Slumdog Millionaire Reviews

I love 'Slumdog Millionaire', loved, loved, loved it! What did I give it out of 10? A. 6 B. 7 C. 9 D. 10

If you guessed 10, you're right, you're right, you're right! In fact this movie deserved 1,000,000/10! It's just so great!

'Slumdog Millionaire' is the Oscar winner of 2008 and it's bloody easy to see why! It's amazing!

Exciting, feel-good film that paces well with exciting scenes. So, this is a taste of Bollywood? Interesting. Love the soundtrack!

It's ok, I think you need some sort of patience to truly enjoy this movie. I was really getting into it but the ending really was not good. The ending happens the way most people assume. He wins and gets the girl. The end. Move onto another movie now, after a week you will have forgotten you have even seen this movie.

BUT! Give it a try. You might indeed like it.

Jai Ho ! awesome screenplay & A.R. Rahmaan music

I already saw this movie, in fact I saw it in the movie theater when it was released and since it was a while back, I thought I might watch it again. I  remember the first time I saw the damned thing though. Indeed, I was and still am a big fan of Danny Boyle's work, I was really eager to see this flick and when it won the Best Picture Academy Award, I became even more intrigued. Apparently, at first, nobody was interested by this project and there was even some rumors that it might end up being released directly on DVD. Eventually, it managed to get released and the critical and public response was so enthusiast and, coming from nowhere, it was even heralded at the Oscars. Personally, even though I can be quite cynical, I actually really loved this movie. In my opinion, it is one of the best combinations of drama, realism and entertainment I have seen and I think it is a great achievement. I always thought that Danny Boyle was a very good director and once again, he didn't disappoint me and I'm really glad he finally received all the recognition he deserved. Personally, I don't really agree with the people criticizing its happy ending, at least, it didn't bother me. The point is that the whole thing is actually some kind of fairy tale (which explains the musical scene at the end) but it is set into a realistic harsh and grim world and I thought that this mix was amazing and to throw 'Who wants to be a millionaire' on top of that was just masterful. Basically, it might be the darkest feelgood movie ever made and how they manage to combine such contradictory vibes was quite a marvel. Anyway, to conclude, I think it is an amazing flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Danny Boyle's work. 

Underdog stories are a dime a dozen, and that's the reason why it's so difficult to come up with above-average movies that follow said type of storyline yet don't feel like recycled material. So, how DID director Danny Boyle manage to create such a good underdog story with Slumdog Millionaire?

A. His film has the best soundtrack of the year
B. Though set in India, his film has a universal quality to it that will make it appealing to all moviegoers
C. The main character is one of the most likable underdogs we've ever seen in this type of movie
D. All of the above

18-year-old Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) was raised in the slums of Mumbai, India, and now works at a telephone company's call center, not as an actual phone operator, but as a chaiwalla (tea server). So, when he becomes a contestant on India's version of the popular game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? no one expects him to do well at all. He manages to answer the penultimate question correctly for 10 million rupees, and time runs out before he can be asked the final question for 20 million rupees, so he'll have to come back the following day for the next episode. As soon as he leaves the set, police take him away to interrogate him, believing he must have cheated his way through the questions. This marks the start of the narration of Jamal's story, which gradually reveals how the answers to the specific questions he was asked were all things he came across at some point in his life as a slumdog.

I'm sure it wasn't hard to figure it out, but the answer to the question was indeed D. All of the above. Slumdog Millionaire is blessed with an energy-filled soundtrack that fits every scene very well and makes the scenes have a vibrancy that they'd lack if they didn't have such great music as their background. Another noteworthy aspect here is that the awesome theme music for the show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is used to great effect here, particularly during the final scenes that involve Jamal's participation on the show. It's no coincidence that the filmmakers chose this particular TV show as a piece of the plot, as it makes it recognizable to everyone; while the film is about an underdog in India, the fact that he's trying to win the grand prize on a show like this one will make it easy for people around the world to root for him. Speaking of that, rooting for Jamal turns out to be extremely easy to do, as Dev Patel is note-perfect. He doesn't fall into the trap that most actors and actresses playing underdogs would fall into of overplaying the nervousness. While on the "hot seat," he infuses a lot into what could've easily been dull blank stares if anyone else had been playing the role, and the random moments in which he says something funny to break the tension are great.

One of the reservations some may have with Slumdog Millionaire is something that I had figured would probably be a problem before I watched the film, while reading the synopsis; obviously, it's awfully convenient that Jamal happened to run into situations throughout his childhood in which the answer to a question he'd be asked years later on a game show was somehow exposed to him, and that he'd always manage to remember it. However, I think this is forgivable because you just NEED that contrivance for the movie to be able to move forward. Similarly, some may not like that the film has a standard-order happy ending, but that, too, is okay because, when it comes down to it, despite great things like the soundtrack and Patel's performance that elevate this movie above average fare, this still is a conventional underdog story, and there's no avoiding that. However, there are certain flaws that can't exactly be overlooked. While the predictable happy ending is to be expected, the film overplays the destiny card ("it is written") in order to justify said happy ending; it's fine to have destiny be an element that contributes to navigating the plot, but it's not fine to make an exaggerated amount of references to it, almost as if it were necessary to do so to explain why any other type of conclusion would be impossible. Also, most of the flashback scenes depicting Jamal's childhood work pretty well, though some don't ring as true and aren't as engaging - basically, even though it's obviously the same character, I definitely cared more about older Jamal than about younger Jamal. The romantic element of the plot is helped immensely by a resonant, sublime score (again, all of the music-related elements are perfect), yet the story itself isn't the most interesting on-screen romance we've ever seen; we root much more for Jamal to answer that final question correctly than we do for him and the girl he loves to stay together.

