Porali involves the great combo of M. Sasikumar & Samuthirakani, who were behind trend setters like Subramaniyapuram & Nadodigal. The movie opens with Aristotle's great lines Human beings are social animals and revolves around the struggle of two youngsters who come to Chennai to live a happy life. What makes to them to come to Chennai, the struggle for their life and whether they get the life they expected form the theme of Porali.

Each and every frame of the first half is fantastic, with all the ingredients of a commercial entertainer. Sasi Kumar, Allari Narsh & Ganja Karuppu combination sequences are outstanding and hilarious. Director Samuthirakani has placed many situational and timing comedies. Along with the entertainment comes thoughtful frames of great depth. The sequences of Sasi Kumar and Allari getting a job in the Petrol bunk and the response of their first customer are very optimistic, conveying a good message. A suspense is maintained throughout the first half and brilliantly opened mid-way through the movie.

The second half has a totally different tone and starts to travel into the thriller genre, revolving around the past life of the two guys. Director Samuthirakani deals with mental disorders, though not getting into too many details about it. Soori takes charge of comedy with Sasi Kumar in the second half. The screenplay makes the entire movie unpredictable!

Porali's tale of woes are with the second half. The violence sequences could have been reduced. The lengthy second half gives the feel of watching two movies! The lengthy flash back of Sasi Kumar could have been trimmed. Too many slow panning shots and montage kind of sequences end up as drawbacks. Most of the shots in the second half shot in the dark light. The movie lacks in logic at many places. For instance, it is meaningless that the cops don't search for an accused in a murder case. A cinematic climax does not help. Something better could have been done than Sasi Kumar fighting 50 goons!

Sasikumar steals the show, scoring well in the action, comedy and emotional sequences. Swati Reddy has the minimum screen space and looks very dull when compared to Subramaniyapuram with no impressive sequences for her. The onscreen chemistry between Sasi Kumar & Swati is below average.

Allari Naresh has delivered a fantastic performance. The frames in which he suffers from mental disorder are outstanding. Vasundhra plays as brave village girl and scores well, particularly in the stunt sequences. Niveda, Namo Narayana, Ganja Karuppu & Soori have also done well.

Casting and depth in characterization are the strengths of Porali. Dialogues are brilliant, with the Cinematography by S. R. Kathir playing a vital role. Sundar C Babu's background score is thrilling, though the repetitive BGM used for silence-frames is irritating. The songs are only average.

Though for all the drawbacks, Porali is a commercial thriller. The entertaining first half, brilliant dialogues, hilarious sequences and unpredictable screenplay takes Porali to a certain Can Watch!