Absolutely amazing

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

After a string of good films, especially the delightful "Bend it Like Beckham", Chadha seems to have lost her footing. My favourite parts of the movie were the outdoor scenes in London's Southall community. It brought back childhood memories of the area. The acting is decent but the plot, even by screwball comedy standards, is completely unbelievable. I get that Chadha is satirizing the extent to which Indian mothers will go to marry off their offspring. Like thousands of other asians i've experienced that scene in the sikh temple (Gurdwara) first hand. In fact, the scenes depicting everyday life are done very well. What spoils the picture is the whole ghost thing. First off all there is no explanation as to how a mild mannered mother would commit such violent crimes. Surely, a subtle poisoning would have been more believable. Then there is the appearance of the "ghosts". They're not scary - just visually unappealing. Makes much of the film nauseating to watch. In the "making of" feature, on the DVD, one can tell that Chadha finds them hilarious. I just found them gross. Chadha also says the "Carrie" scene was her favourite. Again, I can't agree. It was sheer self-indulgence to film it - it adds nothing to the story. After the dismal financial failure of this ego driven piece, hopefully, Chadha will go back to what she does best - show the foibles, follies, and delights of life in the Asian community in London.

I watched this one chilly winter's afternoon while nursing a heavy cold, hoping for a mildly diverting way to pass an hour or so when even the thought of getting up off the settee was an effort. Feeling better now but still struggling to believe how this wreck of a movie ever got a green light.It was fascinating in a perverse way: Just how much lumpy dialogue, heavily telegraphed and unfunny jokes, inane and unconvincing plot twists, pointless steals and clichéd direction can be packed into one movie? How was a (mainly) decent cast ever persuaded to participate in this mess? Did nobody read the script? Do they not have agents? A waste of talent, of money, and of time - yours and everyone involved. Even if you're lying on a settee nursing a heavy cold.

First of all let's talk about the inspiration angle behind the title of the movie, "Its A Wonderful Afterlife". Gurinder Chadha undoubtedly thought of this name to take advantage of the huge popularity of an Old English Classic called "Its A Wonderful Life" featuring James Stewart. The Black & White gem released in 1946 is considered to be one of Top 100 movies of All Time directed by the renowned director, Frank Capra.Incidentally the story of this Capra gem also revolves around a person who becomes a spirit after his death and then meets an angel, who shows him how people loved him while he was living and now how they all are missing him after his death.Taking hints from the title and the film, it seems Gurinder got an idea to write a script, revolving around some spirits and a concerned mother worried about the marriage of her overage obese daughter. As a mandatory clause, the mother had to be from a punjabi family in order to incorporate all the other essential north Indian elements into the screenplay, as required to justify the famous Gurinder Chaddha trademark. Now till here, everything seems nice and cool since the main theme of the movie sounds interesting having much scope of including all those emotions, comedy and drama, mixed with bhangra beats playing at the background. But after watching the whole movie, you are just left with only one expression on the face, which goes like "What is this?"……. Is this really a Gurinder Chaddha movie, who gave us "Bhaji On the Beach"and "Bend It Like Beckham"? or She has just made this project to show some losses in her current balance sheet.Strictly speaking, after her below average "Bride & Prejudice" which was a big disaster, this is another completely unexpected, silly and awful dud delivered by the director, who once had a good name in both parts of the world due to her highly entertaining and successful films. The movie is a big letdown, right from the word go, when you are made to witness some highly absurd sequences displaying few serial murders happening in England. The murders are illogically related with eating Indian food and the manner in which the people die is definitely not hilarious from any angle. What's more irritating is that all these murdered people become spirits in the exact condition as they were in their last moments. So we have 5 highly annoying ghosts walking with Shabana Azmi throughout the movie, which never seem to be comical in any way. Further as a disgusting torture, one of the five ghosts even has an open stomach with all the intestines and internal stuff falling out of it every time he walks. Just imagine! Now talking about my first hand experience in the theater, quite understandably, most of the fellow audiences were not able to suffer it anymore and they walked out of the hall even before the interval saying nasty things about the movie. Still few of us remained seated may be due to the reputed brand name of Gurinder Chaddha. But the director never bounced back. Moreover the second half even came with another strange and irrational sequence depicting some sort of cult powers possessed by a soon to be married girl. This particular part was undeniably one of the most disastrous and weirdest thought put in by a director ever.So, as all the expectations from the movie were being shattered badly left and right, I was just sitting on my seat in a lazy posture, thinking about, why Shabana Azmi had to be there in this terrible project and what she may have imagined while signing the movie, after reading the final draft of the script.Returning to the review, due to my dreadful experience with the film, I frankly don't wish to write anything more about its direction, performances, script, music or cinematography. But I really want to request Shabana Azmi, to please don't waste your precious efforts and valuable time in such intolerable projects. The movie simply doesn't deserve to be there in your resume at all as it's a big black spot on the name of another masterpiece with a similar title.May be it's a clear example of a creative block being faced by the director and may she return back with a bang soon. But as far as her "It's a Wonderful AfterLife" is concerned, it's one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

I was really excited about going to see It's A Wonderful Afterlife because Gurinder Chadha is the director and she has directed two of my favourite films - Angues, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and also Bride and Prejudice. I had also seen plenty of the film on TV and it looked like a fun film - I was right! The film is set in London but is all about Indians. It's a really weird storyline but that's what made it so funny and unique. Basically, an old woman called Mrs Sethi (Shabana Azmi) wants to commit suicide because she is a widow but she won't do it until her daughter Roopi (Goldy Notay) is married. Anyone who gets in her way gets killed in lots of funny and gruesome ways. Right at the start of the film, she stuffs a man so much by feeding him curry that he explodes and therefore prompting curry to fly about everywhere. I told you it was weird! The murder brings the police in to things and the officer assigned to the case is called Murthy (Sendhil Ramamurthy). He happens to be a close friend of Mrs Sethi and her daughter. Also involved is Linda, renamed Galani (Sally Hawkins), who wears Indian clothes, has an Indian fiancée (Jimi Mistry) and insists that she is psychic.It is a set-up for lots of funny things to happen. There are quite a lot of fat jokes which get old after a while and also a lot of slapstick that sometimes is really hilarious and sometimes isn't. There are also lots of people slipping over on curry which is so silly it's really quite funny. The ending is especially hilarious but I won't spoil it for you! The script overall is really funny and original. There is a happy ending with a wedding as in a lot of Gurinder Chadha's films but the way it gets to the end is really original. All of the cast are really good as well and deliver their lines perfectly, especially Shabana Azmi who is really super. The film also looks really good but the cheap gore and exploding curry looks a bit out of place.In many ways this is a typical romance film with some really funny moments. However, there are plenty of unique ideas in here and some great humorous moments that will make it worth seeing, especially if you like the director's other films.4/5