These days in Bollywood, handicap (whether mental or physical) seems to be the trend. Even the popular 'Om Shanti Om' parodies this. After 'Black', 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara', 'Fanaa', 'Taare Zameen Par', 'Naina' etc, we have 'U, Me Aur Hum' and the only film that stands out is 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara' followed by 'Taare Zameen Par' to an extent. So what's wrong with 'U, Me Aur Hum'? Well, there's too many wrongs in this one.
The screenplay is inconsistent, imbalanced and exaggerated. The writing is just so bad that some of the dialogues make one cringe. The Ajay-Piya before-marriage love story is both unconvincing and uninteresting thanks to the terrible writing. The scenes on the ship are boring. It does remind one of 'Mann' (a movie which I liked except for the ripoff part) but the Ajay-Kajol chemistry does not match up to what Aamir and Manisha had (in addition 'Mann' had some very good dialogues). Most of the jokes and 'one-liners' fail to make an impression. While in the post-interval portion when one would expect things to get better as the story takes a drastic turn, things are too exaggerated.
The camera-work is both overused and misused. Why were scenes being shot from a strange angle? The close-ups were irritating as they were pointlessly in-your-face. The CGI is terrible AND it is excessively overdone. The songs are forgettable. Most of them are better forgotten. The salsa sequence is terrible (the horrendous cinematography does not help here) and some of the backup dancers were laughable.
As a director Ajay Devgan fails to put it all together. He should have hired a better writer and written something better himself (since he's credited as writer). His film looks very messy. As an actor he's average. Watch Jim Broadbent in 'Iris' to see an amazing performance and compare that to Ajay's (both are similar roles). Kajol too gives an inconsistent performance which is overall average. It does not rank among her best. The supporting cast don't leave a mark. Isha Shervani is there to say a sentence or two and to remind us of how flexible she is. Divya Dutta hams in the beginning but is gradually okay.
Devgan may have had good intentions and in some scenes it is apparent that he really tried to do well. Acting and directing is a tough task and only few talented people manage to pull that off. Sadly that isn't the case for Mr. Devgan. And why is it that in most (if not all) Hindi films, healthcare institutes are shown as this cold indifferent lonely place? Yes, support from family and friends is important but sometimes people do need to be admitted to institutes where they can be taken better care of because what others provide is really not enough.
