The entire first half of Magalirkkaaga could have been snipped out and that would have made absolutely no difference to the movie! Thats how much happens in the first half of this cheap and crude movie whose sole claim to novelty is that the story revolves around an all-woman police station. There are some interesting happenings towards the end but by the time the end comes around, we have been smothered by the slow pace and so many unsuccessful and loud attempts at comedy that we are barely interested in the movie.

Bhavani(Kushboo) is the inspector in an all-woman police station. She is upright and honest and fair with both women and men. Bhavani is set to marry her aunt's son Subramani(Ranjit), a building contractor. She even pawns her jewels to get him started in his job. Chitra(Vindhya) is the only honest constable in the station. When the Deputy Commissioner(Vijay) rapes Chitra, Bhavani tries to bring him to justice. She is opposed by both the DC and her IG(Devan), who is afraid of the negative publicity the incident will bring to the police. When his initial attempts fail, he tries to sway Bhavani through Subramani.

Viewers who expect some mellowness in the proceedings since the setting is an all-woman police station will be sorely disappointed. The start admittedly raises some hope with the way Kushboo tackles the familiar problem of people breaking pumpkins on the road. But the way the movie unravels doesn't live up to the promise. There is nothing here that hasn't been seen in any movie set in a regular police station. Kushboo and Vindhya are the honest cops while Ambika and Sarala are corrupt to the hilt and live on bribes. Anuja is the AC whose language and behavior would put any sadistic male police officer to shame. This is the kind of police station in which the policewoman from Kaadhalan would have felt right at home!

Vadivelu joins as the driver and his antics with Sarala are crude, unfunny and boring. He hogs the frames in the first half but there was not a single scene or piece of dialog that elicited a smile from my lips. The encounter with Sarala at the hotel was especially painful. The director's struggle to fill up the movie until he can get the main story started is painfully evident. I was really irritated when even a potentially suspenseful fork in the story with anonymous phonecalls to the police station was sacrificed in the name of comedy.

The story sits up a little after Vijay rapes Vindhya. Though the turns in the story are predictable, the screenplay atleast moves faster and by that time I was waiting for anything at all to happen in the movie! The involvement of the Human Rights Commission is novel though the way problems get solved remains cinematic with a group of women with sticks driving away the goondas organised by a political leader!

Kushboo is dignified as the inspector and even indulges in some fights that belie her girth. Vindhya is timid and gets by without doing much. Vijay imitates Raghuvaran and gets away with it while Anuja is suitably haughty. It is really sad seeing the depths to which Ambika has sunk. I mourned her role in movies like Aanandha Poongaatre and Jodi where she had little screen time but the quality of her role here is even more pathetic. Newcomer Varshan's songs are forgettable but he earns some points with his energetic background music.