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The mindset is such that you hear of the Boman Irani-Arshad Warsi combination and you expect a "laugh out loud" comedy. It doesn't help that the trailer points you in that direction too. It pleasantly surprises you, by starting off as satire, quirks and all. After that, it takes a serious turn, but you're willing to cooperate because Jolly LLB seems to be trying to make a crucial point. Sadly, though, the conclusion is pretty disappointing. The court's decision is not as much to blame for the disappointment as the inadequate defense (Boman Irani) and prosecution (Arshad Warsi). They appear to be rather clueless and frequently caught off guard. Sure, character consistency can be used to give some people the benefit of the doubt. After all, the defence is callous, over-confident, arrogant and thus complacent. The prosecution is inept and perplexed regarding his moral position. It is also possible that we have been spoilt by smart-Alec lawyers in our filmy courtrooms and real life lawyers are not really always on their toes. However, the stage does not appear to be convincing enough after this leeway. If real-life is what we are aiming for, some things work out way too easily. Like when a bribe drops from five lakhs to one lakh without much discussion. Or evidence is pointed towards, out of the blue. It goes on and on. And I sincerely hope lawyers and judges don't have shouting matches in real-world courtrooms.
Jolly LLB loses a lot of its satire because of its overall inconsistency and, in the end, lackluster drama. The pull towards gravity though meets constant resistance from the cast. How wonderfully subtle and underplayed both Boman Irani and Arshad Warsi can be when allowed to. No, over-the-top ranting, with characters portrayed as arrogant and foolish, respectively. Saurabh Shukla too gets a role weighty enough to play around with. Even though he's a caricature, his portrayal of the straight-but-twisted judge will stick with you for a long time. His maneuvers over the defence are by themselves worth a watch - thorough 'babu' style.
All of this with no help from the dialogue. A mockery of dialogue within the film by calling lines 'filmy', doesn't make it any less filmy. The lines don't feel real enough to be believable or filmy enough to warrant applause. Further distraction is caused by songs that don't belong. And why is this "promotion" song now commonplace in the end credits? Jolly LLB feels like it was undecided between satire and drama. It looked like the heart was in the drama, but a few satirical moments came by and went through in the film. That didn't make the satire bad, it just made the film uneven and took the focus away from the story - which in itself was wrapped in drama that was neither dramatic nor real enough.
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