M. Rajesh's Mr.Local is a kind of film that solely aims at entertaining you. In the process of doing so, he sacrifices a lot of things like the plot, screenplay and more. Manohar (Sivakarthikeyan) gets involved in an accident with Keerthana(Nayanthara), the CEO of a company. However these details don't make a difference because her role doesn't help in moving the plot points forward, if at all there was one. For example, there is a scene where Nayanthara takes Sivakarthikeyan to Paris to do something. Even if the same scene was shot in Parrys, it still wouldn't make a difference. In more instances than one, the film wastes a lot of time in trying to become grand, but it only tries.
Manohar messes with Keerthana, and she ensures he loses his job. This should have been a 2-minute scene, but the film literally takes the first half to establish this. There are references to various top actors and events of recent past, and the biggest problem is that these references are not relevant to the proceedings. With a Rajini reference here and a Kamal reference there, an Ajith reference here and a Vijay reference there, director has tried to cook up a perfect family commercial entertainer, except that too many cooks spoil the broth. Even in terms of comedy, the ensemble consisting of Robo Shankar, Yogi Babu and Sathish come a cropper.
The references transcend the boundaries of Tamil Cinema, and there is an imitation of Shah Rukh Khan. There is a small reference to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the scenes where Manohar plays football. As far as Yogi Babu is concerned, he is seen wearing Bastian Schweinsteiger's jersey, but doesn't 'assist' the film in any way.
Hip-hop Tamizha's background score doesn't make an impact as such, at the same time it is not outrightly bad. On the other hand, Dinesh Krishnan's camerawork is fantastic. Especially the usage of warmer colours in a lot of scenes look pleasing to the eye.
While Sivakarthikeyan is highly entertaining as Manohar, much can't be said about the other actors' performances. Nayanthara emotes well, but her characterization doesn't look challenging. Despite being a CEO, most of her actions leave us puzzled. In her own words, Manohar is not even fit for getting rejected by her, yet her only obstacle in life is Manohar. In short, she is bothered by the very person she doesn't care about. The writing of her character is that inconsistent. Even the dialogues don't make a mark, because of force-fitted rhymes like Nirmala - Irumala, Paris - Parrys, wait for it... Keerthana Vasudevan - Malaysia Vasudevan! It is hard to understand the necessity of thrusting comedy dialogues in a scene where silence would have been lot better.
A major let down with the film is the casual sexism spread over. For instance, there is a poor joke involving Me Too that undermines the movement. The post climax scene has Keerthana telling Manohar's mother (Radhika Sarathkumar) what happened between them, and she misunderstands it to be a case of sexual assault. Her immediate response is that they've to get married immediately. We're left as clueless as Nayanthara in the song Mena Miniki.