November 05, 2010
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Om Puri, Kirron Kher, Ranvijay Singh
Director: Vipul Shah
In director Vipul Shah’s Action Replayy a 20-something fellow uses a time machine to travel back into the past, so he can make his parents fall in love, in order to save their marriage in the future. Before you can say Marty McFly – or settle into your seat even – the opening credits of Action Replayy claim the film is based on a Gujarati play, thereby absolving the makers of charges that they’ve plagiarized the cult time-travel comedy Back To The Future.
To hell with what the credits claim. Director Vipul Shah and his writers rip off the most pivotal subplot of filmmaker Robert Zemeckis’ enduring hit, and deliver a soulless, charmless picture that is nothing short of a punishment to endure.
On the 35th wedding anniversary of his permanently squabbling parents, Bunty (played by Aditya Roy Kapoor) hijacks a mad-genius scientist’s tacky time machine, and is transported back to the 70s when men wore flared pants and women dressed in polka-dotted skirts.
His father Kishan (played by Akshay Kumar) is a buck-toothed geek who hardly stands a chance with Bunty’s mum-to-be Mala (played by Aishwarya Rai), a feisty tomboy who lives next door. In Hitch style, Bunty must turn his dad into a dude, and get his mum to fall for him.
Sorely lacking in drama and genuine humor, Action Replayy is mind-numbingly dull because there’s no conflict or plot progression, and everything seems to fall into place too conveniently. The dialogues are clunky, the music unimpressive, and the performances indifferent – except for Aishwarya Rai who gets a chance to show off her mean side for a change. The one smart joke in the film is a character who sings in both male and female voices, but that’s not enough to save this sinking ship of a film.
I’m going with one-and-a-half out of five for director Vipul Shah’s Action Replayy. The only use for a time machine after watching this film, will be to wipe your memory clear of it.
(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)
Thanks so much again for saving our money. And once again the idiotic and corrupt movie reviewers have rated this movie much higher than it deserves. It is a shame that they can not make a respectable and intelligent film even after shameless rip-off of a great film. WOW. Just amazing that people fall or this kind of mind numbing crap. India’s youth is doomed if they get brainwashed by watching this kind of crap instead of intelligent thought provoking movies.
Thanks again and keep up the great work.
Comment by Fan — November 5, 2010 @ 5:57 pm
i knew that its just a sad rip off of the back to the future …. isn’t there any litigation against the makers of this movie ? …. how long can people be allowed t shamelessly plagiarize ?
Comment by Shikhar — November 5, 2010 @ 5:57 pm
This kind of review is apt for such an idiotic,regressive movie which is completely a waste of time and money…Thanks for the review!!
Comment by Shyam — November 5, 2010 @ 6:56 pm
^ litigation is not possible when the pirate is located in a foreign country (without the said countries full support) .
Comment by Uchiha — November 5, 2010 @ 7:18 pm
I agre with ur review but it is entertang movie nd it will be hit.
Comment by Anant Raj Singh — November 5, 2010 @ 7:26 pm
Your review of just idiotic and thoes people who love your reviews has to be banned by watching the movies and you too deserve it .Tumne jitne bhi film ko 2 rating di hai wo saari filmein super duper Hit hoti hai aur tumhe jo filmein pasand aati hai Rajiv masand wo sabse Badi flopss hoti hai sounds wierd but its true …………………..G3 and Ar both are awesome tum jaise logon ke wajah se Bollywood mein loss ho raha hai Please change your profession Its a Guzaarish…. Sory agar tumhe bura laga toh but thats what reality is………………..
Comment by seema — November 5, 2010 @ 8:18 pm
@Uchiha – with bollywood being declared a industry, legal action on copyright infringement is possible. check out this article for details – http://ibnlive.in.com/news/forbes-india-who-will-bell-the-copycat/97669-8.html
@Seema – yes, most of his 2 star movies might be hits , but you cannot ignore the fact that all of them lack the quality & finesse of a good movie . i mean if people like mindless movies ,most of them having pedestrian humor (in case of comedy genre) then thats your choice . you can’t blame him or anyone else who follows his reviews for having a great choice in movies11
Comment by Shikhar — November 5, 2010 @ 9:09 pm
@Seema
Nowadays movies can turn into profitable venture just by the opening weekend business as they release with zillion prints, and as you know opening week business is largely based on hype / promotion and not on the ACTUAL quality of the movie. Hence, a movie with poor quality can also become a hit / super hit / super-duper hit / mega hit / all time block buster etc etc.
