Movie Review: Entertainment

Genre: Comedy

Rating: **1/2

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Tamannaah Bhatia, Krushna Abhishek, Sonu Sood, Prakash Raj, Mithun, Johnny Lever

Direction: Sajid-Farhad

Language: Hindi

This one suffers from 'barkinsons' disease. It shakes you, barks at you and amazes you with the cheesiness of it all. Slumdogs, 'hot-dogs' and their barks and bites pretty much sum up this canine comedy. Entertainment it is. The name o f Akshay Kumar's four-legged, cutesy co-star in his newest entertainer.

A pauper Akhil Lokhande (Akshay) suddenly discovers that he's the long lost son of a just-dead Bangkok billionaire, Pannalal Johri. He leaves to claim his fortune, while ladylove Saakshi (Tammanaah) - an OTT television bahu - waits for her Romeo in-rags to turn rich. But Akhil is shocked to find that his baap has left all his wealth to a dog, the blingy and beautiful - Entertainment (Junior).

Thereon, along with buddy Jugnu (Krishna) he plans a kutte ki maut for the billion-dollar doggy. Adding to this madness is Entertainment's caretaker Habibullah (Lever), Saakshi's father (Mithun) who's willing to marry off his daughter to a crorepati kutta, and Johri's criminal filmi cousins, Karan-Arjun (Prakash Raj and Sonu Sood) who ham and holler through this dog fest.

Remember the corny humour of the '80s? This story is fed with a doggie bag of bow-wow humour and (p)oodles of tom(my) -foolery. Debutant directors Sajid-Farhad roll out one gag after another - funny at first but soon suffering from 'paw'city of freshness (sample this: 'Jaisi karni waisi Mamta Kulkarni', 'Kaha chale Sonakshi Sinha taanke', 'Rajni'kant'-believe it' etc).

The second half slips into a dramatic zone topped with action. Akshay plays the role with ease; Johnny Lever and Krushna Abhishek unleash the most laughs. Mithun is underused and Tamannaah jus t hangs around. But it's 'Entertainment' who gets the 'meatiest' part and is the star of the show.

Take a 'bow' for that Junior. The absurdity and silliness often make it laughable, but it doesn't leave you barking for more.

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