Geeta Enterprises' Chor Machaaye Shor  is a wacky film with a wafer-thin story-line. A young lad, dreaming of becoming quick-rich, steals a Rs. 30-crore diamond with the help of three friends. Chased by the police, he hides it in a dilapidated building before being arrested. He is sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and when he comes out of jail, he is shocked to find a police headquarters building standing in place of the dilapidated structure.

Inspired from the Hollywood film, Blue Streak, there's a good part about the film and a bad part too. The good part is that writers Yunus Sejawal and Shah Nawaz Ahmed have come up with some very entertaining comedy scenes. The bad part is that the main story (of the diamond) has been written rather shabbily and also treated quite badly.

The moment Shyam (Bobby Deol) realises the whereabouts of his 30 crore bounty, he rechristens himself Inspector Ram and begins working at the police station. Soon enough, he finds favour with ACP Ranbir Singh (Paresh Rawal), much to the chagrin of Inspector Pande (Om Puri). To ward off the latter`s growing suspicions about his true idenity, Ram weaves a tale of a hopelessly corrupt twin called Shyam. Golmaal anyone?

Meanwhile, Ram romances Inspector Ranjita (Bipasha Basu) while Shyam dances around trees with the ACP`s daughter, Komal (Shilpa Shetty). Also in pursuit of the diamonds are Tito (Ashish Vidhyarthi) and Tony (Rajat Bedi) -- David Dhawan`s much-favoured actors in the role of villains. Shekhar Suman, who plays seven random roles in the film, is especially commendable as Bobby`s mother.

What happens next? Does Shyam retrieve his diamonds before he is caught red-handed? What happens to Inspector Ranjita and Komal? Complicating matters further is Dhawan`s fetish for twins in the film. Almost every major character seems to have one. For no apparent reason, we have a Tamil speaking dance master (Paresh Rawal) and Punjabi truck driver (Om Puri). Which does make it one twin too many to handle.

The movie is full of absurdities, inanities and clichés but Dhawan still manages to raise a few laughs. Anu Malik`s music, though is a different tale altogether. Coupled with lyrics like Mera dil toh Pali Hill hai and Kaan ke neeche bajaa daloonga it only serves to make you cringe.

If Chor Machaaye Shors has one strong point, it is the performance of its cast. Not only do versatile actors like Paresh Rawal and Om Puri steal the show, even Bobby Deol displays great comic timing in an uninhibited performance. Sadly, Shekhar Suman, despite -- or maybe because of -- his seven characters tends to go overboard.

Actresses Bipasha Basu and Shilpa Shetty do not have substantial roles. The leggy duo in fact, are simply required to look glamourous, and dance to a few tunes.

Chor Machaaye Shor is a typical Bollywood masala potboiler with fun, romance, music and mandatory dishum-dishum. But if you are attuned to and enjoy David Dhawan`s brand of humour, then this one is a barrel of laughs.