It's Entertainment
wogma rating: Switch channels if it's on cable (?)
Feels weird recommending an Akshay Kumar film to a group other than Akshay fans - dog-lovers! Other than that Entertainment is as Akshay Kumar a film as it gets.
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For about half the film, various characters go about saying, "I want to kill entertainment," Entertainment being the name of a character. But, taking cue from the film's extensive use of pun, you can say that the makers succeeded on that mission statement. There are reasonable attempts at keeping the humor "different", but nowhere close to good enough.
The film starts out with making fun of obese people and man-boobs. So, you know how sensitive the film is going to be from the word go. Except, that it becomes about love animals and then you know, you should take the film even less seriously than usual. No, not because animal-love is not serious business. But because how can someone who is oblivious to the worthiness of other groups of people - women, for example, be taken seriously when they talk about some other social issue.
Even so, the film just might strike a chord amongst animal-lovers just because of the dearth of Hindi films in that category. But, that's just about it. For all other purposes it is like a Moral Science lesson for class 2, the saving grace being it is not an animated film. Not necessarily, preachy, but melo-dramatic enough to turn you off, even before you can let the lesson reach out to you.
The evil in you is overturned by the goodness of another, this theme has been beaten down to death in Hindi films. More often than not it comes after a few leaps of faith and more from the audience. Entertainment has almost every character turn over in this manner and is far away from being digestible. Not that that is what the writers were aiming for.
Their aim, then, seems to be two-fold. One - to awaken within you, the love for animals and two - to make you laugh. With the first one, I doubt they made any new converts, but I am sure animal-lovers got a lot of "aawwww" moments out of it.
For a change, I didn't mind the attempt at humor, at some places. Not that it made me laugh too hard, but after exhausting every phrase in which the word dog is used and setting aside a couple of innuendoes, juvenile SMS forwards, toilet jokes and self-referencing puns, there was a genuine attempt at being different. They didn't resort to repeating the same joke over and over again to kill it.
Each character was specifically given a certain type of gag-line and there were various analogies, or for want of a better word - verticals that the gag-line took. So, while one character uses names of celebrities instead of words that sound like their name another calls people's bluff when they threaten him using puns related to the threat. As one would expect, this becomes repetitive, but less so than it had potential to.
The only thing to be said about the performances is that Tamannaah Bhatia looked the best of the lot. This is despite Sonu Sood and Prakash Raj playing villains. Enough said.
Also, the lesser we talk about the plot (complete with logical jumps at regular intervals) though, the better it would be. There is only so much one can say about a father wanting a rich husband for his daughter and the husband-to-be adopting any means to achieve that - including, a competition with a dog, for what the dog owns (yes, "the dog owns").
I tried to draw various metaphors for the way in which the word Entertainment was used. Unfortunately, the only one that made sense was the one which involved the murder of entertainment.
- meeta, a part of the audience
Thumbs up, by Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama : ...On the whole, ENTERTAINMENT is a joy ride that lives up to its title. Go, laugh out loud and get entertained! ... full review
Thumbs up, by Tushar Joshi , Bollywood Life : ... Entertainment has enough jokes and one liners to keep you entertained. Watch it for Akshay, but also for the real star, his four legged companion who will steal your heart with his cuteness!... full review
Thumbs up, Indicine : ...Entertainment lives up to its title and works well because of the funny jokes, gags and situations. The director duo make a ridiculous premise work beautifully and their experience of working with Rohit Shetty comes in handy. Akshay Kumar and the whole cast had a lot of fun while making it and so will the viewers while watching it. But if you have a problem with the slapstick type of humour that Entertainment promises, please steer clear.... full review
Thumbs up, by Shubha Shetty-Saha, MiD DAY : ...Too much melodrama in the second half slows down the pace of the film. But all in all, a fun experience. So don't paw-nder for too long, just watch this one.... full review
Thumbs up, by Joginder Tuteja, Movie Talkies : ...Entertainment has its highs though at places it is just about okay. Still, as mentioned earlier, the director duo does well to capture the imagination of their target audience - kids - well and keep them happy. This is where their win lies as they score well in keeping the little ones engaged and entertained!...
