With Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004) and Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya (2005), it seemed like David Dhawan was back on track and expectations for a laugh riot with Partner were sky-high. The film, 'inspired' by Hitch (2005) and then totally re-worked David ishtyle so that the original is totally unrecognizable, however splutters to life just sporadically and is generally a big disappointment with even the laughs few and far in between.

In a film like Partner, one doesn't and should not look for logic or a coherent plot but at least the film should entertain and have a style of its own and flow along smoothly taking you with the ride. Partner fails on that count. The film just appears to be a series of item scenes strung together with quite a few clever dialogues admittedly but it seems put together without any thought whatsoever. There are no ups and downs. Potential crisis points are skimmed over and solved too conveniently and easily like Prem winning over Rohan or reuniting with Naina. Songs and scenes pop up from nowhere without any sort of proper situations being created for them. Earlier David gave his films a certain coherence within his style but none of that is present here. And for someone like him known for his expert editing skills and razor sharp cutting, the film is rather badly edited and the flow is choppy and uneven to say the least.

Again repeating that one is willing to suspend any sense of reality in a film like this but even within this illogical world, there has to be a certain sense of characterisation. And the way Partner is treated you don't buy what you see on screen. Katrina as the owner of a 100 crore company - hah! Govinda as an IIM graduate working as a (personal) financial advisor in this company for 30K a month in today's times and even if he hasn't kissed a girl yet, he doesn't even know how it's done. C'mon! Rajpal Yadav's Chotta Don act has no place in the story, is totally unfunny and what's more even vanishes and is forgotten about after a while. Why use it then at all?! Especially since the track doesn't even work. And what was the Rajat Bedi-Aarti Chhabria bit doing in the film? It is as if the filmmaker thought oh we need a little crisis to solve before the happy ending.

The film essentially is dependent on the antics of Salman and Govinda. The two do share a likeable chemistry that lifts the film several times out of the hole it has dug for itself but there's a limit to what they can salvage. Salman is Salman as usual - doing his brand of juvenile humour and sillyness only the way he can. For those fond of this style of Salman, you could stay Salman delivers but even the die hard fans of Salman would have to admit that the film really belongs to Govinda. Though the Bhaskar character is written as a terrible caricature and Govinda is much too old for the role, he nevertheless rises above the script. See him cry each time he is actually elated or his dance to his old hit Sarkailo Khatiya. Lara Dutta and Katrina have absolutely nothing to do. In fact Lara appears to be relatively too smart and logical in this film and seems to be struggling with the illogicality of it all. Incidentally what sort of journalist is she? All she seems to be doing is taking photos? So is she a press photographer or what? Katrina just smiles her way as a pretty bimbette (a very pretty one though one might add). As mentioned, Rajpal Yadav's Chhota Don act is just terrible and doen't work at all. Here is a fine actor ruining himself film after film through some terribly loud and hammy perfrmances. The child artist is precocious and deserves a good spanking as usual.

Technically, there is not much to say at all. What do you say about cinematography that's largely fully frontal and eye level and using the camera just as a recording device? In fact one has seen this in our 'comedy' films repeatedly. It is as if the camera has no role to play in such films and comedy means just giving the actors a stage to perform their antics on. Music is ok while the song is on but unlikely something that you would hum once out of the theatre. The editing is shockingly incompetent. Scenes are left to stretch and meander till they reach breaking point sevral times. It is as if the filmmaker and editor don't know when and where to stop. The missile sequence just to name one seems to go on and on and on. That it is done so tackily doesn't help either...

All in all, Partner is just about avearge at best and that too when Govinda is in his element.