Shaadi Ke Side Effects Review

It's so disappointing when two actors you really admire get stuck in a bad film. Shaadi ke Side Effects starts out with a bang as a married couple played by Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan role play as strangers and have hot sex in a hotel. They yhave amazing chemistry in those opening scenes. Then Vidya gets pregnant. They almost have an abortion since they are not financiall settled yet, but Farhan stops her at the last minute. The marriage goes downhill as the reality of having a young child sets in. I found both characters very annoying. Vidya became a dish rag, and Farhan a selfish lout. The film drags on and on through the boredom and the estrangement. We didn't need 2 and a half hours to tell this story, especially when there are only a couple songs in it. Surely both actors can do comedy, but there's no evidence of it here. The bits just aren't funny enough, and if Vidya and Farhan are to be the straight men, the supporting characters should then be more funny and over the top. Judd Apatow treads similar territory in his films, and you like his actors and it's FUNNY. Is this film meant to be a comedy, truly, as EROS billed it? Not in my book, and there's not enough true pathos to be a successful drama either.