Gorilla movie review: This Jiiva-starrer is so bad it’s good

Jhansi (Shalini Pandey of Arjun Reddy fame) “falls in love” with Jeeva (Jiiva), a part-time fake doctor and a full-time pickpocket. (In between, he steals medicines from the pharmacy). Ideally, no girl would prefer hanging out with Jeeva, who is of the opinion “Girls simply cheat”— let alone consider him a boyfriend.

Jhansi is mind-numbingly stupid. Despite knowing Jeeva is a creepy stalker, she chooses him. One day, Jeeva and two other friends, plan to rob a bank, but end up doing something ‘revolutionary’. They threaten the government to do away with farm loan waivers. This bank robbery isn’t a new concept. We have seen Bhagyaraj loot a bank in Rudhra, of course, sans ‘ape masks’ that these guys wear.

Don Sandy wants to prove he is a socially-conscious director—so he takes on the plight of farmers—joining the bandwagon of popular ‘mainstream’ films—Kaththi, Seemaraja, Kadaikutty Singam and Kanne Kalaimane, besides the recent ones.

Gorilla wants to be a ‘fun film’ at heart. At the same time, it wants to convey a ‘message’. On one side, there is a chimpanzee trying to ‘entertain’ the audience, watching Shakeela videos on YouTube amid chaos in the bank. On the other, Jeeva, from being a laidback guy transforms into a hero all of a sudden. Was Jeeva always a Robin Hood at heart? Or did something trigger a change? We have no answers to these questions.

Things get more taxing than engaging in the second half as Gorilla veers into some needless ‘farmer sentiment’ angle. Overall, the film saunters aimlessly like the chimpanzee cast as it is hard to get a grip on Jeeva or Gorilla.

Jiiva isn’t certainly a bad actor, but he does have a certain demeanour that still fetches him roles like Siva Manasula Sakthi.

Gorilla is marred by an outdated plot and insipid writing. A senior police officer, played by Radha Ravi, grabs Yogi Babu’s face and calls him “Gorilla”. When will the makers realise body-shaming is also a form of abuse? It’s unfortunate how ‘jokes’ are presented and perceived.

Jeeva finds this chimpanzee, and we are told how when the film begins. What I don’t understand is how on earth can someone have a wild animal in an apartment-like setting and not be arrested for the same? Anyone with half a brain will admit that most films coming out these days, seems beaten out of a can that expired in the late 80s.

Otherwise, what saves the film from being utterly unbearable is the adorable Kong!