Good Luck Jerry review: Amusing remake that slips in its final act

Siddharth Sen’s Good Luck Jerry (2022), a remake of the Nayanthara-starrer Kolamaavu Kokila (2018), stars Janhvi Kapoor as Jaya Kumari aka Jerry, a young woman who becomes a drug courier in order to pay her ailing mother’s medical bills. The dark comedy has several comedic beats that work well as Jerry settles for a life of crime before eventually realizing that she’s in over her head.

Jerry’s family migrated to Punjab from Bihar after her father’s death. While the young woman works in a massage parlour, her mother Sarbati (Mita Vashisht) cooks vegetarian momos for a living. But neither earn enough to cover the cost of treatment for her mother’s lung cancer. Becoming a courier for the local drug gang led by the smitten Timmy (Jaswant Singh Dalaal) is the only solution for Jerry.

Written by Pankaj Matta, the manner in which Jerry is first coerced and then volunteers to become a courier is both amusing and clever. For the Punjab police, Jerry is never a suspect, even as she makes several trips up and down the drug route, hiding packages in her tiffin box.

While one inspector Lal Singh (Rajender Sethi) grows suspicious and a few gang members get jealous, Jerry has to formulate a plan of action to extricate herself from the mess she has gone into. The second half of the feature revolves around her plan to deliver 100 kilos of cocaine, aided by her mother, sister Cherry (Samta Sudiksha) and neighbour Anilji (Neeraj Sood), who has a soft spot for Sarbati.

The plan, however, goes haywire and Jerry only ends up incurring the wrath of the brass of the gang, including Daler (Sushant Singh) and Malik (Saurabh Sachdeva), and tries to use the narcotics in her possession as a bargaining chip to ensure her survival.

While Kapoor fits the role of the naive but plucky Jerry who does what she must to survive, she is less convincing as a shrewd mastermind who cons experienced druglords and the police alike. What does work, however, is the teamwork between her family, Anilji, and two hapless suitors for Jerry and Cherry that keep the laughs flowing.

Deepak Dobriyal’s Rinku, in particular, practically steals the show as an overzealous admirer who continues to press his suit despite Jerry’s discomfiture. When he realizes the mess he’s gotten into, his dismay is comical.

Mita Vashisht as Sarbati, a pillar of support for her daughter, is also excellent. She takes the trope of the ailing mother in Hindi cinema, whose coughing signifies imminent death, and turns in a performance that has grit.

Good Luck Jerry also depicts the ensuing violence to get the drugs in a comical vein. The tone works in parts, as the action is stretched to show Jerry’s eventual escape. Even if one hasn’t seen the original Tamil film, one knows that Jerry is going to walk out of this.

The story has too many twists and justice isn't done to the numerous, colourful characters that inhabit this world. Others, like Cherry’s suitor, who shows up to woo her in full wedding attire, could easily have been left on the cutting room floor.

As a comedy, Good Luck Jerry has both jinxed situations and funny lines that keep things flowing. It’s only the overall story that falters at the end as it tries to liberate its heroine from the mess she's in. If you can overlook this, Good Luck Jerry is an enjoyable watch.

Good Luck Jerry is being streamed on Disney+ Hotstar.