Chicken Tikka Masala

The plot for a movie such of this is a giveaway. How can you go wrong with a gay plot line and all the colors and music of India - a story like this writes itself. I'll watch most anything, but this was unwatchable. The sad thing is, the white folks are the most colorful in the film. Vanessa was a riot with a mouth like a sailor, and Jack was great eye candy, but everyone else was so boring. Saeed Jeffrey, who was exceptional in My Beautiful Landrette, did what he could but the story was so boring. The saving grace was really the background music, which made it OK to laugh at the film, instead of with the film, or not at all. There are many other better gay movies, ethnic movies, just plain movies. I give a lot of low budget movies a pass, but this shouldn't have been made, or should have been made by someone else.

have just got back from seeing this brilliantly funny film.

granted, part of the reason i loved it so was because i could point out people and places i knew ('i walk there everyday!', 'i work there!', 'i've had drinks there!', 'hey! that's our postman!' etc...). but, still, if you're out for a 'feel-good' with a bit of spice (excuse the pun) - this is just the right answer. relationships, culture and, most importantly, love are all woven together within the plot.

with preston (where the film is set) recently being made a city, it is good to see this work featuring the place and adding to the feeling of uprise. it is also a brilliant representative of the many cultures in this part of the north.

fabulous!

For those expecting the cover art and story outline to indicate another entertaining Bollywood Indian production, beware: no musical dance numbers or songs of production value exist to brighten the mood in this rather tired story of arranged marriages in the British Indian culture - with a few variations thrown in. As written by Roopesh Parekh the script jumps around topics worthy of discussion only to cover them up with routine avoidance tactics. Harmage Singh Kalirai directs like a traffic cop, trying to hold together the disparate subplots to the point of Keystone Cop tactics.

Jimi (Chris Bisson) is a medical school student who is gay and has a lover Jack (Peter Ash) and they live with Jack's obese, alcoholic, loose morals aunt Vanessa (Sally Bankes) and Sally's chubby daughter Hannah (Katy Clayton). Jimi's family is visited by the Patel family from Delhi who bring their beautiful daughter Simran (Jinder Mahal) to England to find a husband. Jimi's parents (Saeed Jaffrey and Jamila Massey) and his grandmother (Zohra Sehgal) decide Simran is the girl for Jimi to marry and arrange an engagement and wedding in the custom of Indian ways - without consulting Jimi. Jimi discovers the plot and is too spineless not to go along with it, a decision which enrages Jack and infuriates Vanessa. Hannah tells a 'little lie' to Simran (that she is Jimi's daughter) and the wedding is off. When Jimi's parents visit Jimi's house they discover the drunken Vanessa, are repulsed by her, but eventually decide that for Jimi's happiness they will go along with the fact that Vanessa has given them a 'granddaughter' and decide to use the marriage preparations as a wedding for Jimi and Vanessa. Jimi convinces the very reluctant Vanessa to go along with the idea and before long Vanessa is dressed in a sari, prepared for a wedding, and Jimi, terrified at what he is doing just to please his parents, includes Jack as his best man. At the wedding the truth comes out and to Jimi's surprise his family adapts to Jimi's true self and the day is saved by simply being truthful.

The cast copes with this silly bit of nonsense rather well and there are some good performances: Chris Bisson and Peter Ash are attractive men and play their roles well, albeit without any indication at all of a loving relationship (the director seems terrified of showing the least suggestion of intimacy between the two men); Sally Bankes provides most of the laughs as Vanessa; the rest of the cast repeat the stereotype roles they've played countless times in Indian movies. This is not a bad film - it has its moments - but it is just too superficial and tired to make us care about any of the characters.

This is not an entertaining movie by any means. We're supposed to believe that the two lovers, Jimi and Jack, adore one another, but not once during the entire movie did they embrace, kiss or hug one another. Jack does cry at one point, but it looks like a lot of glycerin tear makeup was used to convince us he was really emoting. As for Jimi, despite the strong interchange with his father at the movie's end, he still comes across as a weak individual. Jimi and Jack are indicative of the slew of character stereotypes that fill this movie.

The only standout is Vanessa, Jack's mother. Thanks to the solid acting of Sally Banks, her character really has spit and spunk. Without it the movie would have collapsed and expired. It's hard to believe that Vanessa is Jack's mother, considering how shallow his character is compared to hers.

Perhaps the comments in this forum that are offered by one of the disgruntled extras have a lot of merit. From what I saw, and from what he says, if Chicken Tikka Masala had the benefit of more talent involved in its creation and execution, it might have been an enjoyable film. Instead, it wallows in stereotypes and is really boring.

I have the DVD version of the film and the colors are often dark and murky.

I'm always disappointed in a movie where the main characters are gay and romantically involved but never kiss. Not even a peck on the lips. If straight actors are playing a gay part they should be at least willing to kiss their love interest.

That said, it's an enjoyable film. Predictable but enjoyable. The characters are familiar, the jokes are obvious, the script is not bad. The ending seemed a little rushed, even though the wedding ceremony seemed to take for ever.

Saeed Jaffrey, Zohar Sehgal, Jamila Massey and Harish Patel play characters they've played many times before, so are well crafted to their roles.

If you want something to entertain you for 90 minutes. This film will do the trick.