3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
'Whodunit' spoof with all the fun cliches...enjoy! Probably a 4 1/2 for me, February 19, 2009
This review is from: 36 China Town (DVD)
This is a fun little recent movie (2006).
You might think that a movie with China Town in the title would be about dark alleys, lurking chinamen, violence and extorting gangs. Well this movie is none of the above! It is generally bright, cheerful and tongue in cheek cliche with some upbeat dance numbers. Its just that the murder is at an address 36 China Town with an associated casino.
It is done in the classic whodunnit style. We have a body in a large mansion (done with no real violence just a suggestion of a body falling) at night. We have a range of suspects who all appeared to be there that night, all perhaps having a motive... and all lying through their teeth to incisive police detective (in the British mode) played very well and understated by Akshaye Khanna.
Almost everyone of the suspects does their part well. Shahid Kapoor draws the eye particularly (and gets a chance to sport some cool dance moves as is his training and specialty). He pairs up with Kareena Kapoor (no relation) again for a minor romantic subplot.
Other notables include Upen Patel with a lot of gratuitous shirt removals and a cameo from Priyanka Chopra.
There's some catchy music (which grew on me more and more as I listened to the songs I ended up downloading) and colouful dance epics. However the main reason to watch this is that its fun. It's comedy that doesn't spill into slapstick but remains tongue in cheek and relying on the cliches of the genre to make merry.
It seems to have received a mixed response when it came out but generally gets at least an average to above, with many rating it full marks.
I would have given it 4 1/2 and I only down rate it a little as it lagged a little in a few spots. but for fun, definitely recommended.
I have now seen it twice and it was even better the second time. I watched with people from 2 different age-groups (late 20s to late 60s) and all had a laugh.
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