Thumbs up, by Gayatri Sankar, Zee News : ...Nonetheless, they do succeed in sending out a message strong and loud enough- to treat animals with respect and love. If you like watching clean films and wish to take your family along for a movie, then ‘Entertainment’ best suits your requirement.... full review
So-So, by Nikhil Kumar, Apun Ka Choice : ...Director duo Sajid-Farhad pulls out all the stops to make you laugh. They make the hero snarl, grovel and walk on all fours (it’s Akshay Kumar I’m talking about here), they turn the heroine into a simpering damsel and the villains into frothing baboons lusting after her. They inject every inanity to winkle out a laugh from you. And the thing is, despite all its silliness, Sajid-Farhad’s Entertainment may still hit the jackpot at the box office. After all, every man has his day. ... full review
So-So, by Bobby Sing, Bobby Talks Cinema.com : ...ENTERTAINMENT is certainly going to appeal more to the kids and the viewers who have experienced a life of several years lived with their beloved pets.... full review
So-So, by Nupur Barua, fullhyd.com : ... Either way, it cannot harm anybody to watch Entertainment, thus increasing ticket sales, and therefore increasing the chances of more animal movies being made (hopefully with better stories)... full review
So-So, by Noyon Jyoti Parasara, Now Running.com : ...f you are not looking for much of intelligence, this is one film that should tickle your funny bone enough. A family watch.... full review
So-So, by Anish Mohanty, Planet Bollywood : ...Entertainment’ tries to convey an important message to the audience in an entertaining manner. Overall, the film turns out to be a decent entertainer that keeps one engaged through most of its duration but that said the entertainment quotient could have been far more rich and fulfilling! ... full review
So-So, by Somdatta Sen, Star Blockbuster : ...Filmein teen cheezon se chalti hai, Entertainment, entertainment and entertainment. This film has one in it, for the rest wait for Akshay’s next.... full review
So-So, by Meena Iyer, Times of India : ... Akshay Kumar is in top form. Having done a multitude of masala movies, he's become a khiladi. His bonding with the dog (especially in comic scenes) has those 'oh-so-cute' moments. The golden retriever is not a wonderful actor; but his eyes can melt your heart. ... full review
Thumbs down, by Anna MM Vetticad, annavetticadgoes2themovies : ...Tamannaah Bhatia is the ‘heroine’ of the film. The character could have been played by any other woman and it would not have made an inch of a difference. That’s how marginal the woman is to the proceedings in this film.... full review
Thumbs down, by Deepa Gahlot, cinemaah : ...There is a whole lot of annoying tomfoolery on throughout the film, spot-the-movie-reference gags (like the ghost story sequence from Pyar Kiye Ja), dog-biting-crotch kind of humour, some of it is funny and at some scenes you crack a smile, because, heck, they are trying so hard. But mostly you just want to fling something sharp at the screen.... full review
Thumbs down, Daily Bhaskar : ...Tamannaah, after a couple of Bollywood films and many Tollywood films, is still trying to figure out how to act. Akshay Kumar has done nothing different from what he did in Khiladi 786, Boss, Joker, Housefull 2 and many other films. There is nothing new for his fans in Entertainment.... full review
Thumbs down, by Kusumita Das, Deccan Chronicle : ...There’s no story, no script and the worst CG ever, but there may be a chuckle or two. Perhaps that’s you laughing at yourself for having to lead such a dog’s life for 140 minutes to be precise.... full review
Thumbs down, by Ameet Bhuvan, Desi Martini : ... Why! why oh god why!! ... full review
Thumbs down, by Mohit Patil, Desi Martini : ...Atrocious, insufferable stuff. An enormous bore. ... full review
Thumbs down, by Vivek S Nambiar, Desi Martini : ...Worst attempt at comedy, by far. In fact, one of the worst attempts at making movies. ... full review
Thumbs down, by Rachit Gupta, Filmfare : ...Good parodies are the ones that make most of their tongue-in-cheek flavour. Add too much slapstick and it only gets more annoying. That’s entertainment. It treads a thin line. And in our industry it's a habit to fall off the line, too often, too easy.... full review
