The Archies Movie REVIEW by Sucharita Tyagi | Zoya Akhtar | Netflix

Despite the overall playfulness and beautiful pastels, The Archies leaves you with an overwhelming sense of... a whole lot of nothing!

The Archies Movie Review by Sucharita Tyagi -
How adorable everyone looks. The clothes, the dancing, the set design. Is that enough though, to turn a comic panel into a screenplay?
The Archies isn’t ALL show and no substance. The usually bitchy-ness one expects to be the flavor of a high school story, is replaced by kindness and acceptance. A sweet moment between Dilton and Reggie made my cold heart happy. There is a rather random but enjoyable little bop about how everything is political, right from the lunch we eat to the way we dress for school. In a lesser film, this would have been a dance off between 2 women fighting over the attention of a boy. Here it is a sing along goading its young viewers into political action, the sequence setting the stage for a later sequence with a group of kids standing up against town management to protect trees in the city park. The writing ALSO wants to talk about what it means to be “Indian”, why minorities deserve to live where they chose to, and in portions these attempts at civic statements come through. There is also a slightly underlined, but memorable scene where Reggie’s publisher father, played by Luke Kenny, tells Reggie about the importance of a free press, and what it is like to be a journalist operating under the government’s eye. If the internet has shown us anything recently, it is that genz is today very much interested in talking about all the above. Even if Agastya looks only mildly amused amidst it all.

There are 2 parallel conflicts in the narrative we are shown. A love triangle between Archie, Ronnie and Betty. The other is industrial capitalism. The battle against the industrialist who wants to level the park to make a hotel still has some escalation, an ascension, movement. However, the sudden rush with which BOTH conflicts are resolved gave me whiplash. The conclusions presented are so simple and rapid, it left me wondering if there IS no other way to rehash this story? And if Riverdale, did the only thing that could have been done and turned the story into a bizarre sleepy small-town murder mystery, which I am to understand later even became supernatural?

You watch and tell me, the movie is now streaming happily on Netflix.

#TheArchies #ZoyaAkhtar #Netflix #SuhanaKhan #KhushiKapoor #AgastyaNanda #MihirAhuja #MovieReview #SucharitaTyagi

The Archies is a 2023 Indian English and Hindi-language teen musical comedy film directed by Zoya Akhtar who also produced the film with Reema Kagti under Tiger Baby Films and Sharad Devarajan under Graphic India. The film features the fictional music band produced by and related to Archie Comics, starring Agastya Nanda, Khushi Kapoor, Suhana Khan, Vedang Raina, Mihir Ahuja, Aditi Saigal and Yuvraj Menda in the lead roles.The Archies is scheduled for release on Netflix on 7 December 2023.
Set in 1960s India, Archie and the gang navigate romance, friendship and the future of Riverdale as developers threaten to destroy a beloved park.

Join me!

Producer - Maitri Dharod
Video editor – [phone]

Be decent people,
Sucharita

[SucharitaTyagi]

What are you watching this weekend? Give some fun reccos?

[atharvaatre]

the problem with this movie is that it takes American characters and then puts them in a Anglo -Indian environment from the 1960s in a set piece that looks neither Indian, American, or British but rather somewhat French

[icyqqpl]

I refuse to believe these kids actually auditioned for these roles. Amidst the gorgeous sets, watching them attempting to "perform"... was let's say visual diarrhoea. And all the PR tweets praising them is so nauseating.

[muskansingh]

I want to confess that besides the absolute remarkable critic you are, I watch you in order to learn the way you phrase your sentences, your vast vocabulary and your talent of painting a picture merely by few words. ALSO GIRL YOU LOOK SO PRETTY IN THIS BLUE SWEATER😍😍

[raosiddharth]

The movie is what it means to impress rich folks, but it fell face down.

[anonymously]

Thank you for calling this movie a spade a spade than Anupama chopra who tactfully blamed the writer while avoiding the fact that these nepo kids weren't that good.

[just-cooking]

I grew up reading Archies 📚. I was excited to show my teen daughter this movie, sinceshe hasn'tread any Archies books yet. All she said was "is this how pathetic those comic books you read?". 😢 I m super disappointed.

[RajeshKumar-ucu]

To be honest it's not relatable at all for most of the Indian audience good luck for the high class English speaking audience.

[pratikpendse]

This is what happens when you give non-deserving people, opportunities. They got a dream launch in bollywood, and nothing about the movie suggets that they worked hard prior to it, in terms of acting, screen presence etc. If you can't even do the prep propoerly with the potential end result already being served on platter, do you really deserve a spot?
Nepotism is fine, as long as the candidate genuinely is talented and you know as a matter of fact that they will make the best use of this opportunity given. But when you have backgrounds like SRK, Sridevi and Amitabh B, and you still manage to act like this, or to not develop your skill sets with so much access and network, that's just pathetic and entitiled. But alas, Zoya will defend it to her grave saying these were the most suited people for this role.

[rituk]

I thought only suhana was in this movie 😂 the way only she was promoted every where by her PR team😂

[Drsidrants]

Seems like Dhirubhai Ambani School’s Annual Day more than an actual movie

[serendipity]

Why did Zoya have to do this to herself? I think she was carried away by the insta popularity of Star Kids. Disappointing!

[trusha_tungare]

This is exactly what I was worried about this film! It’s cute n all Bt it (trailer) felt empty from inside! I’m a fan of zoya’s previous work, I reallly wanted to like this one but it was alright at best! N regarding the acting power in this film, you said it in the best way, “they have a long way to go!”

[kalpeshkhona]

Hi @sucharita, I liked the way you presented the review today... and I don't mean what you said about the movie or the actors, but just the rhythm of the review, the pace at which you spoke, the "theraav" if you will... that's what I liked... no agitation, no rush, no over enthusiasm, just normal, simple, direct presentation... I missed this version of you in the previous reviews... you let your feelings show in the review which takes away the depth of your reviews I feel... just my thoughts... have a good day!

[AmanAli-nlqr]

The film seems to have an immense lack of depth, that even @sucharita is talking slowing. Her per minute word count dropped considerably for this movie.

[shameens]

Thank you for calling out their acting where all other critic's are worried to ruffle daddys or grandaddys feathers.

[kittykat]

Suhana was easily the worst part of the movie.

[avanthiherath]

This is THE honest review of I mean u were spot on suhanna and kushi. They were just smiling and lazy.. even agasthya. Other actors kept more mark.
Also u were right about dialogue. I don't know if uts mostly English, its just soo plain... I know its a comedy. But it's soo vanilla...
Only positive things were the sets and costumes.. they were a treat to watch.. and some songs..

[vipuljoshi]

There is nothing likeable abt this movie.. the best decision was to release it directly on Netflix 😅

[uravshukla]

It's NOT nuts. It's the result of the most sincere efforts week after week, movie after movie, consistently doing what you set out to do. Congratulations 🤗