3 Idiots (2009)
February 17, 2019 9:27 AM - Subscribe
From the moment Rancho arrives at India's most prestigious engineering university, his outlandish schemes turn the campus upside down--along with the lives of his two newfound best friends. This Hindi language blockbuster comedy drama unfolds in two parallel stories, ten years apart and incorporates a number of real Indian inventions.
This is one of my favorite movies, easily in my top 10.
posted by ruben at 11:10 AM on February 17, 2019
posted by ruben at 11:10 AM on February 17, 2019
Yeah, this is really a lot of fun. The camaraderie between Rancho, Raju, Farhan, and Pia was terrific. The running time really gave them space to flesh that out. There's a mildly corny sunniness to the whole thing, but the cast sells it and the direction never lets it sag, even when some elements feel overly familiar. Fun from start to finish.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:17 PM on February 17, 2019
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:17 PM on February 17, 2019
Yeah, 3 Idiots is a solidly entertaining movie. Sorta in the same general ballpark as Hollywood stuff like Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, or Parenthood maybe, where there is a mix of some serious elements and more light hearted fare to suit a wide audience, but done well with good studio craft shown all around.
Hard to knock that when you come away from it feeling pretty good about the time spent watching the movie, even if it's a little hard to remember the exact reasons for why it worked as well as it did later on since it does come down to all the pieces just fitting together more than any specific element standing out. I remember some of the scenes well enough, but the tone is more elusive and that was what I most liked about it.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:00 PM on February 17, 2019
Hard to knock that when you come away from it feeling pretty good about the time spent watching the movie, even if it's a little hard to remember the exact reasons for why it worked as well as it did later on since it does come down to all the pieces just fitting together more than any specific element standing out. I remember some of the scenes well enough, but the tone is more elusive and that was what I most liked about it.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:00 PM on February 17, 2019
I likely am not the audience for the film as I found it ridiculously contrived, even for Bollywood, but as light entertainment goes I thought it fine. The visualisation of the music worked reasonably well. One thing that it did remind me of was the enormous popularity of the TV series MacGyver in the Subcontinent during the 90s and the love of ingenuity.
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:49 AM on February 19, 2019
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:49 AM on February 19, 2019
Watched this again with our tween who loved it. I was pleased to see I enjoyed it just as much on rewatch.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:17 PM on February 24, 2021
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:17 PM on February 24, 2021
Pretty good movie, worthy of its place in IMDB's top 250. The promo image I saw was a pretty clear advert for butt humor, so I was not expecting any critique of higher education, and pleasantly surprised. Even if it has too much toilet humor for my tastes, at least I was warned? What was not warned about was the three suicides in the film. It wouldn't be too big a stretch to say that the film title obliquely references them though.
Viewing from America in 2025, I found it hard sometimes to figure out whether the tech choices were 'latest and greatest' or 'scrappy genius underdog'. I think the quadcopter shown was probably cutting edge (and wikipedia names 3 people who built it and sold a contract to the Indian Army?). But the phones were all flip phones; the iPhone was extremely new and extremely expensive, and maybe not in the local market during filming. But there's also the webcam that could have been from 2004 for all I know. Overall an interesting tech time capsule, in a film that espouses tech and engineering.
Some of the joke scenes here are old. The late test scene was examined by Snopes in 2001. The space pen vs pencil debate is half true -- pencils are dangerous, but NASA didn't invent or request the space pen, it was invented on their behalf. The Soviets used grease pencils, then switched to the space pen.
posted by pwnguin at 10:20 PM on February 15
Viewing from America in 2025, I found it hard sometimes to figure out whether the tech choices were 'latest and greatest' or 'scrappy genius underdog'. I think the quadcopter shown was probably cutting edge (and wikipedia names 3 people who built it and sold a contract to the Indian Army?). But the phones were all flip phones; the iPhone was extremely new and extremely expensive, and maybe not in the local market during filming. But there's also the webcam that could have been from 2004 for all I know. Overall an interesting tech time capsule, in a film that espouses tech and engineering.
Some of the joke scenes here are old. The late test scene was examined by Snopes in 2001. The space pen vs pencil debate is half true -- pencils are dangerous, but NASA didn't invent or request the space pen, it was invented on their behalf. The Soviets used grease pencils, then switched to the space pen.
posted by pwnguin at 10:20 PM on February 15
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posted by KaizenSoze at 10:26 AM on February 17, 2019