RRR Stands for “Best FRiends FoReveR”
Let’s watch two best bros kick butt all up and down the Indian subcontinent.
I’d like to begin this article with a bold statement. We’ve got all the hyperbole we could ever ask for in the media nowadays, but I sincerely believe this to be true: RRR may not be the best movie I’ve ever seen, but it’s certainly the most movie I’ve ever seen.
What is RRR, exactly? Well, it’s an action movie. It’s also a musical. It’s also a drama in places, and a rom-com. It’s the story of two legendary Indian folk heroes (who never met in real life) teaming up for a righteous beatdown of the British Empire. It’s preposterous, delicious and incendiary.
Admittedly, this selection is a little out of character for me. Y’all may remember that my Best Movie of 2021 selection was a precocious little Wes Anderson film. Suddenly I have pivoted to an action-revenge-musical that features burly Indian men using motorcycles as melee weapons. Why? Well, JUST LOOK AT THIS SHOT.
“What does RRR stand for?” you might ask. Who cares! It does not matter at all. I would watch a movie called “Cyst Goblin Mows the Lawn: Part VII” if it had stunts like RRR.
Hey, I love subtlety. A lot of 2022 movies didn’t get my stamp because they lacked it. But if you’re going to be unsubtle, I’d appreciate it if you went all the way in the other direction – preferably on horseback while soaring off a bridge.
RRR just keeps on one-upping itself. First, our friend Ram beats the hell outta like 200 people. Next our friend Bheem catches a tiger with his bare hands. Then the pair save a young boy from an explosion with nothing more than a rope, a flag and their enormous forearm muscles.
In between all this cartoon mayhem, our heroes have time to win a dance battle – because they’re the best friends in the whole entire world and that’s just what best friends do.
RRR is a spectacular respite from the contemporary American action genre, which typically consists of dudes from three different movies all appearing in the same film together. That is not spectacle. That is the result of an agent and a casting director having lunch. Now, I will acknowledge that those American movies, while not “high-brow,” do ask some heavy questions. For instance, why do those heroes wear capes – the most free-flowing garment around – overtop indestructible morphsuits so tight you can see their hair follicles? The contrast is dizzying. I think their real powers involve allowing their blood to circulate.
RRR, on the other hand, asks more inspired questions. Can two best friends arm wrestle an empire? What if the Indian struggle for independence was fought like Monday Night Raw? I’m serious. There’s a moment where a leopard suplexes a British soldier, and you can almost hear Jim Ross screaming, “as God is my witness, he is broken in half!”
To everyone from a country that has been invaded by the English: this is your holy vengeance. These musically inclined Indian beefcake bros are here to take out an exact measure of whoop-ass on pudgy English people. If you are from a country such as Mongolia that has somehow never had the pleasure of involuntarily hosting British soldiers, you should first thank your lucky stars. Then you should definitely still see this movie, because watching British people get their teeth knocked out is too much fun for us ex-colonies to keep to ourselves.
And if you’re English, well, maybe RRR isn’t for you. For alternative programming, consider waiting three years to watch England get bounced from the World Cup again.
Anyways, I could yammer on about this movie til kingdom come but my simple pitch is this: get a group of friends together, grab some snacks, and watch two best bros destroy racist colonizers on both the battlefield and the dance floor. Even if you don’t unequivocally adore it, I can guarantee one thing, at some point in the movie, you will exclaim:
SWEET JESUS DID YOU SEE WHAT HE JUST DID TO THAT TIGER!!!
Will Klumpenhower spends most of his free time desperately trying to get his friends to watch this movie. If you’re in need a friend yourself, the best way to make one is by following Will on Twitter.
