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Too many cooks may spoil the broth, but when it comes to Bollywood comedies like Golmaal, it's more a case of too many jokers spoiling the fun. Packing a dozen popular comic actors such as Paresh Rawal, Arshad Warsi and Tusshar Kapoor into a single film sounds good in theory, but even the plethora of talent assembled by director Rohit Shetty can't overshadow the weak narrative centering on a gang of friends out to con an elderly blind couple.

College dropouts Gopal (Ajay Devgan), Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor), Mahadev (Arshad Warsi), and Laxmi (Sharman Joshi) refuse to lose their adolescent ways, preferring instead to con people for fun and money. When the motley crew chance upon the old couple's bungalow, they discover that the pair (Paresh Rawal, Sushmita Mukherjee) are expecting the arrival of their grandson from America for the first time. The dropouts spot an opportunity for blagging free food and accommodation, and for locating the couple's hidden wealth, by posing as the grandson. This would provide enough scope to carry any film for a few hours, but throw in a handful of vengeful local gangsters, a bumbling college professor and a sexy neighbour (Rimi Sen), and soon the cast are queuing up to deliver their allotted laughs.

"THE STORYLINE BARELY GETS A CHANCE TO DEVELOP"

With so much screen time devoted to surplus characters it's no wonder that the storyline barely gets a chance to develop beyond the obvious before someone delivers a cheeky punch-line or sustains a slapstick injury. And while Rawal, Kapoor, Warsi, and Joshi put in likable performances, it's a real wonder why a revered lead actor like Devgan, better known for his dramatic roles, agreed to be part of this no-brainer. The result is an overexcited, crammed piece of entertainment, sprinkled with a few funny moments.

In Hindi without subtitles.