Funny But Drab: Dumb All

It has what it takes to sit through it, but it leaves you with nothing, not even the corny one-liners or the nonsensical repartee.

The plot is from the comedy classic It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, with a good dose of scenes borrowed from Mr. Bean.

The film heads nowhere and so do you if you sit through it. The funny rejoinders of Ritiesh Deshmukh, Javed Jaffery, Arshad Warsi and Aashish Chowdhry keep the laughs coming, but Sanjay Dutt's talent is not visible.

After a long time, veteran comedian Asrani gets a meaty role and easily overshadows the others as though they are just a bunch of amateurs.

The story is about a wild goose chase that involves four good-for-nothing brats who chance upon information of buried treasure.

The supportive cast of fellow comedians tries to add some colour by being portrayed as a South Indian, a Sikh family and a hyper police commissioner, but the best act among them is a gang of dimwit dacoits.

Director Inder Kumar has tasted success with his earlier comedy Masti, which was a huge hit, but his Pyare Mohan didn't go down too well with audiences. Dhamaal, however, will not meet the same fate as it tries to be genuinely funny.

With such a stalwart collection of comic talent one feels all of them are under-utilised – except for Ritiesh Deshmukh. He has carved a comedy niche and, sure enough, steals the scene every time with his reactions.

Javed Jaffery as usual is good. He plays the dumber brother of Arshad Warsi.

Aashish Chowdhry puts up a good act and measures up to his co-stars.

Adnan Sami's voice and compositions are enjoyable, but you really won't miss them.

The producer-director team of Ashok Thackeria and Inder Kumar always shoot a song or a scene around a tree in Ooty to bring luck to their films, and I guess they would need all of that to bail them out.

Also, some of you might prefer to watch this comedy on DVD.