Best movie of this year hands down!

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Do you think love can be found outside your race ? This question can depends on individuals, and in the movie Bride and Prejudice which is considers a Bollywood's movie but has some Hollywood themes in it. The film starts with Lalita and her two other sisters attending at a wedding. Balraj and his friend Darcy and Darcy's sister also attended the wedding all the way from America. In the Indian culture, it is the duty of the parents to find s good husband for their daughters and rich men are what they are aiming to get for their daughters. Balraj and and Jaya, Lalita's sister instantly fell in love. Darcy kind of have a crush on Lalita but didn't revealed his feelings until the near ending of the movie. There are some complications to Darcy and Lalita since they both are from different cultures and their ideas were very different compared to Jaya and Balraj, who have no problems since they both are Indian , it was easier to handle things. I didn't really like the film, nor I hate it , but I would I like it . But again I am not really impressed with the movie and their acting but overall, it's okay. I understand what the director was trying to do and his goals, to show the two different cultures and how sometimes how you view one particular culture is not true on most of the case. For example how Darcy thought arranged marriages were all so bad but we can disapprove clearly in the example of Lalita's parents, they seem to work out well. What I didn't really was how it was kind of too fictional , for two people to fall in love so quick and from one step to quickly jump to 100 step, such as marriage . Bride and prejudice can clearly be seen as a crossover film than the other traditional Bollywood films. First of all, the film is in English which already removes it from the category of traditional Bollywood film. Also this film takes place from different countries, not just India but also in London and USA compared to the other Bollywood movies, which is usually in India. Also various actions in this show that it is a crossover film when most of their songs are in English instead of a Hindi. Also when Darcy was looking for Lalita, Kholib offered him to get inside and have some beer, which is total opposite from what traditional Bollywood films would do. What I have learned about the cultural elements presented in the film is the difference between Indian and Western culture on the topic of love. In the West it's all about the love while in the Indian culture, that not the case for everyone. The director did a good job in showing this part when Lalita and Darcy were having casual conversations. When Darcy make a joke about the arranged marriage, Lalita got very upset and said that that was not the case and that people are very happy and she question why is the reasons why Americans has the highest percent of divorce rate in the world, if it all about the love ? The scene leaves with Lalita saying this and leaving and Darcy was speechless and it is exactly what the movie director has intended to do. I've also learned that is the the parents duty to find spouses for their kids, they belived it much better since they would what best for their kids and highly honor to marry someone who is rich, respectful and educated. And also this idea kind of also blends in the West even though it is technically called arranged marriages, the parents kind of give suggestion to their kids to marry who. For example when Whickman was telling Lalita how Darcy 's mother tried let her son marry a new yorkan girl, and it is very similar to arranged marriage in India but not extreme. The idea is still there.

Bride and Prejudice, a roller coaster film, sparked a new fusion between two remarkably different cultures: Hollywood and Bollywood. This movie enthralled its audience by introducing a particularly unique love story among two opposites of the spectrum, a girl named Lalita Bakshi who was raised in a conservative household, and the American businessman, Will Darcy, who was always entailed in a modern lifestyle due to his upbringing. Undoubtedly, these star crossed lovers were involved in the inevitable arguments, judgements, and prejudice-as they encountered each other when the two didn't expect it. As trouble arose, it was clear to see how very different conflicts could be resolved by two types of cultures. All in all, I was indifferent about the movie. Although many types of emotions came from every direction, the film was predictable in many aspects. Furthermore, it was very easy to understand the film as a whole. The plot line was rather common but still original compared to other types of Hollywood and Bollywood movies. Compared to other traditional Bollywood films, there weren't as many scenes that didn't match the plot line. For example, in a classic Bollywood film, a girl and boy would be fighting because they wouldn't be able to get along well; five minutes later, they would be dancing and laughing together. In Bride and Prejudice, the story made sense and didn't falter in a way a classic Bollywood movie would. More specifically, when Lalita met Darcy's secret girlfriend, Anne, she was agitated and didn't speak to Darcy until he apologized for his actions. There was no dance number in between these scenes. Moreover, the acting in this film was very over-dramatized compared to Hollywood films. Though, this is very common among Bollywood films because the audience loves overacting and capturing drama which eventually make scenes more interesting. In the movie, Lalita's mother exaggerated her phrases as if she was always in a distressed state. Usually in a Hollywood movie, a background character wouldn't be as prominent as a main character in their words. Continuing on, the song/dance sequences were amazingly opposite and important for the plot line. In this film, the audience wouldn't have known Darcy and Lalita were on a date unless a song hadn't featured. Of course, Bollywood music was also very different than classic Hollywood. Various types of instruments and sounds were played (fast/slow) respectively to the mood of the scene. Bride and Prejudice was perfectly in the middle of Hollywood and Bollywood. The ending made this perfectly clear since a traditional Bollywood or Hollywood would never feature the different elements presented: a biracial wedding and resolved drama. As for cultural elements, the aspects of Indian norms were extremely distinct from the American norms. Starting out with couples, Mr. and Mrs. Bakshi most likely had an arranged marriage. They expected love to come from within after their partnership was planned. But for couples like Jaya and Balraj, they expected their love to grow and their relationship to bloom from the love they received from their family. On the other hand, Lalita and Darcy expected that their families would only learn to accept the love they wanted to cherish. Without a doubt, these three couples experienced love from three different perspectives. The director of this film, Gurinder Chahad, was most likely trying to convey that cross cultural relationships do not always have to to have something in common, reiterating the fact that, "opposites do attract."

