<Review by: Anuvrat Bhansali>

Directed by Sajid Khan. Starring Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Riteish Deshmukh, Shreyas Talpade, Mithun Chakraborty, Boman Irani, Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Asin, Jacqueline Fernandes, Shazahn Padamsee. Zarine Khan (all collectively referred to as ‘The Dirty Dozen’).

Senseless, slapstick yet funny, this attempt by Sajid Khan is better and a lot more ‘sincerely’ funny than his first attempt.

Sajid Khan is amongst a breed of directors who believe that a movie should be fun rather than a taxing adventure for the mind. His movies are seemingly made with a clear objective of humour and he admits that his forte isn’t meaningful message-oriented cinema.

After Heyy Babyy and Housefull, he returns with Housefull 2. The second edition of his Housefull franchise comes again as a story of cross-connections amongst multiple characters and the consequent comedy of errors.

Chintu (Rishi Kapoor) and Daboo (Randhir Kapoor) are step-brothers who hate each other and their mutual hatred runs in the family. To have an edge over each other, both the Kapoors want to make sure that the son of the richest man in Britain be their son-in-law. In their frivolous endeavour, they insult Shreyas Talpade’s father. A furious Jai (Shreyas) seeks help from his friend Jolly (Riteish Deshmukh), the son of the richest man in Britain. Terrified of his own father, a helpless Jolly deploys Akshay Kumar and John Abraham to undertake the mission on his behalf. As planned the daughters fall for the wrong son and the ride begins. The quest is to find who the real Jolly is and who will be his bride.

Confused? You might be but it’s the comedy that’s wearing the garb of confusion.

The good thing about Housefull 2 is that the characters are well defined, each one with a unique comic persona. It’s only in the second half that everything becomes a little muddled. While some situations in the movie are truly LOL, some are horribly forced but you wouldn’t care less because the genuinely funny moments do come more often than not.

The girls are fillers with nothing noteworthy but the first podium goes to Anarkali Disco Chali and the item bomb Malaika Arora Khan. The boys take the biggest pie with Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh being the flag-bearers of slapstick. John and Shreyas are wingmen with little or no comic timing. The four veterans make the ride more comical and the one to stand out amongst them is Mithun Chakraborty for playing a rather sensitive part in the movie.

There are no memorable performances, there’s no extraordinary screenplay, no out-of-the-box cinematography, average music but a great item number and some tickling dialogues with great timing. It might be of use to reiterate that this movie isn’t for film festivals or home viewing and the movie ‘almost’ does what it promises. A word about Sajid Khan: he has shown a tighter grip on the movie especially with fewer (only marginally though) senseless moments than his previous movies. It would be fair to say that Sajid Khan has upped his ante. Which may not say much…