Vijay and I (2013)
Wilhelm Wilder (Will) is a talented actor stuck on a New York City children's TV show where he portrays Bad Luck Bunny, a hapless green rabbit. Feeling a failure, he bears his fate with touching self-irony, but grows sulky and petulant when he thinks that his wife, daughter and all his friends have forgotten his 40th birthday. In the confusion following a road accident, all the world believes he is dead. Instead of rectifying the situation, he decides to fulfill a fantasy and attend his own funeral. Here he will learn what everyone really thinks of him. With the aid of his best friend Rad, an Indian restaurant-owner, Will becomes Vijay Singh, a handsome and gentlemanly Sikh, complete with turban and beard. Will confronts a unique problem: everyone likes Vijay, and most of all, he likes Vijay, more than he ever liked himself. (Sam Garbarski)
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For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
German actor Moritz Bleibtreu plays Will Wilder a German émigré who is a classically trained actor stuck playing a big green rabbit on Kids TV.He is about to turn 40 and realises his life is struck in a rut. His marriage to Julia (Patricia Arquette) has lost his spark, his teenage daughter is moody and he thinks everyone have forgotten about his birthday.When his car is stolen and later crashes, Will is mistakenly declared dead and in order to find out what people thought about him and to attend his own funeral he gets his Indian restaurateur friend Rad (Danny Pudi) to disguise himself as a Sikh called Vijay with a turban, fake beard and tan.To his surprise his widow not realising who Vijay is wants sex with him and he strives to become a better person as he realises that his wife is actually happy herself after years of marriage.This independent feature made with mostly European funding and a German director is meant to be an offbeat, quirky Billy Wilder inspired farce. However it is none of these things.Just as Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman were actors who turned to drag in Mrs Doubtfire and Tootsie to be close to people they love and become better people they were comedies that were both inspired, inspiring, funny and a central performance from the lead that rocked.This is limp and unfunny with only Patricia Arquette giving a charged performance. I found the movie insipid and found it hard to believe that no one recognised a guy with an obviously fake beard, a turban and slightly browned off.