The film under review is a successor to 'F2', the 2019 comedy entertainer made by the same director and acted by the same set of actors (with a few exceptions like Murali Sharma).
In the case of 'F2', we knew the purpose of each scene and why each gag was needed by the inevitable situations the main characters faced. The comedy was unapologetically madcap.
The plot turns are bloated, a few of which are characteristically predictable. 'F2' was about the idiosyncrasies of a marital relationship and a love affair gone haywire.
Venky (Venkatesh) and Varun Yadav (Varun Tej) fall into a trap laid out by a self-serving sister duo (Tamannaah Bhatia as Harika and Mehreen as Honey).
Their indebtedness makes them think of putting aside their morals in order to pull the wool over a millionaire's eyes.
This puts the two men at crosshairs with a range of characters, including Harika and Honey. In the process of cheating others, Venky and Varun realize that there is more to life than money.
Money is a motif that 'F3' taps into right from the word go. There is a song on money. The greed of its main characters is a running theme.
The base material is meaty enough and, in the hands of a director who is a specialist in the Jandhyala brand of exaggerated characterizations, 'F3' should have brought the house down.
For all its premise and curious characters, F3's comedy is halting, orthodox, and less-than-ordinary.
The rom-com track is limited to Venky and Varun getting seduced through a head massage. The film's attempt at half-hearted crime comedy is not substantive either.
Rajendra Prasad's upright cop character has no consistency. The Sampath Raj-Satya track is too brief. The pre-interval stretch involving all the major characters looks haphazardly edited.
It is not wrong to over-crowd a script. This film has one too many characters, and all of them have a reason to inhabit the same mansion. What is surely bad is that 'F3' has one too many under-cooked tracks. Nothing sticks!
Venkatesh's performance is of quality. Quite a few others show conviction, but somehow, most of them don't get to make a stellar presence.
Tamannaah Bhatia's character feels more like her 'Aagadu' self in the first half. Mehreen's character and track are unoriginal, and the classist humour through her doesn't cut ice. Ali and Sunil are wasted.