The best thing about the film is Abhishek Bachchan, who lets loose without inhibition. He manages to sparkle even in a script that is lazy and determinedly lowbrow, so the alter ego Abbas is an effete dance teacher who wears flowery shirts. The climax has people hanging on the side of a cliff, which immediately took me back to the equally infantile films of Anees Bazmee (No Entry, Welcome), which is never a good sign for any film.

Maximum has stray moments of power but the film feels like a Ram Gopal Varma rehash; mercifully though there are no cameras zooming into teacups like there were in Varma’s recently released Department, which was also about power-hungry, corrupt encounter specialists.

What I enjoyed most was the recreation of Mumbai in 1960 — empty streets, an Art Deco movie theatre, women in breathlessly tight blouses and bouffant hairdos.

But the film’s main ingredient — love — is too synthetic to soar.

The film is one more in the line of movies — many of which are remakes from the south — that value masala above all else. But Dabangg and even Wanted, the latter of which was also directed by Prabhu Deva, were far more cohesive and compelling. Rowdy Rathore is pure noise. Only the brave should venture in.

Wrinkle-Free is one of those films that mix charm and tedium in equal doses. Debutant director and writer Sandeep Mohan creates a clutch of quirky, permanently perplexed characters who are all struggling.

Varma has described Department as “Quentin Tarantino meets Prabhudeva.” I honestly couldn’t find flashes of either. To me, it felt more like pedestrian Ram Gopal Varma. We are still waiting for him to return to form.

Logic isn’t a priority here. Deshmukh is creating an old-school Bollywood film with high drama, punchy dialogue, thunderous background music and villains who glare and maim with aplomb. Some sequences are nicely done, including a chase sequence in a dargah. Emraan Hashmi and Randeep Hooda are also extremely watchable. But there are no surprises here and by the second half, Jannat 2 starts to feel like an endurance test with your head being bludgeoned by the violence and incessant Hindi swear words.

Housefull 2 has exactly the same mix of stars, foreign locations, farcical plot and spectacularly dim-witted comedy as the first Housefull. This is the cinematic equivalent of junk food – when you walk in, you know exactly what you’re going to get.

The result is that Agent Vinod never becomes more than the sum of its parts and even though it picks up speed in the second half, it leaves you both exhausted and unsatisfied. But I enjoyed the character of Agent Vinod. If he does get a sequel, I hope he has a better narrative to romp in.

Ready made me laugh sporadically but beyond a point I could almost feel my brain cells shrinking and exhaustion setting in, one joke at a time.