Movie Review: Doctor G

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A very effective comedy-drama from India. 

This film has a simple story that is a pretty obvious comedy setup. A medical student who wishes to get a career in Orthopedics instead finds himself in Gynecology. He is the only male student and is naturally uncomfortable working in a job that involves the private parts of the female body. While this does lead to many easy jokes, quite a few of them are very funny. The film started off a little slow on the laughs, but the humor soon picked up and I found myself laughing more than I thought I would. The humor is wonderfully timed and a lot of it comes perfectly out of the characters and the story with each bit of humor moving the story along and never stopping it. This also helps the film's later transition into more dramatic territory. The latter part of the movie is quite a bit more dramatic than the more comedic earlier part. However, this transition works perfectly not only because the comedic moments help move the story along but also because the movie gets more dramatic gradually over its runtime instead of just immediately changing from comedy to drama. Yet even in the latter parts, there is some humor to keep the film from becoming too serious. These more dramatic parts are also pretty touching and quite well written.

Unfortunately, the romantic subplot is not very interesting and can often bring the movie down. Not only does it come off as cliché and distracting from the main story, but it also pushes the likability of the main character. It is true that his character is not supposed to "understand women" but there is a difference between not understanding women and just being a jerk. He too often crosses this line and it can make a character who can be very likable and relatable during other scenes feel too unlikable. This movie also relies too heavily on montages that are supposed to signify some sort of change in character. There are too many of these and they can become repetitive and distracting.  

This film does a wonderful job of balancing the comedy and the drama and there are some truly funny moments.