dharam pays a sudden visit to their place. Time does not give a chance and unavoidable circumstances arouse such situations that Prem's wife Jhanvi is mistaken for Veer's and Veer's girlfriend for Prem's.

Like his previous films, director Rohit Shetty rests the story on multiple characters, with a dozen odd actors in supporting roles. With so many characters in the film, it generally tends to get confusing, but ALL THE BEST has an easy-to-comprehend story and a trouble-free and uncomplicated screenplay [Robin Bhatt and Yunus Sajawal].

Ten minutes into the film and you know that ALL THE BEST is all about mistaken identities. But the proceedings actually take off when Sanju enters the scene. That's when you get drawn into this madcap world completely.

A number of sequences are howlarious. Note Johny Lever's intro. Ditto for Sanjay Mishra's track. Also, when Johny Lever regains his voice - towards the climax - it's sooooo funny. On the flip side, the pace drops in the middle of the second hour. Also Pritam's musical score is uninspiring and the songs act as speed breakers.

Rohit Shetty is in top form and his team of writers, Robin and Yunus, contribute enormously in making this film watchable. Dudley's cinematography is perfect. Farhad - Sajid and Bunty Rathore's dialogue are very much in sync with the mood of the film. In fact, a few one-liners are extremely witty.

Sanju portrays his part well. His sequences with Ajay are truly fantastic. But the show-stopper is undoubtedly Ajay, whose comic timing is only getting better. He plays to the gallery completely and delivers a sparkling performance. Fardeen needs to loosen up, though he makes a sincere attempt. Bipasha is sweet, while Mugdha doesn't get much scope. Amongst supporting actors, Johny Lever and Sanjay Mishra are in terrific form. Mukesh Tiwari, Vijay Patkar, Ashwini Kalsekar and Atul Parchure lend credible report.

On the whole, ALL THE BEST is fun and laughter unlimited. At the box-office, the festive period coupled with the solid track record of Ajay Devgn and Rohit Shetty and also the strong merits will ensure ample footfalls at cineplexes, making its investors laugh all the way to the bank. Recommended!

Bollywood.com Rating: 3.5

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