dilwale dulhania le jayenge

movie review: just saw Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge last night. i'm sure i'm veering out of the desi mainstream when i say this, but this flic was just too steriotypically blah. i honestly felt guilty when it was over for wasting so much of a beautiful sunny sunday afternoon. here were my problems: i was shocked when intermission showed up, i could have sworn we were wrapping up, but alas, we were simply leaving england for the punjabi homeland, which we certainly could have done sooner. the lamborghini/motorcyle/fight w/ the juts/prancing switzerland business is so stereotypically bollywood - its been done over and over and over again. i also tire of the 'i love india' speeches, and the brainless 'east is west, punjab is best' type one liners. still, some things were good - for one, we were spared shahruhk's stomach gurgling 'i'm so sad' acting. less cynically, the songs are pretty good, as are the dance scenes. perhaps i'm just feeling ready to trash a film since the past few i've seen have been so good. had i seen this last year when i was wallowing in a long string of muscle-flexing-junior-high-school-machismo-bollywoods, i might have been more sympathetic. for now, i give it 2 1/2 stars, while seriously contemplating dropping it to 2. more at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112870/