As promised, ’Housefull 3’ is out and out a laughter riot. 134 minutes you just cannot stop yourself from getting your funny bone tickled to the core. It is the first film of the ‘Housefull’ series that will actually make you laugh so hard. Akshay Kumar is a complete show stealer. He is a man who alone can give you pounds of laughter moments. Calling Akshay Kumar the ‘Guru of Comedy’ won’t be wrong. Be it his funny antics or his expressions, or for that matter anything or everything Akshay does, it’s all hilarious. He is the lifeline of the movie who keeps adding something new in every scene. The script-writer needs a special applause for the jokes he has written and has extended them to such a level that you end up laughing at them. The usage of Riteish’s real life wife Genelia and Abishek’s wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s names is the best. The movie has been released at a moment when the audience is hungry for a comedy genre movie. The movie is undoubtedly a comedy flick, but what we miss is a strong storyline. Just like its previous parts, it too lacks a concept. For this one, keep your brains at your home. Three ladies clad in expensive clothes and heavy makeups are a mere showpiece just to attract the audience. Also, the end is just flat and humourless. The climax is not convincing at all. If you like mindless entertainers and are tired of watching movies with a serious motive, then go and watch ‘Housefull 3’.

Building on the earlier two films in the franchise, also written by Sajid-Farhad, Housefull 3 serves rambunctiously funny one-liners from the beginning, and sets a comfortable ground for the actors to tread. Using literal translations of the ‘cool’ lingo – Chalo bahar latakte hain (Let’s hang out), Thandi waali dawa le lo (Take a chill pill) – there’s plenty that tickles. Then there’s Akshay’s split personality act – Sandy and Soondy who take cue from Edward Norton in Fightclub. Though Housefull 3 does lack some of the crackling energy from the previous film, it’s Kumar who keeps the momentum going. The other blip in the script is its plot repetition. At 145 minutes, the directors have produced a tight comedy that skips along, but it’s Akshay Kumar who saves the day. The other actors could’ve been better utilised. Though not as much of a riot as Welcome or Khiladi 786, you can count on the star cast and the crazy set-up to give you a good time.

Akshay Kumar slips into his role easily and the laughs in the film are mostly courtesy his comic timing. Riteish Deshmukh and Abhishek Bachchan do their bit, and along with Akshay, are the saving grace of Housefull 3. As for Jacqueline, Lisa and Nargis, they try to get into their characters, but that's hardly anything to applaud them for. Boman Irani, Jackie Shroff, Chunky Pandey and the rest of the supporting cast hardly make an impact. Sajid-Farhad's Housefull 3 is entertaining only for its male leads. The story has nothing much to offer in terms of either substance or laughter. There are no rib-tickling moments in Housefull 3; but the actors do manage to get a few spurts of laughter.The film demands willing suspension of belief, and that is understandable given the genre it belongs to, but Housefull 3 does not even check the 'hilarious' box. For most part, Housefull 3 tries too hard to be funny, but doesn't quite succeed. Housefull 3 is not exactly like its predecessors, even though the idea is more or less the same. Watch the film only for Akshay, Riteish and Abhishek's comic timing.

Like its central premise - three desperate drifters out to marry a trio of wealthy sisters weave their way in and out of trouble - Housefull 3 is painfully hackneyed and sickeningly silly. But for a slapstick comedy that makes no bones about its lowbrow intentions, being trite and stupid is part of the game. It makes mass consumption easy but does nothing to serve the long-term cause of the genre. Housefull 3 is the kind of film that does not believe in pauses. It hurtles down a manic course that culminates in a bizarre free-for-all. The onus is eventually on Akshay, Riteish and Abhishek to give the film some direction. But all that they do is flow along with the mindless tale, often hitting dead-ends from where there can be no return to sanity. Housefull 3 is strictly for fans of the franchise. Are there any left?