American Pie is not exactly the kind of genre that Bollywood should aspire to or even pretend to aspire to but it certainly finds a fan in Indra Kumar who has conjured up a somewhat crass sex-comedy loaded with innuendoes, double entendres and cheap jokes but one which has its moments. Kumar makes no bones about the fact that he intended a comedy to entertain, catering more to the frontbencher. However, with a fairly good cast, you really do expect that the film may have something to offer.

The film opens with Amar (Ritesh Deshmukh) getting married and his two friends Meet (Vivek Oberoi), and Prem (Aftab Shivdasani) deriding him for this folly and propounding their own theories on his “umar Qaid”. Cut to three years later when the three friends meet only to discover that they are all unhappily married and henpecked hubbies. Amar has a tyrannical wife who keeps him on a leash! Meet has married well but has an over-possessive wife who has forced him to look and dress like a baniya so that no other girls look at him. Finally, Prem has the typical sati savitri who is endlessly on some fast, which keeps the couple from “having any fun”. Exasperated, the threesome decides that its time they indulged in some masti. The three decide to go their own ways and meet up in a month’s time to exchange takes of their philanderings.

One month later, they find that they have all been “romanced” by the same girl Monica (Lara Dutta) who is now intent on blackmailing them. Stuck, the three have to cough up with the money only to find that Monica has been murdered. At this point, we have cop Sikander (Ajay Devgan) enter the fray who seems intent on nailing the three for Monica’s murder.

Masti actually has a decent enough plot, somewhat resembling the sanitised films of the 60s, like Jack Lemmon’s “how to murder my wife” but without the innocent charm and the frolic attached to such films. Masti is often crude but fairly inoffensive and provides a modicum of humour to those who are look for slapstick and cheap comedy. There is nothing witty or remotely intelligent in Masti but it manages to maintain a decent pace in the first half. In the second half, the proceedings get bogged down especially when realisation dawns on the threesome as to the merits of their wives and Indra Kumar unnecessarily drags this on with a sad song to boot. Indra Kumar manages to turn it into a bit of undemanding romp and succeeds in dolling out fairly demented and at times, cringe worthy humour.

Ajay Devgun has a fairly limited role but provides him with some relief after his intense films of late. Lara Dutta also has a brief role, which she enjoys and does ably. Vivek Oberoi seems a little out of his depth and is over-shadowed by Aftab who has excellent comic timing and even Ritesh Deshmukh who makes an ass out of himself but does it well! The girls all have brief roles with Amrita Rao making the most of her role as the overly possessive housewife. Tara Sharma is an utter disaster and Genelia makes no impression whatsoever. The music is ordinary and utterly forgettable. On the whole, Masti is simply a diversion for those who desperately need something to do. In the hands of a more polished director, this may have turned out to be reasonably funny caper of a movie…instead; it’s just a frontbencher’s delight.