Housefull 5 review: Cringe and chaos in this mystery of who killed comedy

India Today

13 hours ago

In 'Housefull 5', a comedy-thriller, a whodunnit, things get messy and confused almost immediately. Everything is happening on a cruise, but you are the one feeling like jumping off the boat, just to escape the plot.To understand 'Housefull 5', you first have to understand that this is not the most acclaimed world of comedy. Since this is the world where no woman was likely involved in the writing, women are merely on board for their glossy bodies, and to make the men in the franchise look smarter than they are. Sexually explicit references masquerade as jokes, and self-deprecating humour is limited to name-swapping and men pretending they have full control of the situation.advertisementThe story begins and ends on a luxury cruise owned by Ranjeet's Ranjit. Before succumbing to a heart attack on the day of his 100th birthday, he leaves 69 billion pounds worth of wealth to his first son, Jolly. Except that nobody knows who Jolly is or what he looks like. Julius (Akshay Kumar), Jalabuddin (Riteish Deshmukh) and Jalbhushan (Abhishek A Bachchan) all claim to be the real Jolly, and then begins the hunt - for the killer on the ship, and for the real Jolly.
The board of directors, the captain of the ship and Ranjit's attorney are all in the picture - ready to be framed for an unexpected murder on the cruise. Things have to be sorted soon, because the killer is one among them.The good thing about 'Housefull 5' is that it looks like a nice commercial entertaining package. But, it's not for everyone's taste. The cringe comedy, where creepy men are lusting over women's bodies and making jokes out of beating birds and monkeys, does not make for very heartening humour. It also feels artificial at one point, as if the audience is being forced to throw a chuckle here and there.advertisementThe biggest problem with 'Housefull 5' is that the audiences have evolved enough to understand what is genuinely funny. With access to world cinema, we have come to appreciate that the best kind of humour often comes from everyday situations - from something which is rooted in reality, not drowned in glitter. A murder mystery-comedy overloaded with glamour and gloss loses its edge when its sparkle becomes a distraction.Akshay's efforts as a slapstick comedian are visible, and yet you miss what you once loved about him in 'Welcome' or 'Singh is Kinng'. He owns 'Housefull 5', and tries his best to hold together a 12-member cast performing on a cruise.Both Abhishek Bachchan and Riteish Deshmukh add well to the madness, but the real villain here is the lack of good humour - the actual killer of the joy that a full-blown comedy entertainer on the big screen is meant to deliver. There are no real jokes in 'Housefull 5'. Everything is just a rehashed version of a situation, or a character we've already seen in the previous 'Housefull' movies.The real comedian, though - Johny Lever - is hardly offered anything to do. The brilliant performer, who has ruled the Bollywood comedy space since the '90s, is reduced to a frame filler. And guess who's relied upon for laughs? Sanjay Dutt, Nana Patekar, and Jackie Shroff in their brief appearances.advertisement'Housefull 5' is not even a family-friendly film, with its '6 and 9' jokes, and a long scene focussing on nothing but the glistening frames of the three leading ladies - Jacqueline Fernandez, Sonam Bajwa and Nargis Fakhri. Soundarya Sharma, making her big-screen debut, is reduced to a cardboard cutout meant purely to satisfy the male gaze. 'Housefull 5' makes you truly believe in the lack of female gaze in mainstream cinema. If this is the class of our comedy, perhaps we would be better off not laughing at all. If this is what they want our children to watch, let's go back to the time when children weren't even allowed to watch TV, let alone a film in theatres. And if this is what Bollywood calls a 'blockbuster comedy', then maybe, just maybe, the real joke is on us.
IN THIS STORY#Akshay Kumar#Abhishek Bachchan#Jacqueline Fernandez#Riteish Deshmukh#Sanjay Dutt