Bad Newz is an Indian rom-com released theatrically in the US. I went in knowing only that it was a comedy… and a workplace comedy at that (it wasn’t, actually). Instead it takes a full hour plus to get to the wacky rom-com plot… which is that a divorced woman has rebound sex with someone and winds up pregnant. With twins… one from each man in her life.

The first hour – the buildup – isn’t great but it has some charm as we are forced (forced!) to watch drop-dead gorgeous people making out A LOT. I mean, my virgin eyes! these people are hot. But once we get to the bad (good?) news(z) that she’s preggers from both men, the movie flips turns upside down.

It goes from a romance with modest rom comedy into a full-on onslaught of wacky hijinks with some of the corniest “this is funny! FUNNY I SAY!!” situational music cues known to man. It’s so over-the-top it cycles all the way around to being insufferable and tiresome. Just… MUCH: The Movie.

And then it takes a hard right into an emotional drama that borders on melodrama (because the director hasn’t heard of restraint). Happily this section mostly worked for me.. and then slap right back to overly-broad comedy.

I guess this is like a lot of Indian films…. you pay for a ticket, they give you EVERYTHING. No halfway, no take-backs. Unfortunately the attempt at a romantic comedy was to go full tilt wacky and that just didn’t work for me. Other parts of the film were better… so this is a near miss with maybe just enough hit to be worth a shot.

Score: 73