As expected, Golmaal 3 is all about wacky humour, farcical dialogue, odd characters and brainless entertainment to be enjoyed by all age groups. The opening and climax are bleak, but all the fun is tucked away in the middle.
The favourites from the previous two installments of the franchise are back: Ajay Devgn plays a psychotic hot-head who twists any fingers pointed at him, shy Shreyas Talpade has a stammer (to an annoyingly prolonged extent), Kareena Kapoor is the neighbourhood tomboy, Arshad Warsi is still funny and fat and Tusshar Kapoor does his mute act again, except at a higher pitch.
New entrant Kunal Khemu likes speaking in idiotic parables: "Harsha hai to Bhogle hai, Asha hai to Bhonsle hai. Football hai to Maradona hai." It means: there's Harsha, so there's Bhogle (referring to an Indian cricket commentator), there's Asha , so there's Bhonsle (legendary Bollywood singer), there's football, so there's Maradona.
This time around, the madcap gang is split into two groups – one with Gopal (Devgn), Laxman A (Talpade), Dabboo ( Kapoor) and Guddi (Ratna Pathak Shah) as the matriarch, and the other with Madhav (Warsi), Lucky (Kapoor), Laxman B (Khemu) and Pappu ( Mithun Chakraborty) as the head of the family.
Devgn and Talpade constantly squabble with Warsi, Kapoor and Khemu, until they find themselves under the same roof when their single parents - Mithun Chakraborty (Pappu) and Ratna Pathak-Shah (Guddi) - decide to get married.
In a hilarious flashback, there's a sweet little retro romance where Pappu is shown wooing Guddi with a "Disco Dance" number. But as was the '70s Bollywood trend, the big bad villain - heroine's rich daddy - (Prem Chopra) plays spoilsport and both are separated.
Chakraborty plays fine sport and pokes fun at himself. Now, back in Goa where both live with their adopted broods, Dabboo learns of their past and convinces them to get married. All hell breaks loose thereafter.
The scene-stealer is sidekick goon Sanjay Mishra. Watch out for the man in the dark glasses who spells no as "Yes". Mishra is a hidden gem and is just outrageously funny. He misspells words like please as "Puc" and sketch as "skdt". In between, add Johnny Lever, a don with a Ghajini-memory syndrome. By the end of this flick, you wish you do too.
Practically every dialogue, almost every scene, refers to another Bollywood film, or a star - some of them in the movie, and some who are not. "Kareena is on the Saif side"; Arshad is waris (inheritor), not Warsi (his actual surname); Shahid Kapoor is the kamina, meaning rascal (from his movie Kaminey).
The film is just a series of non-stop gags and action sequences - how many cars can be destroyed and how many villains can be beaten up?
The length of the film also doesn't help, almost close to three hours, especially if you have to pack in a screenplay. So the shoddiness shows. An action sequence towards the end is pointlessly stretched.
As a result, monotony sets in and thrill takes a backseat.
Clearly it's buffoonery that makes this franchise a hit.
So in that spirit, leave your troubles and brains at home, and watch it.
