Cast: Akshay Kumar, Kriti Sanon, Bobby Deol, Riteish Deshmukh, Kriti Kharbanda, Pooja Hegde, Chunkey Pandey, Rana Dagubatti, Sharad Kelkar and Johnny Lever.

Directed By: Farhad Samji

They say that comedy doesn't need any kind of logic, it should be enjoyed without thinking too much. But they say also that comedy is a serious business. The former statement is contradicting the latter.

Comedy is the toughest genre because making someone laugh especially in this era is the most difficult thing to do either it's senseless or intellectual. And Housefull fails miserably.

The only saving grace is Akshay Kumar himself. His comic timing is perfect and he can uplift the most cringe-worthy scene ever written.

Housefull 4 has many cringeworthy scenes which might create headache instead of laughter. One scene I would like to mention is at one point in this film, all three actors, Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, and Riteish Deshmukh, are pleading three pigeons named Neil, Nitin, and Mukesh to take a dump on them, thereby blessing them.

Also Read: Bigil Movie Review: Thalapathy Vijay's film is literally Chak De India in steroids.

The film is divided between two eras — 1419 and 2019. Harry (Akshay Kumar), Max (Bobby Deol) and Roy (Riteish Deshmukh) own a barbershop in London and are in debt. To pay off the massive loan, they devise a plan to marry three millionaire sisters. Harry suffers from short-term memory loss on hearing any loud sounds and often has flashbacks of a life he led 600 years ago. Early in Housefull 4, we see Harry visiting Sitamgarh, where it all started and then convincing others that they all have all been reborn. 

We are then introduced to the cast’s period avatars -- King Bala (Akshay), Bangdu Maharaj (Riteish) and Dharamputra (Bobby) from 1419. The twist in the tale comes when they realize they are about to marry the wrong girls, and how the past has an impact on their future.

The theme of the film is reincarnation and Bollywood as mastered this genre with classics like Madhumati, Karan Arjun, and Karz (1980). But Housefull 4 is different from others due to its genre and i.e comedy but they couldn't pull this off well.

This film doesn't have any kind of logic and makers are themselves aware of it. Dialogues are the weakest link of the film, the Bollywood writers biggest mistake is that they think if the dialogues have rhyming it might sound funny like in this there are many dialogues laced with a rhyme that even Honey Singh might get inferiority complex such as ‘Aaj mera fast hai, isliye thoda slow maara’, ‘Isne gender ka tender nahi bhara’, Kabootar ka yuck brings good luck’, ‘Maa ka saaya nahi hai aur mundan ke baad sir par chaaya nahi hai’. 

Riteish Deshmukh and Chunky Pandey, who have such spot-on comic timing, have been under-utilized in the film, with their dialogues often sounding off-track. 

Among the female actors, Kriti Sanon does well – both as a princess and a woman of today. Her namesake, Kriti Kharbanda brings freshness to the screen through her poor dialogue delivery is distracting. Pooja Hegde, who is doing a period role again after her debut Mohenjo Daro, has lot of potential as an actress.

Rana Daggubati is wasted in a cameo, especially as we have come to expect so much from him after Baahubali. Yesteryear villain Ranjit, senior actor Manoj Pahwa, and Johhny Lever are in their element. Amid such an interesting line-up, Sharad Kelkar turns out to be the surprise element, and quite impressive too.

This Deepavali, you need to enjoy this festival by watching a movie then you can give it a try for this movie or else burn some crackers.