Sirf
CAST: Kay Kay Menon, Manisha Koirala, Sonali Kulkarni, Ranvir Shorey, Rituparna Sengupta, Nauheed Cyrusi
Director: Rajaatesh Nayar
This one could have been called Life in a Metro, Part 2. Four couples, in Mumbai, leading stressed lives, trying to get somewhere.
One couple has a daughter with a hole in the heart: mom and dad work too hard, don’t have enough time for her. Aww. Another is a power couple: advertising honchos, with their own company, climbing the ladder. A third comes to the big bad city from a small town: he is okay with it, she makes faces and cries. Poor thing. And the fourth is the youngest: he is jobless but wants to marry; she does too, but has no money, either.
There’s a story here, even if it’s been done to death. But the film is flat and amateurish, the actors — even those who are always good to watch, like Kay Kay and Ranvir - coming off as ineffective.

SHUBHRA GUPTA
shubhra.gupta@gmail.com

THE EX
CAST: Zach Braff, Jason Bateman, Amanda Peet, Mia Farrow
DIRECTOR: Jesse Peretz
There are many factors which draw you to The Ex, the foremost being the cast. Braff and Bateman are TV’s better-known comedians, wide-eyed and wider-mouthed Peet is a regular in the low-key funny roles, and Farrow adds a dash of respectability to it all, even though Peretz obviously doesn’t know what to do with her. (Except have her hugging an infant at all times.)
And, for a while, The Ex seems to get it right. Peet and Braff are effortless with each other as a couple who have been together for a long time. Sofia (Peet) and Tom (Braff) don’t have great chemistry, but it’s easy to see what attracts one to the other.
However, the film starts falling apart when Bateman enters the picture. As Sofia’s one-time fling in high school who ends up as Tom’s boss, you know Chip (Bateman) can’t harbour friendly feelings towards Tom. It doesn’t help that Chip is in a wheelchair and works at an advertising firm where they throw around an imaginary ball to show gamesmanship.
That’s not to say that Bateman isn’t good. It requires some talent to make yourself hateful when the rest of the world is supposed to look at you sympathetically — as Tom helpfully notes — but the creepy, malevolent and scheming Chip manages it. However, his role is so over-the-top and one-dimensional that Chip only drags the rest of the film down with him.
Peretz doesn’t try to go for the cheap wheelchair jokes, and one has to be thankful for it. It’s also a relief that a child actor — a real prodigy in the making — is spared before he becomes overbearing. It’s sad Bateman isn’t spared the same fate.
Nothing burns like an old flame, says the film’s tagline. Unfortunately, hardly anything burns out faster.