Thumbs down, by Mihir Fadnavis, FirstPost : ...All of this hard work in writing would have been futile had the film been tackily shot, just like the films it parodies. Surprisingly, Entertainment is technically great, even the scene transitions are well done. There was a lot of noise made about Darren Aronofsky’s Noah having a path breaking CGI shot where hundreds of animals exit the frame to go to the ark. In Entertainment, hundreds of dogs enter the frame and one bites Sonu Sood’s crotch. Dear Farhad and Sajid, please shut up and take my money. I bow to you in reverence.... full review
Thumbs down, by Johnson Thomas, Free Press Journal : ...Thankfully the editing keeps the pace fluent, disallowing closer inspection of the ludicrous content. ‘Entertainment has gone to the dogs’ and literally so. The lovable, endearing Golden retriever is the only one who doesn’t ham, over-react or bellow at the top of his voice. Farhad-Sajid’s slapstick physical comedy suffers from overplaying, big time... full review
Thumbs down, by Martin D'Souza, Glamsham.com : ...This Akshay Kumar starrer isn't entertaining enough... full review
Thumbs down, by Anupama Chopra , Hindustan Times : ...The jokes are purposefully mindless, but they come at you at such a furious pace that you are lulled into an exhausted laughter. However, post interval, Entertainment falls to another level of awful. At one point, a dog latches onto Sonu Sood’s crotch. It’s so unfunny that I got depressed.... full review
Thumbs down, by Rajiv Masand, IBN Live : ...I'm going with half, yes just half out of five, for Entertainment. This could be hazardous to your health; doesn't matter if you're a movie critic or a movie buff, so go in prepared.... full review
Thumbs down, by Faheem Ruhani, india today : ...The climax where the dog gets hit a by a bullet is the biggest let down. For a film called Entertainment this one is low on that. The golden retriever Junior in the film looks perplexed throughout and has very little screen time. Dog knows what Union minister Maneka Gandhi saw in it to get associated with this film.... full review
Thumbs down, by Suhani Singh,, india today : ...Entertainment is a bagful of boring tricks Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/entertainment-movie-review-akshay-kuamr-tamannaah-bhatia-sajid-farhad/1/376088.html... full review
Thumbs down, by Rohit Khilnani, india today : ...Music by Sachin-Jigar is not up to the mark. Though there is one good song that comes right at the end, 'Veer Di Wedding sung by Mika Singh. ... full review
Thumbs down, by Mohar Basu, koimoi : ...Entertainment is a painful exercise to sit through and when a cute retriever with all the fuzziness cannot retrieve you from boredom, blame it on the film. Akshay Kumar was almost as bad as his Once Upon Aye Time In Mumbaai Dobaara performance, and that says it all I am sure. I am going with a very kind 1/5 for the film and it’s a gift from a dog lover to all the dogs who appeared in the film.... full review
Thumbs down, by Nandini Ramnath, Live Mint : ...Junior’s bored expression and lack of affection towards the two-legged creatures on the set is glaringly evident, but the rest of the cast has far more energy, sportingly submitting themselves to the pratfalls aimed at knee-high viewers and going along with the occasionally madcap plot twists... full review
Thumbs down, by Saibal Chattarjee, NDTV : ... If this is entertainment, what, pray, is torture? Run for cover.... full review
Thumbs down, by Sukanya Verma., Rediff : ...Sajid-Farhad’s first film is mostly a garrulous, occasionally comical farce that intermittently serves as reminder that in the search of “entertainment, entertainment, entertainment” one can always rely on the delightfully loony Johnny Lever. ... full review
Thumbs down, by Sonia Chopra, Sify Movies : ...Disappointingly regressive and only sparsely funny, the only entertainment comes from the portions involving the dog. One wishes the film lived up to its name! ... full review
Thumbs down, The Hindu : ...After showing traces of wicked humour, it is reduced to nothing more than a rich source of PJs. ... full review
Twitter reviews for this movie are not available.
