Rahul Ravindran's Manmadhudu 2, starring Nagarjuna (who is also the producer) and Rakul Preet Singh, is the story of a 40-year old Samba Sivam Rao a.k.a Sam, played by Nagarjuna, who is pressurized by his family to get married. He asks Avantika (played by Rakul Preet Singh) to act as his fiance but not turn up for the wedding. This has a serious consequence and what happens thereafter forms the rest of the plot.

Nagarjuna gets into the shoes of a 40-year old Casanova quite comfortably and plays his part to perfection. Rakul Preet's acting is also good, especially in the closeup shots, as she walks the tight rope between being goofy and sensible at the same time. But it is Vennela Kishore who hogs the limelight till the last frame(If you include the bloopers in the end credits).

Vennela Kishore appears as Kishore, the assistant of Sam(who is a perfume maker). If at all there is a modern-day equivalent of Vadivelu in Indian Cinema, it has to be him. His facial expression alone evokes so much laughter that they are going to be templates for the next-gen meme makers. It's that good. Watch out for the hilarious sequence where a joint (pun unintended) family gets high on weed. It's hard to not laugh.

There are similarly funny sequences throughout the film. However, Rahul Ravindran's direction is slightly off the hook because of the abrupt change of grammar. A film that took everything in a light way (barring a few scenes), turns highly melodramatic in the climax which is a big letdown.

The climax is also poorly staged which makes it a bit tedious that all we see is one reaction shot after another. What happened to the beautiful camera work that we saw for the past 'more-than-two-hours?' M Sukumar captures the scenery of Portugal and Switzerland in a very realistic, yet aesthetic way. Chaithan Bharadwaj's background score could have been used with restraint at a lot of places because it ends up overshadowing certain sequences.

The film has a lot of heart to it but is quite shallow when it comes to writing. The backstory of Avantika could have been explored more, which is why we don't root for her that much. Nagarjuna being commitment-phobic could have been tapped more, but it ends within a few moments. But still, the nature of the film keeps you engaged, and Vennela Kishore takes care of the rest.