Sajid Khan’s Housefull sequel, Housefull 2, opened this weekend and critics have unanimously panned the movie.
Anupama Chopra for HT: Did I laugh? Sparingly, yes. Ranjeet, Bollywood’s iconic rapist, has a fun cameo. But mostly, Housefull 2 was so exhausting that at one point, I grew nostalgic for Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal series – another full-blown nonsensical outing but with far more energy than this. However, the actors all look like they are having fun…But the actresses are locked into a weird pouting contest. Each one sports lips that seem especially inflated for their close-ups. And the acting is laughably bad – Shazahn Padamsee and Zarine Khan (who inexplicably plays a character named JLo) are the joint winners of the worst performance award.
Rajeev Masand for IBN Live: Director Sajid Khan’s gags have no lofty aspirations, they only want a laugh out of you – never mind if your laughter is forced or unintentional. In one scene, an alligator repeatedly snaps at Ritesh’s bum, and a python attaches itself to Shreyas’ crotch. An equal opportunity offender, Khan directs tasteless jokes at everyone from gays and midgets, to the physically handicapped and the dark-skinned. But the problem isn’t that the jokes are rude. They’re infantile and unoriginal, and Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal films do them better.
Raja Sen for Rediff: The fact that a film like this gets a budget and a release is befuddling and alarming, with several of the ‘actors’ involved vying fiercely for the Worst Of The Lot award. That is, as you can expect, a contest going right down to the wire. There’s Shreyas Talpade, impressively making us forget the days of yore when we used to applaud his performances. There’s Johnny Lever, phoning in idiocy that has gotten really, really old. There’s John Abraham, (a frontrunner, no question) who basically plays a preteen girl in an athletic man’s body. And there are the girls, each a vision of interchangeable moronity. Jacqueline Fernandes and Asin play screechy environmentalist bimbettes scared of trees and sand, clueless rich girls with anger issues. Housefull 2 is shamefully bad. So bad that Ranjeet – the rapey villain of yore – who appears in one scene, is the most dignified thing about the film.
Bombay Wire 