80's Buildup (U)
24/Nov/2023 2hrs 7mins

2.00

A comedy with potential that misfires

There is a laugh riot hiding within the plot of 80s Buildup, but unfortunately, director Kalyaan fails to find it. While there is a laugh or two once in a while, the film, despite its largely short duration, feels like an overlong, unfunny compilation of outtakes from a Lollu Sabha-like spoof show. Even the ideas that feel funny initially, like the '80s setting, the Rajini fan-Kamal fan rivalry, Anandaraj in drag, the dumb witted criminal gang, are just abandoned immediately, treated in an unfunny manner or beaten to death to the extent that they begin to grate after a while.(more)

Source: Suganth, Times Of India

2.00

A lazy, offensive talkathon masquerading as comedy

Right after the enjoyable DD Returns, Santhanam mentioned that excluding two backlog releases, he�s confident that his films henceforth will satisfy all sectors of the audience. Since Kick and 80s Build Up are out of the way now, I guess we can assume that we are safe from his testing comedy outings in the future. Several times in the film, Santhanam interrupts Thangadurai�s jokes saying, �Oruthanuku kooda sirippe varaadha comedy mattum pannuviya ne?� After a point in the film, these statements begin to reflect the audience�s responses. How I wish Santhanam developed the same amount of self-awareness while reading his scripts, and interrupted his future directors for a change.(more)

Source: Navein Darshan, The New Indian Express