All in all, though, there are plenty of things that make this far better than your standard rags-to-riches story. The folks over at Awards Circuit are referring to Slumdog Millionaire as the current front-runner in the Best Picture race, and while I admit that I disagree with that and could name several other films released this year that have been superior to it, it's hard to ignore what a wonderfully colorful and euphonious piece of cinema this is. Oh, and if you go see it, do NOT stand up right when the movie has seemingly ended and the screen fades to black, because the film's last scene is followed by an amazingly well-choreographed Bollywood dance sequence that you simply can't miss. It's better than any musical number we've witnessed in film this year (and puts to shame the crap that tried to pass as dance sequences in Mamma Mia!), and it's a worthy conclusion to this delightful movie-watching experience.

i must be losing it - hated it! read all the hype and decided to have a go. turned off halfway through. And I hated the way the Indian version of Chris Tarrant says Millonware..

Awww...what a beautiful, magical, inspiring and very thoughtful film this is that I really do appreciate for being what it is. Slumdog Millionaire is so magical because of the beautiful technical design of the film especially the breathtaking cinematography and music score. When I first saw Slumdog Millionaire, I liked it but I thought there was something genuinly missing from it but I was unsure what it was but after seeing this masterpiece again, I truly do think it is a breakthrough in not only Danny Boyle's career but also reveals a whole new kind of way of filmmaking for the future. I am going to start loving films that have been made by British filmmakers but starring Asian actors/actresses which is where this is like Bend It Like Beckham because that was rather similar. Slumdog Millionaire is a film that goes beyond words. It is really original when it comes to the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" show but is seems like a very well adapted story when it comes to seeing Jamal grow up from living in the Slums to becoming a famous millionaire. Slumdog Millionaire is one of the 2008 films that have earned a lot of glory and powerful critical reactions to its inspiring and glorious feeling.


Dev Patel's performance as Jamal is absolutely fantastic. This film follows the story from his childhood all the way to his outstanding breakthrough in his life. Because of his success in the show by winning it all it is a big question of whether he cheated, whether he's a genius, whether it was luck or whether it was his destiny. This film tells us the answer of that question as it is goes on. Jamal's character is a deeply interesting one because it felt like he wanted us to know what he was going through in his life. I think the message the character tries to send is that he not only wants us to see what life was for him as a young child but also for people in richer countries to understand what it is like for those people who lives in those kinds of places or who are poor anyway. I became really interested, motivated and inspired my Jamal's personality and the way he was with people throughout his teenage years. He was a very friendly and beautiful boy and he was still like that as an adult during "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"


Boyle's work in Slumdog Millionaire was absolutely superb with a new kind of way of creating films especially ordinary dramas. Boyle's direction of Slumdog Millionaire was so brilliant, it combined two races of human beings into one. Danny Boyle is one of the best filmmakers ever and it's as simple as that. In my opinion, Danny Boyle is the Stanley Kubrick of this generation because he is one of those directors who can create anything in almost every genre. Boyle's done drama, crime, family, horror, science fiction and romance. I'd like to see him do comedy, animation, action, war or western because I seriously think he can pull it off. The script is fantastic! It deserved the script Oscar win despite that I prefer The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.


This is an absolute masterpiece but despite how good this film really is, I still think that the Best Picture glory should have gone to The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Danny Boyle probably deserved his Best Director Oscar because he was long overdue for one anyway and I am so glad that Slumdog Millionaire was the film that he earned one for. It is one of the best films of 2008. It is my third favourite Danny Boyle film after Trainspotting and 28 Days Later. Slumdog Millionaire is a fascinating masterpiece that I really love and appreciate for what it is like most people hopefully do.

A masterpiece of editing, Slumdog Millionaire tells a very simple story, but from a narrative perspective it is told in such perplexing detail and chronologically absurd order that it perseveres it's simple basis and becomes something more than a simple rags-to-riches love story. However this is also something that bothers me. As a film, I expect a great movie to be both a display of craftsmanship and a display of excellent content. Slumdog Millionaire, despite having a charming story, does fail to come through on the content, even if it doesn't really suck at any point. The climactic scenes feature the death of one main character, but due to the other events being very much so happy and "yay everything be fine", the death and redemption of this character is actually very much so emotionally stripped of the impact it could have on the viewer. There are a few other examples like this throughout the film where director Danny Boyle decides to go Spielbergian and overshadow tragedy with sentimentalism. As a whole though aside from these scenes Slumdog Millionaire is as a viewing experience extremely enjoyable in every sense of the word.