A comedy from the director of Bend It Like Beckham and Bride & Prejudice.
Mrs. Sethi (Shabana Azmi) is an Indian-Punjabi widow living in London who wants to marry off her only daughter, the plump and opinionated Roopi (Goldy Notay). When her matchmaking schemes are unsuccessful, Mrs Sethi decides to kill off the failed men using her culinary skills, i.e. 'killer curries'.
Unfortunately for Mrs Sethi, the spirits of the victims come back to haunt her, unable to be reincarnated until their murderer dies. Mrs Sethi vows to get her daughter married off before she tops herself. The spirits realise that helping Roopi find a suitable husband before the police catch Mrs Sethi is in their best interests.
Having satirised Austen, idolised Beckham and thrust Keira Knightley’s horsey pout intractably into the spotlight, Gurinder Chadha’s already got a fair amount to answer for. Surely the last thing she needs on her conscience is a crack at Frank Capra? Actually, film purists can rest easy for Afterlife plays more like a crap, Bollywood-inflected sitcom than its classic namesake. Apparently, Chadha got the idea for the Carrie-parodying climax while re-watching her own Bend It Like Beckham on a TV clips show. This should give you an idea of the level of invention on display.
Pitched as a cross between My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Shaun Of The Dead, but falling some distance short of either, this stodgy supernatural farce is riven with insoluble problems. The performances range from broad (investigating officer Mark Addy, from The Full Monty) to embarrassing (love interest Sendil Ramamurthy), the plot is unnecessarily précised every five minutes and the Greek chorus of ghouls pestering Mrs Sethi crowd the action like drunk guests in a wedding photo. Perhaps a little The Frighteners-style CGI would have helped them go about their (supposedly) comic business more elegantly or, even better, disappear into the ether entirely.
Adding insult to injury is the blooper reel that accompanies the end credits, which shows the cast and crew having a great old time, while audiences will, no doubt, be looking at their watches. It’s presumably meant to exemplify the play between exuberance and amateurism on which the film pivots, but the message to the viewer is: "There's a party on set and – oops – we forgot to invite you."
By Matt Glasby, Flicks.co.nz
loved it
Have to agree. This is bad. It started out okay. Bit cheesy and not great...but then it went downhill. I started checking the time to see how much longer! I didn't even bother with the gag reel.
Korma Blues. Police Dahl-ema. Killer Curry. The headlines don't make pretty reading for the Southall Police Department.
With jokes that routinely miss the mark and cringeworthy slapstick, this black comedy farce shouldn't work. Somehow, though, it does.
Gurinder Chadha has near-legendary status for her barnstorming popular classic Bend It Like Beckham – but this latest misses the goal.
Too much homage, too few laughs.
Though an inspired, curry-spattered Carrie homage raises a smile, the plot’s paper thin, the performances precariously broad and the message (“Even fat people can find happiness!”) really sticks in the throat – especially after 100 minutes of plus-size gags.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 26th Aug 2010.
Release date: August 26th 2010.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
