Marigold

Directed by Willard Carroll
Hyperion Pictures 08/07
PG-13 - brief strong languge

Most of the Bollywood-style films released in the West have been filled with delightful dances, lilting Indian music, and stories to lighten the heart of all romantics. Not so with Marigold, the first co-production between the United States and India. The story starts badly and never recovers. Marigold Lexton (Ali Larter), an American actress who has starred in bunch of lousy sequels (she calls them "movies with numbers in the title"), is flying to India for her latest acting stint. She is a self-obsessed, inconsiderate, and crude blonde who treats the airline hostesses as if they were low-class servants and lets everyone else sitting in coach know that she thinks she is much better than they are. The screenplay writer probably intended these scenes to be funny but they only paint Marigold as a disgusting woman.

Arriving in India, Marigold learns that the funding for her film has fallen through and she not only has no job, she has no return ticket. But she lucks out thanks to the kindness of a stranger who takes her to the set of a Bollywood musical. Even though she can't dance or sing, the film's director gives her a part in the movie. Even though he knows she has a boyfriend (Ian Boehn) back in the States, Prem (Salman Khan), the choreographer, falls in love with her. He teaches her how to dance and tries to round off some of her rough edges. He works wonders with her but turns out to have his own secrets and family challenges.

It is pleasant to watch Indian superstar Salman Khan dance and convey emotions through his very expressive eyes, but it is excruciatingly painful to watch Ali Larter trying to show what her character is feeling with her face, which seems to do only pouty and smiley. What Prem sees in Marigold is beyond us.

Reviewed by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Rating: 2/10