Congorama

Congorama has the charm and right quirk supported by a well-casted lead (reminiscent of the lead from Canada's Corner Gas sitcom) and supporting cast of characters. Warm and inviting for the first 75mins, and the coincidence of things though somewhat contrived could be easily absorbed …. then that unnecessary Hollywood twist at that point just brings the movie down to the land of ordinary badly done contrivance, wholly unconvincing, implausible and tacky.

What's the twist? Stolen inventions - absurdly at that, diamond in the eye, the nemesis appearing out of the blue, explosion of family secrets, pointless generosity, overly melodramatic birthmark connections (can birthmarks even be inherited over a skipped generation??) …. what a letdown!

The director needs to know his movie would have been very much good enough without having to resort to such cheap Hollywood contrivances.

But would still recommend the movie for its first 75mins. Would have given it a 9 if not for that last 30mins of Hollywood a-la crap.