'Bendham' director makes a mess of follow-up flick

By TERRY MORRIS
Dayton Daily News

You have to say this for Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson: They're attractive people.

She's beautiful. He's handsome. They have great hair and skin.

It would be a stretch to call them romantic leads, based on their considerable but mostly empty screen time in Bride and Prejudice. The visually enticing and somehow entertaining mess of a movie by Gurinder Chadha combines a pinch of Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice), a dash of India's wacky screen musicals, flashes of wit and a sheave of loose ends.

Miramax Films 'Bride and Prejudice' C Director: Gurinder Chadha Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Daniel Gillies Run time: 120 minutes Release date: Feb. 25, 2005 Rating: PG-13 for some sexual references See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer   -- Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Bride & Prejudice":   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Rai, a former Miss World from India in her English-language film debut, is Lalita Bakshi, one of four beautiful daughters of a family in Amritsar, India. Henderson (The Ring) is young American hotel tycoon Will Darcy. They meet at a wedding, where his friend Balraj (Naveen Andrews) courts her sister.

We know they're going to fall in love before the film's opening drumbeats, but we never believe they actually do.

They don't kiss. They sort of embrace. A few sparks fly during a trans-Atlantic flight, but there's just no chemistry. That negates the supposed conflict between them. Darcy has no discernible personality, yet Lalita often finds him offensive. She figures he's a spoiled American who wants to exploit India, not experience it.

She does come off much better than he does, but gets to play cricket, guitar and sing with her sisters in a scene Austen might enjoy. He mostly stands around and watches.

But let's get off his back. It isn't as if there's much of a script. Chadha revisits some of the same turf and stereotypes she cleated with humor and momentum in Bend It Like Beckham -- East meets West, Indian girls shedding the ways of the past, Indian mamas striving to marry them off, and all of it draped in vibrant color and sound.

B&P sets off with the transporting nonsense of a Bollywood musical. Streets and rooms full of strangers burst into unified song and dance. But those happy distractions soon dwindle without explanation, giving way to the son of Darcy's nanny (Daniel Gillies as Wickham) washing ashore to challenge for Lalita's affections, or Ashanti materializing at a party to sing about India being the place for her.

There's too much of let's try this, let's discard that. Let's lament the lack of a love story that would make it all better.