Slumdog Millionaire

So, I saw this movie Sunday afternoon, after the Steeler game. This movie has been hyped as the Oscar favorite for Best Picture, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

The movie is adapted from a novel written by an Indian author. It takes place in Mumbai, and it's basically built around a man's attempt at the Hindi verson of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". He gets to the last question before the show runs out for the day, and they doubt that he would be able to answer 19 questions correctly before getting to the 20million rupee question, so they take him into custody for questioning, thinking he's cheating. The first 3/4 of the movie is spent telling his life story, and demonstrating how he knows all of these answers based on events in his life. The last quarter is when he attempts the final question and everything going down. (All of this still really hasn't ruined the plot for you).

I have to say, this movie reminds me a lot of the movie "Crash". It's probably better than Crash (I actually hated "Crash" - worst best picture winner of my lifetime, and that's an incredible feat to be worse than "Titanic"). It's just implausible to believe that 19 questions he's asked on a gameshow he knows because of events in his life. I've been delaying this post because I've been trying to think of an example of how to show this from my life, and I just can't because it's too stupid. For example, one of the questions he answers is: "What is in the right hand of the God Rama?" He knew this because of some event in his life. This would be like me going on "Millionaire" and being asked: "What are the four symbols in the CMA church's logo?" Obviously I'd be able to answer this because I have attended this denomination my whole life. Ask my Presbyterian friends, even someone like Dave, and the chances that they'd know this are slim, I think. (Answer: cross representing salvation, laver representing sanctification, pitcher representing physical healing, crown representing the Coming King; these are the four pillars upon which the CMA is built, to my knowledge).

Anyway, the movie is just a highly implausible love story but it is touching. This movie I wouldn't recommend either way. If you were going to see it, you should, but if you were undecided, you'd have to look elsewhere for advice.