The death of an ageing billionaire (Ranjeet) on his luxury cruise brings chaos to the lives of those aboard the ship. His will names his son ‘Jolly’, as an heir to his property. Chaos turns into frenzy when three Jollys (Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh) show up to claim the wealth. If the plot wasn’t crowded enough, there’s a masked killer on the loose and everyone’s a suspect. Who’s the killer and who’s the real Jolly?

: Housefull franchise‘s existence is rooted in slapstick comedy, so you walk in knowing what to expect. Akshay Kumar slapping CGI monkeys, girls blatantly objectified and Riteish Deshmukh gobbling a parrot as annoying as the one in ‘Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon’, don’t surprise you. You snigger at lines like ‘Thokte raho……. Taaliya’, ‘mera popat kabhi nahi uthega’, but overlook the cringe because that’s what the brand is all about. What surprises you is the utter lack of humour, even dirty humour if we may say so in the script and sheer wastage of a zillion actors who are known for their comic timing.

Directed by Tarun Mansukhani, a far cry from his brand of humour in Dostana, Housefull 5 deserved a script, let alone better writing. In a span of 2 hours, 45 minutes (a bit too long for a whodunnit-comedy), the banal first half is loaded with random songs, pointless arguments, juvenile jibes and loud noise… everything but humour. You desperately miss comic punches. Even Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff’s inclusion as baba and bhidu don’t add up. You feel sorry for these actors reducing themselves to caricatures of their former glory.

The film somewhat takes off in the second half but truly sheds its stagnancy only in the climax, a bit too late. This also marks the arrival of Nana Patekar. The senior actor, a master of the genre (control Uday… control of Welcome) shows how it’s done. As a dhoti clad interpol chief based in London, rooted in Maharashtra, Patekar is terrific and infuses life into this overloaded, derailed cruise. Sajid Nadiadwala tries to blend comedy with murder mystery through his script and fails at both barring the climax. It’s the last 20 minutes along with Nana’s entry that truly entertain you. This is what you expected Housefull 5 to be… thrilling, unpredictable and funny. Sajid even manages to conceal the identity of the killer till the end, but the humour aspect falls miserably flat.

Barring Riteish who manages to entertain, both Abhishek Bachchan and Akshay Kumar get little to play with as far as words are concerned. The women have nothing much to do except for upping the glam quotient and being the butt of several adult jokes. Sonam Bajwa, Fardeen Khan and Dino Morea act sensibly. Shreyas Talpade, Johnny Lever and Chunky Panday are criminally wasted. Talpade just disappears for a major part of the film, but we can’t expect logic here. Can we?

Note: The film has two climaxes 5A and 5B, both versions have different killers, while rest stays the same. Won't make much of a difference which version you choose but if you must, go for 5A.

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