By Martin D'Souza, Bollywood Trade News Network

Sunny Deol does what he does best; uses his fist. Johnny Lever does what he does best; makes funny faces and delivers dialogues the way only he can. Ayesha Takia does what she does best; crinkles her nose and smiles. Suresh Menon does what he does best; comedy; Paresh Rawal does what he does best; deliver a performance with a punch. Om Puri and Sharmila Tagore, frankly I don’t know what they are doing.

That’ a FOOL AND FINAL assessment of the movie! Wait. There’s Viveik Oberoi, Shahid Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan, Gulshan Grover, Asrani, Jackie Shroff and Chunky Pandey as well. Chunkey monkeys around making good use of his twisted lips. Gulshan Grover is seated somewhere in London bellowing orders on the phone and Arbaaz is Moscow Chikna (good make-over) with his den in Dubai.

That leaves us with Viveik Oberoi who notches up yet another good performance as Lucky and Shahid Kapoor who dances well and also teams well to hold his own with the seasoned duo of Paresh Rawal and Johnny Lever. I almost forgot; there’s also Sameera Reddy who has three-and-a-half scenes.

If you are looking for a script, forget it, all you’ll find is mottled effects on the frames. There are crooks, robbers, mafia and comedians. All mixed together they try to whip up a laugh. And they are successful at times with one-liners that you wonder whether to laugh at. Sample this: “Tere ko first time, last warning deta hoon.” Or this, “Tere ko last time first warning deta hoon.” However, there are other dialogues that can have you in splits.

The only actor to shine is Zakir Hussain as JD. He has presence and menace. I’m sure he will be heavily booked in the months to follow.

A big let down from the Nadiadwala banner, but then you go with no expectations after seeing the posters. There’s Spiderman, Batman and a conman! Oh yes, did I mention there’s also Sunil Pal, the laughter challenge champion who’s reduced to an extra.

With a star cast as rich as this in talent and experience, you’d expect a much interesting fare. But sometimes talent has to be sacrificed at the altar of commercialism. Or else you would not find an Om Puri not knowing what he is doing, or a Sharmila Tagore essaying an inconsequential role nor Paresh Rawal rattling on. But then, we have gotten used to Paresh and his many such roles, so has he!!!

FOOL N FINAL will find an audience from the eight, to 16-year-olds!

Ratings: 1.5/5