The Archies Review - Some Fun, Some Child's Play At Riverdale

The Archies Review: Zoya Akhtar brings the youth favourite The Archies to India with newcomers Agastya Nanda, Khushi Kapoor, Suhana Khan, Vedang Raina, Mihir Ahuja, Aditi Saigal (Dot), and Yuvraj Menda in the lead roles. You don't have to read or know The Archies' chapters from the comic book to understand this film. You can just enter Zoya's youthful world as a fresher and still get acquainted with the surroundings and characters in no time. You only have to have some knowledge about the characters, though. Some male actors look similar, and it might get damn confusing to remember their names before they hit the floor. There are two facts that don't really go well with The Archies: it is set in the 1960s, and they have to give it a modern 2020s touch for 2023's audiences. You might have seen a similar story in Frank Capra's Oscar-winning You Can't Take It With You (1938) or a decade ago in the National Award-winning Chillar Party (2011), where the kids are on a mission to get the petition signed by adults, so The Archies has nothing new in that sense. It might even feel outdated for the 60s sometimes. Obviously, you can't imagine so much urban talk, boogie-woo stuff, and glamour for a film set in 1964 and written for high school students, even though we all know it is fictional since the characters are quite on human terms. Judy Garland was 17 years old when she sang the iconic Over the Rainbow in the cult classic The Wizard of Oz (1939), and The Archies didn't have any talent like Garland to carry a musical comedy on its shoulders alone. Zoya didn't have Garland, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, or even Cyd Charisse or 60s modern sensation Julie Andrews, yet she dared to make a coming-of-age musical comedy with an all-new cast. You can imagine how cut it must have been for her and how difficult it must be for you to watch them. Yes, there is some fun, of course, but there is some child's play involved too to spoil your viewing experience unless and until you are a blind fan of The Archies gang.Set in the fictional town of Riverdale, a high school class of 1964 includes Archie (Agastya Nanda), Betty Cooper (Khushi Kapoor), Veronica Lodge (Suhana Khan), Reggie Mantle (Vedang Raina), Ethel Muggs (Aditi Saigal, Dot), Dilton Doiley (Yuvraj Menda), Hermione Lodge (Koel Purie), Midge Klump (Santana Roach), and Moose Mason (Rudra Mahuvarkar). Veronica/Ronnie and Betty are best friends, but they both are stuck on the same boy, Archies. Ronnie has just returned home and wants to reconcile with Archie, while Betty is about to get closer to him. Archie, who is apparently a playboy from high school, finds himself confused when it comes to choosing one girl between Veronica and Betty. Ethel is an emerging hairdresser and gets some lessons at an early age about jobs, careers, respect, and money. Reggie is the best friend of Archie, and they keep no secrets between them, while Dilton is that nerd genius who is also fighting the taboo of gender identity. Veronica's father is a super wealthy businessman who wants to acquire the green park land, cut down the trees, and build hotels there. When the young gang learns about the town commission's corrigendum, they take on the mission of defiling the order by getting the signature of the majority in the town.Ayesha Devitre Dhillon, Reema Kagti, and Zoya Akhtar's screenplay is too fancy and too cheeky for a coming-of-age genre. This was quite common for Hollywood when there were so many teenage comedies with explicit content way back in the 70s and 80s, but Bollywood, or, for that matter, our Hindi/Hinglish OTT world, is far from that point even in 2023. Thankfully, The Archies doesn't have any explicit content or adult material. It's a clean youth entertainer with some typical teenage fascination stuff. There is no sex, but there are kisses. One or two double-meaning jokes, but even those are difficult to understand instantly. The biggest problem with The Archies is that every single scene, character, and conflict is damn too predictable. Be it Ronnie's accent, certain attitude, expressions, love issues, friendship bonds, fights, or emotional segments—you can literally predict everything that's going to happen in the next two minutes. The same goes for every single pivotal character in the film. I am not a Joker from The Dark Knight, but I'd like to say, "Why so typical?". The idea of coming-of-age musical comedy should include some topics that aren't touched on yet, not the ones that we have been seeing for years.It's hard to judge all the newcomers' performances since one can't be too harsh on them. Let me start with the positive thoughts first. Yes, they look so gorgeous and vibrant. You know we have that certain notion about every star that he can do this and can't do that, but here the entire gang is fresh, so whatever they do does look balmy. It takes them 30 minutes or so to get you immersed in their world, but then it starts getting too typical after a while. You'd love Suhana Khan's spoiled rich girl attitude in the first 2-3 scenes since she is actually so rich in real life and it's the first time you are seeing her on the screen. After an hour or so, the same thing starts to annoy you. You just can't handle those sentences and dialogue delivery. Agastya, too, kicks off on a strong note, only to get bored with himself in the second half. Khushi Kapoor looks beautiful, and her character was caring and lovable—only if she could have handled it with a little bit more maturity. Vedang Raina and Mihir Ahuja both are decent in their roles that usually work as strong support, and Yuvraj Menda is your definition of a certain character that doesn't fit in the mainstream line. Dot looks breathtaking, and I really like the way she walks, talks, and does things in her own style. Rudra Mahuvarkar and Santana Roach have very little to do, as do the adults, Tara Sharma, Ally Sharma, Luke Kenny, Vinay Pathak, and others.The Archies has some foot-tapping music for the college students. But like mentioned before, it's no match to the musical standard set by others, but did we really have any such Hollywood-type musicals in India? Zoya herself made a fine musical rap drama, Gully Boy, which is great for our standards since the lyrics really match the surrounding and main context of the film, but can I say the same thing again after watching Hamilton or On The Heights? No. Maybe that's too much to ask for, so let's be happy with whatever decent attempts are being made here, and let's just thank them for not going to the "crap" level. The Archies has a top-class production design, excellent colour tone, pretty locations, and extravagant costumes. It's Zoya's expensive world, by all means. She gets the tone and subtext right but overlooks the flaws in writing and acting. The characters can proudly say, "We are 17 years old," to claim that they are mature but won't behave like one half the time, especially when it comes to love and friendship. As a whole, The Archies is a mixed bag; as Betty says, "We all get good and bad in our lunchbox." But try it; you might get your part of "good."