Where's the Party Yaar?

Well i got this movie in a big outside sale of a video club, cost 3$ so why not? After all it got Kal Penn, and yes its my own fault for buying something because i recognize the main star from a movie i like. Kal Penn mostly famous for the Harold & Kumar franchise play here one of the main character in this pre-Harold & Kumar movie. Kinda weird is that the other main character is name Hari Kumar Patel or something like that, which is the name of Kal Penn's character in Harold & Kumar. Anyway, this movie is rated G in Quebec which mean General Public, and therefore it was expected that there would not be raunchy stuff even tough Kal Penn hold panties on the front cover.

Some of the ideas where good, and the movie had a little something that didn't made it "bad" but it definitely need for laughing moments. Its one of those movie where it should be funny, but its not really and the best you can get out of it are a few smiles and maybe a chuckle or two. The main character is socially awkward coming from India and being very traditional and its mostly from him that the smiles come from. Kal Penn do very OK with the material he is offered but there was only one scene that more or less amused me.

This movie like many others enter the "cute comedy" category and i think when i was 10 or 12 i would had a lot of fun watching it, for that period of time, but in today's standard, it felt short.

I will admit the hard accents also made it hard for me to follow everything properly, as English ain't my first language in the first place. And i usually don't mind too much a comic relief side character with accent, having to follow an entire movie like this is kinda difficult. The movie is also full of India's music which where very annoying at time.

I think my biggest grudge against the movie is that with a title like "Dude, Where's the party" (probably cashing in on Dude, Where's my car) i was expecting a wild ride of a night movie, in the vain of "21 and over" only a bit softer. If you prefer take Ferris Bueller's day off as a better example in that rating category.

Anyway like i said, unlike some people if a movie does not amuse me that much but i still finish it and feel like "yah well OK" i will give it a 5 and say its OK, just not as good as i had hope for, but not that bad either. I remember Balls and Chain with the same Kal Penn which was not as good as i had hope for, but a bit better than this if my memory serve me well. In any case, i think outside the Harold and Kumar franchise and Van Wilder movies, there is nothing memorable from Kal Penn in term of comedy. Well Bachelor Party Vegas was nice thinking about it... not awesome but nice.

"Dude where's the Party?" (Where's the Party Yaar?) is yet another movie that deals with young Indian Americans, and it really doesn't offer a whole lot new or interesting. The territory covered here about Indians (Desi) is old hat, the humor very stale and as painfully unfunny as an SNL skit gone awry. There is absolutely nothing wrong with revisiting familiar plot lines, but they could at least be done in more interesting ways.

Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar) is the only one that gives out a performance with any kind of decency here, probably because he is for all intents and purposes the only real actor in this film. Everyone else in this movie is a rank amateur, better suited for a church Christmas play written by a 45+ year old Uncle (Indian parent or "adult"), then a mass marketed film. The film is about Hari Patel, a well intentioned kid from India who travels to America to study engineering and meet his true love as proclaimed by one of his village elders (in an over the top campy performance) back in India. Hari excited as ever, goes to Houston, TX where moves in with his super cool cousin Mohan "Mo" Bakshi and his family. Kal Penn's Mo character instantly is disgusted by his FOB (fresh off the boat) cousin and is embarrassed that he has to introduce Hari to all his equally super cool and very shallow friends at U of H. And Mo has every good reason to be repulsed by Hari. Hari dresses like an idiot, smells like curry, makes a mess of the family bathroom, and speaks in a loud and obnoxious voice. Essentially Hari Patel is a FOB character exaggerated to the nth degree, a total caricature of the real deal. His accent is exaggerated to the point of sounding fake, and his clothes and hair are just terrible. I've encountered several newly arrived Indian immigrants in my lifetime, and even the worst of them with their slacks and white tennis shoes do not act as unbelievably stupid as Hari Patel does here. There is a hollow ringing moral lesson at the end of the film, where the shallow cool Indians learn how to better treat the FOBs.

Basically the essential reason Indian Americans have been confused about their identities and so many flicks like this have exploded onto the scene is because Indians can't stop being Indian. It's not because the Indian culture is so vastly different from American culture or Western culture as a whole. No, there are many Eastern European countries and Middle Eastern countries whose cultures can be eerily similar to "Indian culture" and it's strict parental rules. But if they are White or fair skinned White looking, they can easily blend into American culture far more easily. When was the last time you heard of confused Russian American kids? Yeah they don't exist. But as an Indian you carry India with you everywhere you go and this more then anything else is the root of the struggle for ABCDs (American Born Confused Desi). You'll always be Indian in America or any other country, and you will always be way too American/Western if you go back to India. That's likely the reason that there are more of these type of movies depicting Indian American trials then there are East Asian American struggles. Asian Americans have been around in the United States for so long and overall just tend to blend in better then Indians do. Indian skin complexion tends to stand out, we look like "foreigners" even if you are super cool like the club hopping Indian kids in this movie. Add to that we have only been around in significantly large numbers since the 1970s and there you have the answer.