This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.
Plot Summary
Father (Mithun Chakraborty) wants a rich husband for his daughter (Tamannaah Bhatia) and the husband-to-be (Akshay Kumar) adopts any means to achieve that - including, competition with a dog (Junior who plays Entertainment), for what the dog owns (yes, "the dog owns")
What Worked
"Worked" is a strong word for the following things, but nevertheless -
- The "funny" lines given to Akshay Kumar and Krushna.
- An aerial shot of a green forest. Absolutely out-of-place and maybe that's why it is refreshing. Most likely, CGI. :D
What did not
- Entire sub-plot about Akshay Kumar's father (Darshan Jariwala) What was the point, again?
- How can anyone poke fun at Urdu? (Actually, at any language, but Urdu?)
- Songs from other films played at various times, including "who let the dog's out".
- Tacky CGI at the frozen water body.
- Sonu Sood and Prakash Raj's definition of women. Oh well...
- Entire host of other things, way too many to enlist.
Parental Guidance:
- Violence: Lots of slapping around.
- Language: A few innuendoes.
- Nudity & Sexual content: None.
- Concept: Love your pets.
- General Look and Feel: Bright, loud and Akshay Kumar.
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Comments (17)
Did not expect this movie to be that great anyway. Will skip it!
I am finding a lot of reviewers bewildered to the use of "entertainment" as a metaphor and the needless social commentary in the script, the film's attempt to establish how entertainment has been masqueraded over the years with low brainless films intriguing but in the hands of Akshay is shocking a bit.Perhaps this is the reason why you found the film theme "murder of entertainment".The review is very sensible and interesting to read, some how this film did succeed u to use your brain in the review.: am not taking a jibe at you Meetu, thanks . :)
For the Kick review, Meetu stated that is a Salman khan movie and for this one, she states that it is a Akshay kumar movie. Apart from stating the obvious, what is the point of mentioning these facts?!? For PK, she will say that it is a Aamir khan movie, Happy New year is a SRK and Farah khan movie and Singham Returns is a Rohit shetty movie. OK, so what's your point? Every actor and director has a style of movie making which can not be changed. Have you forgotten Special 26 and OMG from the same Akshay kumar. Agreed that Salman has been repeating himself for the last 5 years, but over the 20 years he too had movies which were varied like HAHK, HDDCS, AAA, Karan Arjun, Tere Naam etc. What will be the definition of SRK and Aamir khan movies?
I have to agree that the movies of today have just one goal and that is to make lots of money as fast as possible before the public can spread the word of mouth. At the same time, the movies that have become blockbusters have been entertaining and not completely "switch Channels" kind such as Dhoom 3, Chennai Express, YJHD etc. The reviews on this website are getting worse than the movies.
Adam - this isn't a "Hey, here's the most popular movies today!" site. It's a "Here are movies you may or may not like, and why" - according to the reviewer's (in this case, Meetu's) tastes.
By the comment you're complaining about, Meetu's making the point that she's aware that plenty of people will enjoy this movie simply because it's an Akshay Kumar vehicle. For the rest of us who may or may not enjoy a movie starring Akshay Kumar, she's letting us know things (like the quality of jokes) that may be a factor in our watching it….
@Adam: well said.
Most of the Indian reviewers suffer from the malady of comparing and rating Hindi films based on Hollywood yardsticks and benchmarks. They forget that Hindi films don't even have 10% of the budget that Hollywood films have, yet in terms of output they are rated 100% in comparison to Hollywood. They forget that the audience and tastes that Hindi films cater to are poles apart from the target audience of Hollywood films. And most importantly they forget that the producer's objective is to earn money and not 5 stars review.
