Boasting a poster that Miramax's design department must envy, portraying three sassy femme fatales, Billo 420 promises a zesty punch of girl power in a market dominated by macho, gun-toting, blood-splattered iconography. To say that it fails to deliver is something of an understatement.

Starting off auspiciously enough, it features Reema playing the title role of Billo, a modern day Robin Hood who steals from the rich in order to selflessly benefit those less fortunate. Mysteriously enough, Billo is in love with local hood Tipu, played by the hideous and singularly charmless Babar Ali, who's livelihood involves terrorising and extorting money from local muhallawallahs. Even more worrying than this perhaps, is his obsession with the honour of his sister and his almost comical respect for his mother, Bahar which is somehow meant to depict him in a more positive light.

Tipu, despises Reema for treading on his turf and presumably being a strong female character. Other than this thread of the plot which is constantly reinforced, it hard to glean more from the meager storyline. Thrown into the melange is an utterly forgettable villain - Seth Nisar, whose two nubile younger sisters, the voluptuous Saima and tarty Nargis are being courted by Moammar Rana and John Rambo, ostensibly to take revenge on him for something quite uninteresting and inconsequential.

Their romance begins during a rather warped sequence in a boutique where John Rambo, in an inadvertently spot-on satire of the average repressed / frustrated Pakistani male, is groping and undressing mannequins and wins Nargis's heart by mistaking her for a mannequin (not surprising, considering her acting) and unbuttoning her top…cue: riotous laughter. Seth Nisar has other plans for his sisters of course, wishing to marry them off to a pair of slow-witted brothers from an acceptable family, allowing plenty of scope for tacky, vulgar and utterly tedious comedy which goes on interminably punctuated only by Reema's antics, which are of great interest in comparison.

Her romance with the odious Babar Ali comes to a head when he slaps her around a couple of times to punish her for coming into contact with his hapless, holier-than-thou sister and is then told by his mother to immediately marry her since she is infact a misunderstood do-gooder. Why Reema would want to do this to herself is anybody's guess, but this seems to be the norm in Pakistani cinema.

Billo 420 is infact a comedy scantly disguised as a drama in order to push along the feeble jokes. Despite it's A-list cast including Saima and Moammar Rana (who both have virtually cameo appearances), they are sadly underused and serve only as eye-candy. The protagonists are Reema, who performs her role with great aplomb, and Babar Ali who would perhaps be more tolerable with a brown paper bag over his head. However, the real hero is comedian John Rambo, a tremendous crowd pleaser. Everything from Rambo's ribald double entendres, which fall thick and fast, to his more prosaic lines manage leave the average cinema goer doubled up in helpless hilarity. To be fair, Rambo does possess a measure of comic timing and vitality which would be effective with a good script, this reviewer was left cold but is hopeful of his future potential.

Those going to watch Billo for Abrar's rollicking Cycle number will be disappointed at having to sit through a plethora of mediocre, discordant nonsense before finally getting to it. (however, if one likes Abrar, then presumably discordance is a desirable quality) There is the mildly catchy "Koi ankhan maarey mainoon", redeemed by a vigorous dance number by Reema, but poor Reema is simply an appetiser for the darling of the crowd, the undisputed queen of hearts - Saima, who manages to bring the house down seemingly with no effort during the titillating "Kachian Mausumbian".

Mildly offensive and mildly entertaining, Billo 420 is certainly one way to while away a rainy Sunday afternoon, as long as one has a certain reservoir of patience and a remote control handy.