Film Reviews

It's A Wonderful Afterlife

• Rating:
• Director: Gurinder Chadha.
• Starring: Jimi Mistry, Shabana Azmi, Goldy Notay, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Danny Dyer, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Zoe Wanamaker, Mark Addy, Sally Hawkins.
• Details: UK / 99mins (12A).

If the closing credits are anything to go by, the latest comedy from Bend It Like Beckham director, Gurinder Chadha, was great craic to make. The actual film, however, is morally erratic, never really finding its way amidst a madcap plot that was obviously assembled to haemorrhage laughs, but struggles to deliver even sporadic chuckles. Goldy Notay is charming in the lead role, but she's given very little to do other than chew whatever food Chadha's silly script places in her hand. Notay is Roopi, an extremely sweet, overweight and introverted young woman who can't seem to get over being dumped by her ex. Her worried mother, played by Shabana Azmi, tries to set her up with every single man possible; but all of them frown at her tubby daughter - enraging her to the point of homicide. When the ghosts of her victims start turning up, Amzi's harmless looking pensioner somehow manages to get them to help her find a suitor for her Roopi. Plan A is Sendhil Ramamurthy's handsome family friend, who also happens to be a detective investigating the murders. The main problem here is this isn't very funny. The whole set-up is designed for laughs; Chadha doesn't really bother expanding the plot to anything other than ridiculous, which is completely forgivable, once the resulting film manages to amuse. It's not through a lack of effort on the cast's part - some gags are painfully squeezed to the point of empathy. The characters may have an air of realism to a point, but they're still pretty slim, and with the exception of Roopi, you won't feel a thing for any of them. Unabashedly strange for the type of humour it's going for, the ludicrous ending will leave even those with a particularly high tolerance for plot holes scratching their heads. While this is getting a surprisingly wide release, it doesn't have the broad appeal of 'Bend It,' and will struggle to put bums in seats. Those that do go along will be disappointed.

Review by Mike Sheridan