Certainly there has been a Desi explosion in American/Western pop culture in recent years, in no way did I even imagine all this mainstream Indian exposure as a kid growing up back in the 80s and 90s. It clearly took a generation of Indians to grow up in America to bring Desi culture to the pop forefront, because our parents generation certainly wasn't going to do it. I've been hard on this film but it did have it's moments too, I especially liked the boy band serenade with the Hindi remix. I liked how the movie showcased Desi culture in Houston, as opposed to New York, Chicago, or Philly. I also loved how it showed a variety of Indian subcultures, not just North Indians which is what is usually done in the other flicks. I was happy that there was no big melodramatic Indian wedding,---though a fist fight between two Uncles would have been hilarious. I myself have never really been immersed in the young Indian American culture, but growing up ABCD you'll still know it very well in many ways. The characters parents live in giant homes that are essentially mini mansions, a favorite of many Indians (especially Malayalees) who aspire to live in the posh Houston suburb of Sugarland---but usually at hard cost cutting standards for those that don't have the natural income to live in such large homes. It was also surreal for me to hear Malayalam actually spoken on screen. "Where's the Party Yarr?" should probably be given it's dues just for being yet another Desi movie that did try and one that might make us less strange to the general American public. With a few exceptions, no one could figure out quite how to do these kind of films back in the 1990s, and it was pure fantasy in the '80s. I don't want to even begin to imagine what it was like for the very early Indian American youth back in the '70s. Keep making Indian American/Western flicks, but get bolder...and funnier. I'm still waiting for that great Desi film or novel that will echo what Amy Tan did for Asians with "The Joy Luck Club".

This is a movie about an Asian Indian family living in the United States. Mo Bakshi (Kal Penn) was raised in the U.S., is familiar with the way of life and is considered one of the cool kids. Harishkumar Patel (Sunil Malhotra), or Hari for short, is what the americanized Indians referred to as "FOBs" or Fresh Off the Boat.

Hari comes to the U.S. in order to go to college. Before he goes, he is foretold by his family in India that his true love will fall on him like lightning from the sky, that her name began with the letter "P" and would fall in love with him on the night of a full moon. On his first day in class he meets Priya (Tina Cherian). Actually, she trips onto him and he interprets this as falling from the sky and chases her for the remainder of the movie.

Throughout the movie, the FOBs are trying to get into the cool parties while guys like Mo and his buddies do their best to keep them out. I suppose this movie is trying to point out the differences between them and even goes as far as to say they are racist against their own heritage. It is a little hard to explain but I understood the movie completely.

This was titled "Dude, Where's The Party?" at the video store and billed as a comedy. After just coming off of watching Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, I figured this was a "can't miss" movie. While it was not too terrible, it was nowhere near as funny as Harold & Kumar (with the exception of maybe one scene). I kind of got the picture they were trying to capitalize on Kal's Harold & Kumar fame by releasing this movie afterward, even though it was made before and the box cover could be misconstrued as well.

Also, some of the actors are in need of acting classes or something. Most of the smaller parts I guess. I did not think the women were all that beautiful either, with the exception of Mousami Dave, who plays Poonam Mehta. Mousami was by far the hottest girl in the movie. With all things considered, I rate this in the middle and would honestly recommend to pass on this film. 5/10

A very funny movie. All politics aside, fob, abcd, Indian Ameican, these are obviously hot bed issues that stike a chord in each viewer making it impossible for them to watch the movie in its on immensely well crafted, fun, colorful, and musical environment. Practically ten minutes of this film is a man splashing around in a tub, not being Indian, or American but simply being a grown hairy man getting as much fun out of a tub full of water and not taking sides in the epic battle between the new and old groups of Indians ( it would seem from reading some of the pathetic reviews in this collection of reviews the the battle is epic) It seems that this was a topic the filmmakers probably did not think would be so emotional.

But once again so much of this movie doesn't really even play into that debate and really just attempts to create some fun and silly moments, like Kal's dance for Janvi. When its does take a stand and get on its soapbox it does it in such a clever way that the Shalllow Indians, who feel the film pokes fun at them, watch the movie don't even notice the scene where PRYIA in JANVI's documentary, reveal the filmmakers true feelings about the whole "Can Indians get along debate." In this scene it seems like PRYIA really does have a mind and she realizes that the struggle Indians have now is nothing compared to the Civil Rights Struggle in the US only 40 some years ago --she admits, and the filmmakers through her, that the battle for who is the coolest is not important when one thinks of the struggles of minorities in this country in the past and all the people who have cleared the way for "PRYIA" to worry about how she may be seen as a freak for the color of her eye-shadow and not the color of her skin. It also shows that some of the worst hatred in minority groups exist within the group itself as those who adapt and adopt the culture of the new environment immediately pick on members of their own group who do not fit in. But these are heavy issues and to attempt them in a comedy is bold and i think the filmmakers succeed in showing how this happens and DO NOT TAKE THE SIDE of the person who picks on members of his/her own group, --that is why the club owner is, in the end, exposed as THE BAD GUY. In fact --he is really the only bad guy in the movie. the guy who owns the club and throws the parties but does not want any "real" Indians to show up is the one everyone can agree is the "loser." But when it is not smartly dealing with these heavy topics , the film is a very silly and funny movie that cracked me up.

If you liked Harold & Kumar, then you may find this movie funny. However, it is not a movie centered around drugs like the afore-mentioned was. There is a weed scene in Where's the Party, but nothing on the scale of Harold & Kumar.

Basically there are 2 general groups of people that will find this particularly funny: 1) Kal Penn fans.

2) Anyone who finds racial stereotypes funny.

As a whole, this movie had some pretty funny moments in it. However, it big time paled in comparison to Harold & Kumar go to Whitecastle.

If you fall into one of the two categories above, check this movie out. If not, you'll probably want to skip this movie and pick something else instead.