Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Comedy
Year: 2022
Running time: 2 hours 28 minutes
Director: Siddharth Sen
Cast: Jahnvi Kapoor, Mita Vashisht, Sushant Singh, Deepak Dobriyal, Sahil Mehta, Samta Sudiksha, Neeraj Seth
Kid rating: PG
So the husband saw the trailer of Good Luck Jerry and said it was funny. The convenience of streaming is that you don’t have to think too much to see a film. So we did, despite the fact that the only big name in this film is Jahnvi Kapoor, and she is not quite a star as yet. Am pleasantly surprised – Good luck Jerry is an entertaining romp and a fun watch. It comes from the Aanand L. Rai stable so that probably explains it!
Good Luck Jerry is a story of a young Bihari girl Jaya Kumari, or Jerry (Jahnvi Kapoor) who lives with her mother Sharbati (Mita Vashisht) and sister Chaya “Cherry” Kumari (Sudiksha) in a small town of Punjab. Now, they aren’t wealthy to begin with but things take a turn for the worse when they find that Sharbati has cancer. The treatment will cost lakhs of rupees – money they don’t have.
By chance Jerry and Cherry get involved with a drug smuggling ring and Jerry decides to keep working for it to raise money for her mother’s treatment. However after a close call with the police Jerry wants to quit. Only, the smugglers don’t take very kindly to her request; this is not a regular 9 to 5. Things then go from bad to worse, and Jerry must think of an escape plan.
One of the great things about Good Luck Jerry is its wonderful cast. Mita Vashisht, as the mother, is impeccable. Sushant Singh plays gangster Daler with a mix of humor and menace. I also really enjoyed Sahil Mehta’s depiction of smuggler Jigar, gangly, loud and trigger-happy. Deepak Dobriyal, another dependable actor, provides comic relief as the neighborhood lout and Jerry’s ardent admirer.
Jahnvi does do unsure and waffly quite well and seems to get cast in those kinds of roles. Even in this film, her character is of a naïve innocent, easily scared and ever ready to tear up. She would do well to improve her range of emotions but here does do well as the plucky Jerry, and carries the movie successfully. Kudos to her!
As in all of Anand Rai’s work it is the little touches and the attention to detail that elevate his films. The film location locales are pretty well done – the dimly-lit smugglers office has leather chairs and seedy furniture. The public bathrooms are dingy. Jerry’s home has a little courtyard and chipped walls. And the characterization is spot on. The criminals are brash, uneducated, Punjabi speaking gangsters, spewing casual sexism.The dialogues were apt, realistic and funny; some were real zingers.
The bad guys in Good Luck Jerry are a bunch of bumbling goons, and watching quick-thinking Jerry trying to outwit them, makes an entertaining 2.5 hours. Do watch!
Kidwise: Some gunslinging and violence.
