Slumdog Millionaire

As I just mentioned, once the Oscar nominations are announced a lot of people go to see the best picture nominees who might normally not be interested in that genre.  I don’t really like “heartwarming”.  But Slumdog Millionaire is getting a lot of buzz.  Since I just had to sit through a brunch where some of my friends tried to convince me that The Dark Knight isn’t really best picture material, I thought I’d go see what’s out there.

For the first hour or so, things weren’t looking so good.  There’s nothing more overdone than the nice-smart-shy guy versus the good-looking-bully over the beautiful-but-confused girl.  This movie was definitely falling into that triangle.  Also, true love conquers all?  Seriously?  But as the story went on, I started to really like the kids.  The framing is a bit contrived, bordering on deliberately arty.  But the character was compelling enough that I didn’t feel the flaws during the movie itself.  By the end, I admit I’d had a good time.

I’ve seen far better movies this year, including The Dark Knight.  But also indepenents like Hamlet 2.  So I don’t know how this rose quite as high as it did, but it’s still an enjoyable evening.