Love in Singapore has gags galore that sizzle, set in a plot that fizzles without a trace. An injudicious comedy that relies on real dim characters, the first major release of the year terribly lets us down.
Hot on the heels of Pereira (Nedumudi Venu) who has fled to Singapore with his daughter Diana (Navneet Kaur), Machu (Mammootty), a scrap dealer turned millionaire, sets foot on the beautiful island with vengeance in mind. Machu has been taken on a royal ride by the conman, and would stop at nothing until he wins his daughter's hand.
Love in Singapore has a design that doesn't hold water at all. I wish at least the key characters appeared a bit credible or the dialogues a bit sharper. On the contrary, the film that clutches on to a make-believe scenario is filled with the absurd. And very often, frenziedly so.
There are very few occasions when the film hits the right notes, and even these are quite erratic. There are plenty of harmless jokes and almost nontoxic pranks; miniscule pleasures that make you feel intensely grateful amidst all these. But they really don't help this senseless locomotive that burns its rails and peacefully steams off towards disaster.
Sometimes there is a do-anything-try-everything kind of attempt to poke at your funny bone that does just the opposite. Rather than cashing in on witty lines and amusing incidents, the film has a go on literally every trick under the Singaporean sun to make you chuckle. Not every time does it reach its target.
I am flabbergasted by the film's title, as there isn't any love in it at all or if at all there is, it's tokenistic and quite frail. As Machu himself admits to the girl towards the end, it was the lure of the riches that had him fly all the way to Singapore. I guess this one should go down in the history of filmmaking as a film that proclaims that it's all about love, and has not even an iota of romance in it.
This is a rare category of a movie, that could perhaps be termed a bleak comedy. It is hardly stenciled as a story, the romance never gains a head or a heart and the dénouement is far from involving. It's a bit too light and frivolous and never really precise either.
If there's something or rather someone here that should allure you at all, it's none other than Mammootty. The man is pure wine that simply gets better with age and if one manages to drive through this dissonance without getting hurt, it's thanks to him. The charming actor looks quite suave and elegant and lavishly flaunts his magnetic appeal.
Supposedly a laugh-a-minute rib tickler that should have split your sides, Love in Singapore turns out to be a tragic debacle that doesn't even have a clue as to what it needs to deliver. How low the mighty have fallen!
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