Romeo Review: Decent Entertainer Laced With Relatable Emotions!

Ashwin Ram

Romeo is a romantic comedy starring Vijay Antony and Mirnalini Ravi in the lead roles. Directed by debutant Vinayak Vaithiyanathan.

Premise:
Vijay Antony is a Malaysia return, his parents get him itched to the disinterested Mirnalini Ravi who is passionate about acting and wants to become a heroine. What happens between the couple after the wedding is the remaining story.

 
Writing/ Direction:
Forced arranged marriage is the base content which is a familiar one. But it evolves well and something different is offered throughout the screenplay. Despite the thread being usual, it is staged in a way the conflict gets strongly registered. There is an interesting element to excite a viewer in almost every scene until the interval point. The flow slips a bit after that with a flat pace, not boring but doesn’t showcase anything special, thankfully the story regains momentum in the final act. The last 30 minutes is rock-solid with clever closures. Three setups done earlier such as the fire-fear, fake-fanatic and cruel producer, payoffs were given to all these in a justifying manner. The sister flashback could have found a smoother spot at the initial stages of the second half rather than dumping towards the end, however the emotions click. Good fun is generated in the first hour by helping out the situations take the center-stage, and the halfway mark taking the story a big step ahead. A little more finesse was required while bridging the sequences with the movie within the movie. Measured and meticulously written philosophical dialogues help us in understanding the characters better.

 
Performances:
Always a delight to watch Vijay Antony underplaying on-screen, the director gets it in the perfect meter, the actor has given what is required for the situations by understanding them clearly. Mrinalini Ravi’s best characterization and performance till date, she has equal importance as the hero. Supporting artists have their share of meaty roles, VTV Ganesh and Yogi Babu are used to drive the story more than comedy just for the sake of it.

Technicalities:
Apt songs that go well with the montage visuals, however the one dance number sounded weird. Good background score that boosts the story flow well. Tidy camera work, presented exactly what is required for the movie, the switching aspect ratio for the movie within the movie made things easier. Street-smart editing, superbly executed by planning the scene transitions at the writing level itself. VFX used predominantly for fire and it could have been more realistic on-screen.

Bottomline

Familiar storyline executed carefully by offering refreshing elements both in writing and treatment. Fun first half followed by a latter that feels as if it is losing track, but gets a brisk pickup after a point and ends beautifully.

Rating - 2.75/ 5