Total Dhamaal

They say the journey is more important than the destination. But director Indra Kumar's adventure comedy (a very, very loose definition) is all about the journey, which is troublesome, even frightening, and all together tedious.

The tasteless jibes against women, a trademark of the Dhamaal franchise, pile up...

A movie that for all its crassness, comic and commercial, is basically good-spirited.

Old school slapstick, tepid gags, brazen stereotyping, digs at women...

Total Dhamaal is pretty much like Lallan. It never gets its act and accent right. Riteish Deshmukh, in the guise of Lallan, ends every sentence with 'bey' to suggest that he is a Bhojpuri speaker.

As I now massage my traumatised temples, I thank Devgn for appearing on the poster, and make note to heed his statutory honesty in the future.

Some of the humour is nicely timed and executed, and Indra Kumar even tucks in a message of environmental conservation (delivered through tamed wild animals).

Given the ensemble cast, this film had the potential to be a comic roller coaster ride. However, the fact that the film is slapstick is not a problem, what brings it down is poor writing and execution.

Much like slapstick cartoons, Total Dhamaal does get some laughs. At least we don't have to deal with toilet humour or sexist jokes, and the film's premise is promising.

The screenplay is full of twists and some plot points never get explained. The editing is patchy at best.