Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Over the holidays, I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" with my family. It was my brother's pick - I didn't know much about it other than it was getting rave reviews. I ended up liking it a lot and hope it does well during award season.

It's a film set in India but by a British director, i.e. it's primarily in English with a few subtitles here and there. It's basically about an 18 year old street kid who finds himself on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". Surprisingly, he is able to answer every single question correctly so he is accused of cheating and ends up being tortured and interrogated.

We find out that each answer is related to something that happened in his life, some tragic, some celebration-worthy. And ultimately, he just wants to be reunited with his childhood love - who by the way is absolutely beautiful. Alternatively, the lead actor doesn't exactly have movie star looks but he did a great job in this role and you really rooted for him.

Some of the tragic parts were hard to watch and at some points, I had to look away. BUT it was those moments that made the ending that much more meaningful. And as an extra bonus, they added a Bollywood style number at the end during the credits which seemed a little out of place, but we stayed to watch it anyway and it was pretty entertaining.

On a side note, the grand prize of their version of the game show is 20 million rupees. In case you're wondering, that is the equivalent of ~$400,000 USD.