Slumdog Millionaire

What pleases the crowd often pleases me not, but I was won over by the exuberance of Danny Boyle’s exploration of Mumbai, the clever exposition of a conventional story, and the appeal of Dev Patel as the central character in this gritty urban fairy tale of destined love. Three trios of attractive young actors hurtle the story backward and forward from the death of their mothers in anti-Muslim riots in the Bombay of the early ’80s to Patel’s appearance on the tv gameshow “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” in the booming Mumbai of the late ’90s. The borrowings from popular culture are unabashed and nonstop, from Boyle’s self-homage to the infamous toilet scene in Trainspotting, to obvious riffs on Dickens and Dumas, to the gameshow itself, and appropriation of stars and scenes from Bollywood movies. Like the characters, the camera and music hurtle through locations pulsing with life. I expected to be put off by a film revolving around a gameshow I never cared to watch, but was rather impressed by the way it triggered flashbacks to fill in the story. It’s impossible to take this film seriously, but equally impossible not to be swept along by its energy. Genial enough in spirit that I didn’t mind having my buttons pushed so insistently, this romantic fantasy is popular entertainment that is entertaining as well as popular. (2008, Images, n.) *8* (MC-86.)