Films like Golmaal Returns have a givens. Leave your brains behind, just chill, sit back and enjoy the 'funny' goings on. You know what to expect - a wafer thin plot connected by a series of loud slapstick gags, bawdy jokes, men getting whacked in the nuts, chaos due to mistaken identities and over the top hysterics all making for an (supposedly) entertaining ride. Or so you think. Especially since you have previously watched a prequel Golmaal: Fun Unlimited (2006) by the same team that had its moments. But for all the looong arm you give Golmaal Returns, it simply fails to deliver.

The film, barring a few sporadic laughs, is inane, stupid and just woefully unfunny. To be honest, you are just gob smacked by the lack of imagination, wit and humour in the screenplay. Even the gags which do work - the electrocution of Anthony Gonsalves for one or everyone wanting to hang themselves turn by turn - are dragged on and on and on and on and on, killing them ultimately. Perhaps the only thing which surprises you is the willingness of the actors to actually laugh at themselves leading to some reasonably funny in-house jokes, snide digs at Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Rani Mukherji and the odd smart-alecky dialogue.

To make things worse, all the actors are in double hyper mode so they all run amok, shriek, shout, make funny faces and sounds all in the name of comic acting. Still, Tusshar Kapoor and Shreyas Talpade come off better than the others. But that's not saying much. Tusshar's role, which he reprises from the earlier film, plays to the gallery and he does have his moments when he 'sings' the songs from Amar Akbar Anthony and Julie.  Shreyas's 'southie' scenes with Celina Jaitley too are funny enough, especially when her whole family collapses in a heap after he is arrested. The rest of the cast, including Arshad Warsi, show more hysteria rather than comic timing.

Technically, the film is nothing to write home. But such films just depend on the scenes to work rather than any creative use of cinematic tools. Thankfully, songs are kept to a minimum but are extremely awkwardly placed while the picturisations don't add anything to the film. The film could have done with some drastic editing, both at the scripting stage and at the editing table.

All in all, strictly avoidable fare and nowhere near the prequel. Calling Sharman Joshi and Paresh Rawal...