After a string of disappointing masala movies, Vikram appeared in different, more complex characters in his last 2 movies Raavanan and Deiva Thirumagal. Director Suseendran's last 2 movies have also been vastly different with a star-driven revenge thriller (Naan Mahaan Alla) and more offbeat mystery (Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai). So there was the hope that the two of them would do something different when they came together, even if it was a commercial entertainer. But Rajapattai dashes those hopes with its feeble story and bland screenplay.

Murugan(Vikram) is a 'gym boy', an actor who dreams of acting as a villain in films but for now is stuck playing a henchman. When he runs into Dakshinamoorthy(K.Vishwanath), who is being hounded by his own son to give up the orphanage he runs to a politician Ranganayaki(Sana), Murugan asks Dakshinamoorthy to move in with him so he can protect him and save the orphanage. Dakshinamoorthy helps Murugan get the girl(Deeksha Seth) he has eyes for but a misunderstanding sends the old man back to his son.

Suseendran has so far displayed a strong knack for subtle humor as all his three movies have had an effective undertone of humor, whatever their genre. But that is completely missing here. Barring a couple of moments, like the dig at the business of launching into duets at the first hint of romance, the humor misses the mark on most occasions, banking on ancient plot points like Vikram lying to Thambi Ramaiah about Vishwanath's wealth and Ramaiah subsequently sucking up to him. The only smiles come from one of the villain's henchmen, who makes us smile with his fear of Vikram and his knack for getting into trouble with him.

After being used to seeing heroes being surrounded by his friends, it is nice to see Vikram and K.Vishwanath team up to get him the girl. It is also fun to see K.Vishwanath play against type as he recounts his younger days and advices Vikram. But his plans are lame as he almost bullies Deeksha and the sequences where he talks to her are neither cute nor funny. So the romance between Vikram and Deeksha is a complete bust.

Vikram has both a politician and her powerful mentor to go up against during the course of the film. But his confrontations with them lack energy since neither of them are strong enough. Sana is too overt about her activities to make a believable politician and Vikram's meetings with her are filled with his self-confident bravado and her empty threats. Pradeep Rawat fares a little better as he initially puts up good resistance but is eventually reduced to a weakling after a farcical interview sequence. A sequence where Vikram rescues Deeksha has him using his brains but its brawn all the way otherwise as he battles their thugs in long fight sequences.

Vikram has made himself so beefy that his head looks disproportionately small compared to the rest of his body. He gets a number of chances to play dress-up as he appears as some famous bad guys during the Villathi Villain... song sequence and plays multiple characters when interrogating Pradeep Rawat. The make-up is good, particularly for the characters during the interrogation, and the disguises sit well on him but they are little more than gimmicks. Deeksha Seth, who sometimes looks like a thinner, more frail version of Katrina Kaif, looks puny next to Vikram and its no surprise that there is hardly any chemistry between them. K.Vishwanath, who has been stereotyped in serious roles, has fun when joking around with Vikram and his group while Sana makes a confident debut as the greedy politician. The much-hyped Laddu Laddu... that has Vikram dancing with Shriya and Reema Sen plays during the end credits but there's nothing special in it to make one sit through the credits.