Good Luck Jerry review: Janhvi Kapoor and her luck shines in this dark comedy

Film: Good Luck Jerry

Director: Siddharth Sen

Star cast: Janhvi Kapoor, Deepak Dobriyal, Mita Vashisht and Sushant Singh

Bollywood Bubble ratings: 4 stars

Good Luck Jerry Movie Review: 

It has been a while since I had heard a theatre full of people laugh in unison, that too real laughs because of humour and not involuntary cringe laughter. And when you watch a film releasing direct-to-OTT, that expectation just kind of leaves your mind completely. But thankfully, I was proven wrong when I saw Good Luck Jerry. It was like music to the ears to hear people laugh, clap and enjoy themselves, just because of the sheer excellence of the cinema in front. In this post-pandemic world, that feeling had kind of disappeared in Hindi films but Janhvi Kapoor brought it back with Good Luck Jerry. You know a film is great when you see that when the interval occurs, people gasped again in unison ‘Arre’ as no one wanted it to stop. Janhvi’s dark comedy is surely one of the best Hindi films of the year till now, if not the best.

 

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Story:

Jaya Kumari aka Jerry is a small town Bihari girl living in Punjab with her mother who earns for the house by selling momos, and a little sister Cherry, who is a student. Jerry’s father has passed away and she works in a massage parlour to help her mother financially, much to her dismay. The family is anyhow making ends meet but their world turns upside down when Jerry’s mother is diagnosed with lung cancer. Desperate to arrange money for her treatment, a chance encounter leads Jerry to the world of drug smuggling and how it leads to some unforeseen circumstances, unveiling different sides of Jerry as well, make for an enjoyable dark comedy.

 

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Star Performance:

Janhvi Kapoor owns the film and how! She leads from the front and right from the first frame till the last, all you see is Jerry and no glimpse of Janhvi, It became quite impossible for me to believe that this is actually the same girl who just made such a glamorous appearance on Koffee With Karan a few weeks back. From the look to the personality traits, Janhvi has got everything imbibed to the T. The only drawback I could find, if I nitpick, it would be her accent which kind of goes on and off at times. Apart from that, Janhvi shows so many layers and shades of Jerry in this two-hour film and none of them seem disconnected, but organic. She is shy when required, afraid when she comes across a cop, clever enough to know what to call the men in her life in what situations and also dominant in the times that needed her to be. For anyone who doubted Janhvi’s acting skills, this is the most perfect reply the actress could have given to them. Last year around the same time, Kriti Sanon gave a spellbinding performance in Mimi that changed her career path, and I am sure, Good Luck Jerry will do the same for Janhvi.

 

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While Janhvi led the film from the front, it was all made possible by the other fantastic actors around her. Starting from Deepak Dobriyal, this man is a comedic genius. From being a narcissist lover to Jerry, to breaking into an unexpected yet hilarious rap in front of police to playing dumbcharades in front of a big smuggler, the actor has innumerable scenes where he just shines through.

Mita Vashisht as the mother is a delight. You never know what you will get from her. At one moment she is caring and emotional, but in the right next instant she will make you burst into laughter with her quippy remarks. Her fun banter with her neighbour played by Neeraj Sood, who just keeps hitting on her, has to be a highlight of the film.

The rest of the cast including Sushant Singh, Jaswant Singh Dalal and Saurabh Sachdeva, make the drug smuggling world all the more believable with their authenticity and each of them have several moments of theirs where they just steal the show. Samta Sudiksha who plays Cherry has limited screen time but their is one scene of hers in the truck that just made me go berserk with laughter. And last but not the least, Sahil Mehta deserves a special mention. He plays the role of a young Punjabi boy learning the tricks of the business and who likes to take out his gun at every occasion, and he makes it one of the best characters of the film. Being a funny Punjabi character, the part had all the ingredients to go the stereotypical and cliched way, but Sahil doesn’t let it happen with his amazing timing. Casting is surely one of the strongest suits of the whole film.

 

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Direction/Screenplay:

I was quite astounded to see that it was Siddharth Sen’s first film as a director as he has brought so much authenticity and realism to the world that he has created. The advantage of having good actors on board is only to a certain extent if you aren’t able to extract good performances out of them as a director, but Siddharth is able to achieve that. The film also has the Aanand L Rai flavour, who has produced the film, as the location acts like a character in itself.

The film is tight in its screenplay at just short of 2 hours runtime. There is no dragging or lagging of any kind. What makes the storytelling all the more intriguing is that you never know what is going to happen in the next moment. You can have your guesses and some might work, but overall it’s quite impossible to decode the story. The climax surely left me filled with adrenaline and it would do the same to you too.

 

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Conclusion:

Good Luck Jerry is a definite watch and is a perfect film for OTT. Janhvi has proved her mettle as an actress and Siddharth has made a smashing entry as a director with this dark comedy. The film will surely leave you with heaps of genuine laughter without resorting to cringe or slapstick humour, and in my opinion, it will indeed go down as one of the best films of 2022.

Watch the trailer of Good Luck Jerry after the movie review:

 

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