Slumdog Millionaire

The 2008 Oscar Winner made a lot of noise last year and generated a lot of buzz.   Here are my thoughts.

It was an interesting story, interesting concept, and well-paced, well-acted. The game show scenes were inter cut well with Jamal’s life story, and the game show scenes also added a little bit more excitement and tension by their addition. The character of Jamal was well-acted and we genuinely cared for him throughout the story of his life. This is also an interesting look into third world India, a world which seems very far removed from our own.

However, not everything worked so well. Honestly, I felt like a lot of things in the story and its execution felt forced; including the romance between the main characters. It almost felt like the significance of certain points were forced in front of us; for example the brother’s death scene. Without the game show aspect to keep the movie together, the story would be rather average. Even with the Millionaire backbone, it only elevates the story a little bit, but not enough to be a really great movie.
I’m going to give this one a 7/10.