3 Idiots Film Difficulty Ranking: 2
Why Watch 3 Idiots?
- It’s a feel good movie led by one of the best friends ever
- It taps into many genres you’ll be familiar with from Hollywood blockbusters
- For a bromance and love story that’ll make you forget it’s flaws
From: India, Asia Watch: Trailer, JustWatch, Netflix, Amazon Prime Next: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, PK, Y Tu Mama Tambien
A best friend
3 Idiots is one of the ultimate feel good movies. It follows two friends that go on a road trip across Northern India to try and find Rancho, their long lost college room mate. As they look for him, they reminisce on their college days, but more than anything, they realize how amazing their friend Rancho was. Rancho was everything that everyone wants from a friend. He was loyal, funny, inspiring, encouraging, and loving. He helped these two men to become the people they wanted to be. Plus he always carried some feel-good life messages to help them through hard times (that become some of the film’s musical numbers). He is the worry free focus of this film and a person we all want to be like.
A Mashup of Popular Genres
In addition to it’s feel good messages and likeable characters, 3 Idiots also does a great job at combining a variety of genres. It takes elements from musicals, comedies, high school movies, buddy movies, and coming of age movies, as well as throwing in a few bits of slapstick comedy. This mashup should create a film that is a bit overwhelming, and maybe it will be for some viewers. However, to me, it used just the right amount of each to evoke enough nostalgia for each of these genres in bringing them together. There’s something in there to remind people of how much they loved classic Hollywood musicals, how much they love high school/college films, and also how much they love cheesy comedy. 3 Idiots plays into the viewer’s love of classic Hollywood blockbusters (and probably that of blockbuster’s worldwide).
Cheesiness to disguise flaws
Despite combining elements from our favorite movies, 3 Idiots is still undeniably cheesy and pretty superficial. It uses the cheesiness and superficiality to cover up the fact that it doesn’t dig deeper into the social issues it references. Whilst some of the characters hail from poverty, their struggles with poverty are never truly examined (see Rancho’s story and the lack of a background for the college ‘servant’). It also features suicide from the pressure of academic success, but by using one strict teacher to personify education, it’s shown as a problem with one individual instead of the entire educational system. Lastly, the film has a lack of diversity. It’s shot in a male only university, and focuses on a pretty much male-only cast. Whilst the main actress is a doctor, she always is defined by the men she’s loyal to (her father, her wealthy partner, and Rancho). However, instead of focusing on these flaws, the cheesy feel good vibe distracts us from them.
What to Watch Next
This film reminded me a little bit of many others. First of all, if you’re looking for more high/school buddy movies I’d strongly recommend watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It has a similarly trouble-making lead full of the joy of life like Rancho.
You could also check out Y Tu Mama Tambien, which even though it’s a bit more ‘high brow’ and artistic, it still contains the classic elements of both buddy and road trip movies.
Or if you’re just enamored with Aamir Khan as the lead in a blockbuster comedy, check out PK.
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