The day the Indian reviewer will start reviewing films on Indian and more importantly hindi film benchmarks then only would the reviews be realistic.
@Tim: sorry I cannot blindly support the admin. Stating that it is an Akshay Kumar film for a film that has Akshay is not helping the review. Every guy or gal who comes to read a review of Entertainment knows before even reading one sentence that it's a Akshay film. And if he or she doesn't know that then he doesn't know what is Akshay. In that case saying that it's a Akshay film doesn't help.
A film critic rates the film based on the prowess of character development, script analysis, background, pace etc.If every critic starts giving 5 star to every movie then virtually there would be no more film critics in the industry. I agree that critics should appreciate such films which are promoted with "masala" tag but then would it really work for them. What's the point in reviewing when films cannot be compared or discussed.Please understand "Meetu" is no "Taran Adarsh" who always reviews so favorably that nobody takes them seriously.
Guddu; nobody is asking for5 stars. But compare with peers and not with foreigners.
I could almost take a bet that each year the top 5 grossing film would have been implicitly or explicitly rated as "change channels" or "watch if nothing better to do". Speaks volumes of the complete disconnect between reviewer and the audience.
Fan .. u will agree with me, this film had no element of entertainment to merit itself as "Masala" or box office success. The jokes were lousy, repetitive and kindergarten, the pun used in the film wasn't funny at all barring few exceptions. Compared to Rowdy, Housefull and the very intelligent Holiday, it was a total misfire. I firmly believe people will find it hard to digest its overall plot and if it does reach the coveted 100cr club, i would be left dumbstruck.
@Guddu Thanks! The irony, was indeed, hilarious. To the extent, that it makes you wonder if it really was intentional. And thanks for making the further points about the reviews.
@Adam For one thing, I haven't even mentioned Akshay Kumar in my main review.
Yes, describing this one as an Akshay Kumar film in the short review is the best way to quickly tell the readers what the movie is like.
Though, I am sure I have resorted to this short-cut, rather brainless way of reviewing films, more than once. Somehow, does seem an apt way of reviewing a film whose writers have taken short-cut, "leave your brain behind" attitude towards writing. Meta, you see.
@TimELiebe Bingo! Thank you!
@Fan In my mind, no movie is comparable to another movie, because when you compare, you are always bound to find something better and something worse. Taking your line of argument, do you think its ok for me to compare these films to say a Bheja Fry (first part, please) which made me laugh real hard but was made at a fraction of the budget?
Also, saying a Salman film is a Salman film is not me announcing the cast, obviously. It is me saying it is his brand, thus is a review in itself. The reader knows exactly whether they will enjoy the film or not. And I try to elaborate why I did or did not like the film in the main review. If you are going to disregard the entire review, and read the review as if it is just a two-word review, then there's only so much I can do.
I make no claims to know the pulse of the audience. I am just one part of the audience and want to express my opinion. I repeat, as I have many, many times earlier, there is no way one person can claim to know how millions are going to react to a film. Anyone who claims so, is not being truthful.
@Guddu - You are right, I have started to watch this movie Entertainment on the web (I will not spend a dime on this movie) and I could not finish the movie. It is very silly, repetitive and very lazy film making.
@Fan - I am not asking for a 5 star review for every big banner movie but you have pointed the fact that there is a huge disconnect between the reviewer and audience. I have yet to find an indian critic or reviewer who knows the pulse or taste of the "indian" audience. Taran Adarsh is too enthusiastic for big banners and goes overboard on many occasions like Blue and Jai ho but you will notice that he doesn't give 5 stars very easily. You can be sure that if he gives 3 stars or below to any movie, that movie is worth "switch channels" like Besharam, Total Siyapaa, R.Rajkumar, Zanjeer, Once upon a time in Mumbai dobara etc (all big budget movies). I believe that Taran is more accurate in his reviews and predictions than any of the other critics, even though he is not at all perfect or 100% right all the time.
