Jack and Dil Movie Review: This Amit Sadh and Arbaaz Khan Comedy Needs a Heavy Dosage of Nitrous Oxide
As a comedy (or whatever, this film was supposed to be), this Jack has no Dil when it comes to respecting audience sensibilities or their sense of humour.
When a Hindi film begins with a voiceover narration and it doesn't belong to Amitabh Bachchan, cue…ominous bells going ding-dong. Jack and Dil, directed by Sachin P Karande, begins with a narration and no, it doesn't have the deep baritone of Big B. Not a great sign, as my heart beats faster preparing myself for this thankfully short, supposedly funny film starring Arbaaz Khan, Amit Sadh and Sonal Chauhan, none of whom invites confidence in you. So after an hour and a half runtime, did the rest of Jack and Dil change my opinion? Ah, you wish! Jack and Dil Trailer: Arbaaz Khan, Amit Sadh and Sonal Chauhan Get Entangled in a Comical Love Triangle - Watch Video.
So that aforementioned voiceover introduces us to a Goan lad, Jack (Amit Sadh), a goofy, good-for-nothing fella with a penchant for all stuff detective. He spends his time reading detective novels, watch mystery movies and even write an incomplete novel of his own, which has nothing to do with this movie. We don't know what his surname is or where his folks are or how he manages to survive without a proper source of income. The voiceover tries to cover this up by saying he makes enough to get by. For all his style sense and living condition, Jack doesn't even own a mobile phone. He has a skimpily clad girlfriend (Evelyn Sharma), though, who flits in and out of his life and the narrative at random junctures.
Ah, anyway, Jack gets obsessed with the Vodafone pug, while watching television one day (seriously, which year is this movie set? No one informed the makers of Vodafone's latest annoying Zoo Zoo obsession?). Wanting to buy a similar pug, Jack meets Waalia (Arbaaz Khan), a businessman who agrees to sell his pug for a heavy sum. Jack, obviously, can't pay and leaves.
This Waalia bloke is about to close the biggest deal of his life with a couple of Japanese blokes (cue: unfunny jokes on their names). To his (and our) utter annoyance, one of them seems to be a Sooraj Barjatya fan, and wants to do business with only happily married men. So he asks Waalia to bring his wife to a party a month later. I almost heard Enrique Iglesias cry, 'I don't know why…Whhyyyyyy!' in the background. Apparently, the Waalia bloke is involved in an unhappy marriage with his artist wife, Shilpa (Sonal Chauhan). However, instead of trying to mend fences with her or attend a marriage counselling, Waalia does what every normal married guy in his situation would do - hires Jack to spy on his wife to see if she has a lover. Let it be told here that we are never explained why he even has this doubt.
So this Jack, who we are not sure is dumb or is acting dumb, follows this woman and is caught easily in the act by her. However, instead of turning him to the authorities, Shilpa forges a friendship with him, and Jack, forgetting that he has a girlfriend, falls for her. Needless to say, this makes her husband jealous and he tries to woo her back!
So while the makers try to pitch Jack and Dil as a comedy, the movie itself, especially in the second half, doesn't know whether it wants to be one. Not that it does a great job in making you laugh, unless Arbaaz Khan trying to act drunk somehow wants to make you chuckle. People fall in and out of love randomly, and songs also play at the whims of the writers. Things suddenly turn serious when a character goes 'dead', and people close to that person don't even bother to verify if that's true. By the time the climax arrives at a marathon race, we get the feeling even the 197-minute runtime was one long, tiresome marathon.
Watch the Trailer of Jack & Dil Here:
The Performances
Amit Sadh looks to have borrowed some of the mannerisms from his character in this year's Gold. Arbaaz Khan goes through the motions. Sonal Chauhan was pretty decent, though.
Yay!
- Goa looks awesome. Should plan that never-happening trip again!
Nay!
- Sigh! Everything else on that trip!
Final Thoughts
As a comedy (or whatever, this film was supposed to be), this Jack has no Dil when it comes to respecting audience sensibilities or their sense of humour. Skip!
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 01, 2018 09:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).