I don't know what exactly attracted me in this movie: I've never seen anything even remotely Bollywood before that, all I knew was that I'm an avid reader, I like Jane Austen and I was in for a comedy of some sorts. On that front, Bride & Prejudice fell right where it had to. The story, while shamelessly shortened, still delivered the overall Pride & Prejudice feel. Kudos for whoever decided to keep the names similar to the ones in the original: it helped the viewers make the connection between the two much easier. The snob American, Will Darcy (Martin Henderson) comes to Amritsar, India, accompanied by his English- bred Indian friend Balraj Bingley (Naveen Andrews) and his sister Kiran Bingley (Indira Varma). The culture and unusual lifestyle make him spin out of control and the straw that breaks the camel's back is meeting the Bakshi family, particularly the object of his friend's interest Jaya (Namrata Shirodkar) and, more importantly, her even more stunning sister Lalitha (Aishwarya Rai). Overall, it was a pleasant movie experience, certainly needed after having watched a rather depressing movie. It helps lift up one's spirits and certainly leaves the viewer in a good dance-like mood afterwards. Gurinder Chadha again shows some very good artistic decisions and still tries to stay loyal to the Bollywood style. However, a very, VERY major con of the movie for me was Martin Henderson's performance. It felt like he didn't really know what he was doing on this set, like a high school drama club kid, who has suddenly stumbled on a Broadway stage. Because of this, I couldn't feel any chemistry between his and Rai's characters, which is ridiculous, considering the whole movie should be about their relationship and its development. Well, throughout the whole movie development=nill, sorry to say that. Too bad for how beautiful Aishwarya is, and her acting is quite on spot, even if I do prefer her non-English movies. She is a good actress, in my humble opinion. On a more positive casting side, although, even though I hold some dislike to Indira Varma as an actress, I found her fitting her role here very good. Nitin Ganatra was dorkishly and adorably funny as Mr. Kohli, not quite true to the book character, but I wasn't expecting that anyway. Naveen Andrews (who I've grown to like since I saw him in The English Patient, mind you) for me gave the most convincing performance. His character was animated in a quirky sort of way, his presence solid and somehow fitting in the background of most scenes. His chemistry with Namrata Shirodkar was quite evident and for the little screen time he had, he managed to act out every second. Half of which was the "Indian MC Hammer" and the "Balle Balle" dance, which was by far the catchiest tune in the movie, along with "No Life Without Wife". It got me thinking that they could have cast Andrews as a replacement for the stick-up-his-behind Henderson, it would have been interesting to see him in the lead role. The colors of the movie were astonishingly good, bringing a great atmosphere. I like the attention to detail that Chadha displayed - like in "Marriage Has Come To Town" scene where Lalitha kneels down to play with the kids on the pavement. It built the image of that character further and I was pleased to see that. The wedding scene at the end was marvelous. Even Henderson seemed to spit out the cane that was stuck in him and loosen up a bit. Far too late, though.The cameos from Alexis Bledel and Marsha Mason were unexpected but quite refreshing, just as the movie was starting to get slightly boring. What was Ashanti doing in this movie again? 8/10. 2 down because of Henderson, the guy who played Wickham, who was so out of order I don't even want to start at it, and the African- American choir and the beach that was just what the hell.

This strange movie tracks, more or less accurately, the plot of Jane Austen's great novel. It has its Elizabeth Bennet in Lalita Bakshi (portrayed by the incomparably beautiful Aishwarya Rai), a wealthy American Darcy (Martin Henderson), Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Bennet, the Bennet sisters and stand-ins for all of the novel's other principal characters and subplots. And, of course, Lalita and Darcy are destined for one another despite her initial revulsion, just as Elizabeth and the wealthy English Darcy were. But this is Bollywood, and in addition to "Pride and Prejudice," we have an exuberant musical with elaborate choreography and gorgeous costuming that moves somewhat confusingly between a city in India, London and Beverly Hills. If you don't know the Austen novel, some of the plot twists may be difficult to follow because this movie substitutes spectacle for subtlety, and it's an uneasy mixture. Ms. Rai is astoundingly beautiful and Mr. Henderson is very handsome, and some of the musical scenes are amusing if not exactly appropriate to the story. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (i.e., Mr and Mrs Bakshi) come closest to the originals and actually have a few lines penned by Miss Austen herself. But otherwise the movie is a mishmash of conflicting elements. (Elephants in the final wedding scene certainly reflect Indian tradition and spectacle but one can't helped wondering what Jane Austen would have done if elephants were required in her novel.) Ms. Rai and Mr. Henderson might have been served better by a movie that hewed closer to the original. They actually appear to be pretty good actors as well as a handsome couple.