Slumdog Millionaire

Rating: 4 stars

Believe the hype: Danny Boyle’s rags-to-riches fable about an Indian slumdog (street urchin) who makes a fortune on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is one of the most captivating, ingenious and heartwarming films you’ll ever see. It mixes the gritty realism of a film like City of Men with a plucky, Dickensian hero who fends off a rogue’s gallery of nefarious influences (the host of the game show, for example, is a deliciously smarmy fellow who secretly resents our hero’s success). Add to that a touching love story, a heartbreaking tale of two brothers moving inexorably in different directions, heaping doses of magic realism, and a Bollywood ending that will have you grinning like a happy fool, it’s a film to savor for years to come.