‘Four Samosas’ (2022) Review – A Rollicking Heist Comedy

Heist movies are a chameleonic genre. Take the baseline need for a crew of thieves and a score; there are manifold ways to outfit stories around it. Michael Mann deployed the structure to tell the gripping cat-and-mouse tale of a criminal and the cop after him in Heat (1995). Steve McQueen explored the ripples of grief and betrayal from a crew going down and the women in their lives left to clean up the mess in Widows (2018). How could we not look to Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and its sequels and spin-offs as a masterful template of a suave heist comedy? That diverse nature of the genre leads us to Ravi Kapoor’s Four Samosas (2022). Set in the “Little India” neighborhood of L.A., Four Samosas is a winning hybrid of heist and hangout flicks.

The film centers on Amateur rapper Vinny (Venk Potula). When Vinny hears that his ex, Rina (Summer Bishil), is engaged, he takes it hard. Never mind that they broke up four years earlier. Hoping to derail Rina’s wedding to goat-shit farmer Sanjay (Karan Soni), Vinny assembles an amateur criminal crew to break into Rina’s father’s grocery store and steal her dowry diamonds. The team in question includes his Bollywood-aspiring friend Zak (Nirvan Patnaik), aspiring journalist Anjali (Sharmita Bhattacharya), and prickly engineer Paru (Sonal Shah). The catch? They haven’t a spoonful of criminal experience among them. What ensues is as much a blueprint for how not to pull off a heist as a roadmap for how to make lifelong friends. 

Kapoor serves as both writer and director on Four Samosas, and one of his script’s considerable strengths is the specificity of place. He captures the spirit of a small community in every storefront, spontaneous conversation, and the command his characters have of their surroundings. The very nature of heist, to steal from a locally-owned grocery store, winkingly nods at the disparate stakes involved. Vinny’s whole sense of place and self is on the line because of his inability to move on. Those personal stakes are huge. Yet, even if the diamonds are vital to Rina and her father, it’s not as if Vinny and his crew are looting the Federal Reserve. That angle is endlessly charming, encouraging viewers to see their own communities and personal stakes in every turn and surprise. 

In that sense, the core of Four Samosas is Vinny and his friends. Harkening back to American Graffiti (1973) and everything Richard Linklater touches, the purest joy in Four Samosas is watching these four people interact. Kapoor gives them plenty to work with, but Potula, Patnaik, Bhattacharya, and Shah radiate an easy chemistry that you can only pray for in a movie like this. Each actor playfully walks the line between broad comedy and heartfelt flourishes. Potula and Bhattacharya are standouts. The former channels a sort of goofy roguishness reminiscent of Spike Lee’s turn as Mookie in the early stages of Do the Right Thing (1989). He practically lets off sunbeams of charisma. For her part, Bhattacharya toys with the archetype of a ditzy side character but with the chance to quietly revamp that trope. She is a committed journalist, no matter her talent, and also infinitely endearing.

Behind the camera, Kapoor maps out a visual warmth and mischievousness that both matches and elevates his cast. While discussing Four Samosas, he described wanting to make an “art-house comedy” with “an artistic aesthetic beyond the normal.” That starts with a 4:3 aspect ratio and a saturated color palette, then extends to his energetic shot choices. Kapoor oscillates between character-first close-ups with wacky angles, thrown-back long shots, and more than a handful of bobbing tracking sequences. In a comedy movie landscape dominated by slapped-together Netflix originals with little in the way of cinematic invention, Kapoor’s commitment to expressive filmmaking is utterly refreshing. It is especially exciting to see a director on his second feature able to take such swings and connect with something invigorating as what’s on display in Four Samosas. 

There are nitpicks to be had with some of the performances in Four Samosas and a few headscratcher beats that may have been better edited out for smoothness, but those are minor blemishes on what is a simply lovable film. One leaves Four Samosas hoping that this creative crew will get the gang back together for another go-round sometime soon.

Four Samosas is currently playing in select theaters, and it is available On Demand courtesy of IFC Films. 

[youtube https://youtu.be/f3u8VT7l-D8]