Wild Wild Punjab Movie Review: Simarpreet Singh's Wild Wild Punjab is a road trip comedy with elements of Hollywood comedy, The Hangover, which it graciously accepts in a scene. With someone like Luv Ranjan involved in the film both as a writer and producer, there is a certain expectation that you have from the movie, which Wild Wild Punjab meets to some extent. It is a comedy about bromance, booze and some romance, with sneaky doses of misogyny. Whether that's up to your palate is based on how you have taken to Luv Ranjan's previous movies. The thing is Wild Wild Punjab isn't wild, or even that funny enough to ignore the glitches. It feels like a hangover that you suffer after bingeing on a spurious can of desi daru and are left with a severe case of burps. ‘Wild Wild Punjab’ Song ‘I Am Over You’ Features Varun Sharma and Sunny Singh in a Quirky Breakup Anthem Sung by Amit Gupta.

Maan Arora (Sunny Singh), Rajesh Khanna (Varun Sharma) and Gaurav Jain (Jassie Gill) are friends. Maan is a boxer and a playboy. Gaurav is raised under the thumb of his abusive father (Gopal Datt) and is engaged to a girl of his father's choice. Khanna has been in a relationship with his co-worker who cheats on him with his boss. Later, she is all set to marry that very boss, which turns Khanna into a suicidal boozehound, prompting his friends to motivate him to travel across Punjab to go to her wedding and make him tell her that he is over her.

Watch the Trailer of 'Wild Wild Punjab':

They are helped by Honey Singh (Manjot Singh), a richie rich lad who owns a transport business and is in love with his car, who uses his favourite vehicle for their 'mission'. On the way to the wedding, the friends end up taking detours which bring unexpected travelling partners along with them. Like Jain drunkenly getting married to Radha (Patralekhaa Paul) or the group picking up a drug dealer, Meera (Ishita Raj), just for the flimsy reason to make Khanna's ex jealous. They also end up earning the ire of the cops and a drug cartel on the way.

Wild Wild Punjab Movie Review - When the Ride Was Smooth

On an ideation level, everything I wrote about in the previous paragraphs should have made for a wacky comedy like The Hangover, Road Trip, Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and other such road trip comedies. The actors are pretty decent and share a good bonhomie with each other, with Manjot Singh and Sunny Singh particularly standing out. Jassie Gill is likeable as the most rooted person in the group, while Varun Sharma can't get away from his Choocha zone. But I guess there are people out there who still wants to see him in the same capacity.

A Still From Wild Wild Punjab

Wild Wild Punjab has a genuinely funny scene where, in the middle of a shootout, a couple of characters had to negotiate through a phone call on how to operate a gun. Simarpreet Singh's film needed more such moments to raise itself as this wild road trip comedy. Unfortunately, that's hard to come by here, where most of the humour challenges the sense of disbelief so much that it refuses to be funny anymore.

Wild Wild Punjab Movie Review - When The Bumps Felt Rough

For a good comedy to work, it is not just the writing that needs to shine or just the actors, even the editing and the type of shots used also have equal importance. I found the timing off in quite a few scenes in Wild Wild Punjab when it comes to editing and shot-making, which doesn't let any gag stick its landing. A particular example I can point out for this is the extended third act that begins with a standoff in a poultry farm which goes to the wedding venue. The slapstick comedy doesn't raise the intended mirth because of how it was edited, and Khanna's much-expected face-off with his ex gets overdramatically prolonged, and the intended impact is diminished.

A Still From Wild Wild Punjab

The writing of the comedy is pretty below average; most of the jokes are either juvenile or borrowed from other comedies and feel pale in comparison like Singh's obsession with his car seems to be inspired by Ashish Chaudhry's unfortunate car exploits in Dhamaal. ‘Wild Wild Punjab’ Song ‘Husn Irani’: Varun Sharma, Sunny Singh and Jassie Gill Show Their Electrifying Dance Moves in This Punjabi Wedding Anthem Sung by Guru Randhawa.

A Still From Wild Wild Punjab

The women in the movie are either daft, like Patralekhaa's Radha who is okay to spend her life with some who married her in a drunk state, and refuses to see how odd her new husband is behaving. Or they are opportunistic, like Meera or Khanna's ex-girlfriend. Well, typical LR stuff there...

Wild Wild Punjab Movie Review - Final Thoughts

Wild Wild Punjab attempts to deliver a road trip comedy infused with bromance and outrageous escapades but runs on childish humour to pull that off. While the camaraderie among the actors and that one genuinely chuckle-worthy scene dispelled glimpses of potential, the film's banal writing, subpar comedy, and lacklustre editing undermine its overall impact. Wild Wild Punjab is streaming on Netflix.

Rating:2.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 10, 2024 12:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).