‘Romeo’ movie review: Vijay Antony has lots of fun in this lopsided tale of one-sided love

A still from ‘Romeo’ 
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Vijay Antony having fun on screen is a sub-genre on its own. While he made a name for himself with his restrained performances in films like Naan and Salim, the man letting his hair down and going over the top in films like Thimiru Pudichavan and Kodiyil Oruvan, or keeping it simple and subtle in titles like Pichaikkaran, have resulted in pleasing watches. But it’s in his latest outing Romeo where we get to see him in his uninhibited best and it’s also what makes this predictable and otherwise monotonous film a tad better.

In Romeo, Vijay Antony plays Arivu, a thirty-five-year-old Malaysian resident who has never had a tryst with romance, only for a trip to his homeland to make him fall for Leela (Mirnalini Ravi). Though it’s love at first sight for Arivu, Leela’s heart lies in making it big as an actor and she sees her forced marriage with Arivu as a hindrance to her career. Channelling her inner Mouna Ragam Revathi, she demands a divorce, but by then, Arivu is already neck-deep in love and ideates a plan to make his one-sided love mutual.

The film’s lead male character making the girl of his dreams fall for him is a trope as old as the hills, but debutant filmmaker Vinayak Vaithianathan sets an age-old trope in a contemporary setting that makes for some intriguing moments. The lead pair embody certain traits their characters are given; Arivu is a sweetheart who would move mountains for those around him. He is charming enough to make fresh breakfast for Leela’s friends who come home to annoy him, and at the same time, tough enough to thrash a producer who wrongs Leela. At times, Arivu’s efforts and conduct feel overboard but it’s easier to look past them in the context of ‘all is fair in….’ you know what. With an adorable smile accentuated by his glasses and half-sleeved bright shirts, Vijay pulls off the character of Arivu neatly. Leela, on the other hand, is constantly annoyed and dismissive of her husband’s approaches, and that she does nothing more turns this character uni-dimensional. With not much to work with, Mirnalini does her best to salvage the role.

A still from ‘Romeo’ 
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Despite the first half being spent pushing home the fact that Leela is contemptuous of a husband who is hell-bent on working things out, the comical moments make it work, courtesy of Arivu, Leela’s friends, Arivu’s uncle (VTV Ganesh) and a cupid in disguise, Vikram (Yogi Babu). Though the lighter moments of Romeo fade away from your memory the minute you step out of the theatre, it’s these moments that the second half makes you miss. Halfway through Romeo, we are given two subplots; something straight out of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and another about a film’s making involving the leads that strips the film of its relatability and feel-goodness.

The brilliance in filmmaking appears as flashes throughout the film, like a shot of Leela heaving an exasperated sigh cutting to the blowing of a conch shell at a funeral. Arivu gets poked fun at for playing a film’s lead and producing the same and this meta self-troll by Vijay Antony is quite commendable. Unfortunately, these glimmers of brilliance diminish at the fag end of the film where an unwanted villain causes an unwanted fight scene, a trope older than one-side love which Vijay Antony himself utilised inPichaikkaran 2, and a flashback to validate his pyrophobia that makes the already predictable end tedious to watch.

Nevertheless, Romeo is a much-needed deviation from Vijay Antony’s recent duds and makes for a decent watch with its fine share of emotionally gratifying moments.

Romeo is currently running in theatres