@Meetu - The "switch channels" rating is perfect for this movie. Unfortunately, some of the movies that you reviewed do not deserve the rating of "Watch if you have nothing better to do". This rating was used for Dhoom 3, Chennai Express, Dabangg and Kick, all of which are not hits or superhits but BLOCKBUSTERS! I have the DVDs for these and everytime my kids prefer to watch these in the car on a long trip for the umpteenth time rather than any other movies. I mean how can you not laugh at the train sequence between SRK and Deepika in CE, the arrogant style of Chulbul pandey in Dabangg, the action and drama in D3 etc. I am a tough guy to amuse who doesn't fall for stupid comedies like Entertainment or Hera Phera 2 or even Dabangg 2 but I always thought that my taste is in sync with the indian audience even though I have lived in USA for 21 years now. Based on your statement, you mentioned that your husband even likes the masala movies...
@Adam:
I am a big critic of Taran Adarsh’s reviews and have been quite vocal about it on many forums. Nevertheless: after having read many of his reviews and seen the concerned films – I have started detecting a reliable pattern in his reviews but ignoring the stars that he gives.
Indeed, Taran got it completely wrong for Blue.
Nevertheless if you read the review then a large proportion of the review is reserved to under water scenes and photography. He had practically not dwelt at all on the story, screenplay, dialogues. Thus pyschologically the reader is bombarded with positive superlative adjectives - but without any cheating. Those adjectives are reserved for technicalities, and are partly used to justify 3.5 star ratings - but a big side effect is the effect it has on the reader who just extrapolate the superlative adjectives to the unsaid word about the solidity of the entire package. Thus, praising some aspects that users rarely notice, and keeping quiet on mediocre quality of aspects that viewers give the most importance, he succeeds in justifying his ratings.
That is his style, if the movie is not in line with the prevailing audience tastes and if for whatever reason he has to give more than 3.5 stars – then – he plays on the text. He would go superlative in praising the technical aspects, like sound recording, cinematography, editing, lead cast’s acting prowess in general, etc – everything but story and screenplay. You have to learn to read through his reviews, as his stars are most probably influenced by other factors.
@Adam yes he is a fan. Also my daughter absolutely loves Chennai Express. But, that still doesn't mean I have to like it. :D
Oy - Tammy LOVES this movie, and insisted we watch it tonight.
Help me....
Okay, I saw it all the way through - and while I enjoyed the slapstick bits well enough, I doubt there was a single story beat I didn't predict from a several scenes away. Lampshading that you're using filmi conventions doesn't excuse you from using them with so little invention or inversion - I'm an American who's only been watching Indian movies regularly for the last four or five years, and I was facepalming through much of this!
It felt like a waste of a good comedy cast, mainly - and the "Aww" bits with the dog were about as obvious as the comedy (as was having former Western Adult Star turned Bollywood actress Sunny Leone!). It's only 135 minutes long, but it felt like an ordeal except for the last half-hour, where most of the slapstick and the climax is.
You never can tell what will strike you (or your wife) as funny, or what will make you go "Wow, this is stupid - and not fun-stupid either!" But going in? I knew I would find It's Entertainment a barely tolerable timepass at best, and I was right about that.
@TimELiebe I am sorry that you had to see it, but I am happy that you didn't enjoy it much. :) (I'd have been happy if you liked it too because you know more films should be liked than disliked. Yet, just happier this way.)
It really wasn't very good, @Meeta, was it? I have a bit higher tolerance for Akshay Kumar's Big Goof act than you do, but this really pushed me beyond the limit.
OTOH? Tammy loves this movie - and still refuses to watch Piku, which is a wonderful comedy/family drama! As you've said to me before, takes all kinds.... ::sigh::
@TimELiebe oh well!
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