Also, you have all the rights to believe Taran Adarsh and not Rajeev Masand. so Fuck off.
Comment by PS — November 5, 2010 @ 9:19 pm
@PS
its not about cursing people here, unless u hav sm close resemblance or relation with mr. Masand! What wrong does mr. Taran does while endorsing b’wood, while the former whiles away time watching h’wood for who’s sake, god knows!
Comment by Akash — November 5, 2010 @ 9:33 pm
You are a savior Sir 🙂 I wish I could use that time machine to teleport Taran Adarsh & Nikhat Kazmi to Mars x-( grrrrrr
Comment by Swapna — November 5, 2010 @ 10:12 pm
Thank you so much for re-affirming my faith in Akshay’s consistency! For one second, i really wanted to give him my benefit of doubt, hoping may be..u know, just mayyyyyyy be the guy has got it right this time… but they again prove me wrong! Amazingly Shameful…
Comment by Tarunn — November 5, 2010 @ 10:41 pm
@seema who cares if a movie is a hit or not…… what matters is if the movie is good and most of these hit movies are shitty movies….. numerous examples are there… and if u don’t like his reviews y do u visit his site….. mr.taran adarsh is an apt reviewer for u….. though going by his positive reviews for almost all the movies he definatly gets paid…..chut taran gave a negative review for a masterpiece called dil chahta hai.
Comment by sanket shah — November 5, 2010 @ 11:03 pm
thanks 4 saving our money.akshay keeps makin bad movies n believes dat prehype is gonna sell d movie.audience r not fools.
Comment by madhumita — November 6, 2010 @ 7:23 am
Lol! Comparing Rajeev Masand and Taran Adarsh is like comparing ARR and Himesh Reshammiya in that order! Taran Adarsh gets paid heavily for his senseless reviews. Mr. Masand is one of the most sensible reviewers in this world. Roger Ebert would be proud of you, Mr. Masand.
Comment by Powk2Rathi — November 6, 2010 @ 8:45 am
it was quite evident from the kind of publicity the makers of the movie were doing for the film,they themselves didnt expect too much from it!!!such a torture!!!i wish ur reviews start coming in the morning itself sir..lol
Comment by Ranjan — November 6, 2010 @ 10:05 pm
keep it up rajeev,u r the only reliable critic in india
Comment by rohan — November 7, 2010 @ 1:54 am
I totally agree with your review. The movie was so painful that there were moments when munching the popcorn and sipping coke seemed like a better idea than watching the screen. The was so much of disconnect in the editing – for ex there was no scene on how aditya- the son got introduced to mala or how did the professor make the time machine in time for aditya to go back to his present. These days movie makers seem to know the art of publicizing their movie but how I wish they knew the art of film making as well.such a disappointment this Diwali.
Comment by Finla — November 7, 2010 @ 9:40 am
Rajeev,,, I feel ur review on Action Replayy is correct and infact even 1.5 stars is more… I ve not seen worst movie like this after Veer, London Dreams
Comment by Ayaz — November 7, 2010 @ 8:09 pm
@Aakash
Taran kills the basic purpose of reviews. Job of a reviewer is to tell viewers what to expect from a movie, not to showcase positives and hide negatives. I kinda hate when Mr Masand suck it upto hollywood but that’s another point to discuss.
Also reviews are not good or bad, it’s all about taste. It’s like for food one might take advise from friend-A and not friend-B and for cloths one might take advise from friend-B and not friend-A.
Comment by PS — November 8, 2010 @ 6:44 am
RAJEEV you are the most reliable critic…. keep going man!!!! great work!!!!
Comment by deepak c b — November 8, 2010 @ 10:30 pm
I was in a fix and couldn’t decide wether to watch Golmal 3 or Action Replay. I decided to go for the latter coz it was being shown at a theatre near my home… the movie really lacked the tempo… seeing the promos & the hoardings I thougth it would be a fun film… but I was left a tad disappointed.
The best retro movie in the recent time without a doubt is Om Shanti Om. Farah Khan managed to bring back the 70s so effortlessly (it looked like that way)….
Comment by Nandini — November 12, 2010 @ 6:38 pm
Hi Rajeev,
Hats off to your work…first thing that came into my mind when i saw this flick was the awe inspiring work of Steven Spielberg , Back to the Future. Well our vipul is no where near. Money flows into gutter in all ways nd means with such poor flicks. I feel, u shud have another web page that talks a bout ” movies that dont matter” , and all these flicks shud me ]mentioned there. Keep up the good work. We always look for your opinions.
Comment by neil — November 27, 2010 @ 12:51 pm