| Fridae Movie Club: Singapore | 12th August 2009 / Issue 283 |
| > Join Fridae Movie Club Bad week for movies, folks. The summer movie season, with its big-budget blockbusters, has drawn to a close while the fall movie season, with its promise of Oscar-worthy dramas, is still months away. So in the interim, we’ll get a mishmash of films that don’t quite fit into either category. To coincide with the Hungry Ghost month, Singapore writer-director Jack Neo is releasing his first horror comedy Where Got Ghost?, which comprises three short films starring some of Singapore’s best known comedians. While it’s not as bad as his previous three pictures (Love Matters, Money No Enough 2, Ah Long Pte Ltd), it’s still a poorly-made movie partly redeemed by its last short. |
Let’s just hope gay comedy Bruno, which opens next week, lives up to all its hype. |
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Where Got Ghost?
In Mandarin with subtitles |
Director Jack Neo may be the biggest draw at Singapore’s box-office, but that does not mean he’s one of the best. Instead of honing his skills over the years, his films have only gotten sloppier, lazier and more self-satisfied. Last year’s Ah Long Pte Ltd and Money No Enough 2 were haphazard to say the least, and this year’s Love Matters marked another low. That Singapore heartlanders continue to flock to his movies says a lot about the reputation he’s built after years of performing TV skits. His newest horror comedy Where Got Ghost? is somewhat better than those three, but it’s still crudely made. It comprises three short stories titled Roadside Got Ghost, Forest Got Ghost and House Got Ghost, and stars the most well-known male comedians on Singapore TV. In the first story Roadside Got Ghost, Richard Low plays a conman who uses a fake hotline to trick people into giving up their lottery winnings to him. But when a ghost comes calling, he dismisses it as a prank call. Of course, it’s the ghost who gets the last good laugh. Well, someone should… since no one at the media screening found much to laugh at here. The second story is somewhat better. Forest Got Ghost stars Wang Lei and Ah Nan as two reservist soldiers who meet a ghost in the jungle after deviating from their supposed route. This story has a few creepy bits and some good laughs. But it is so long-winded that the long dull bits ultimately drown out the best bits. Is it so hard to find a good editor? The third and final story, House Got Ghost, is the best and funniest. Picking up where Money No Enough 2 left off, it has Jack Neo, Mark Lee and Henry Thia reprising their roles of three brothers getting on with their lives after their mother’s death. But her spirit (Lai Ming) would not rest quietly until the boys burn her a Mickey Mouse paper bra, among other things. This last segment is undeniably funny, with Singapore ’s favourite trio hamming it up comfortably in Hokkien. Full of affectionate squabbles and caustic put-downs, this last story reminds us what J ack Neo can do when he puts more effort into his stories. We call the first two, Where Got Funny? |
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Management
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Jennifer Aniston was born to play knockout-next-door type of roles. And she does so beautifully in Management, an average romantic comedy by writer-director Stephen Belber. She plays a travelling sales representative who checks into a motel one night run by the lonely Steve Zahn, who falls for her instantly. That evening, he shows up at her room with a bottle of wine, claiming it’s a perk for all guests. After some flirtation, she lets him pat her butt – the first beautiful woman to let him do that for free. Well, almost for free. When she checks out of her room the next day, he decides to follow her home, only to find that she is already involved with a yogurt tycoon (Woody Harrelson). Nonetheless, he continues to woo her, as she slowly starts to see the good in him… As actors, both J ennifer and Steve have immensely likeable qualities that transcend the bizarre storyline (could a hard-edged woman like her really fall for loser like him?). If writer-director Stephen had the smarts to let these two characters simply discover each other instead of throwing crazy gags and obstacles in their path, Management might have actually been a sweet romance, not a far-fetched formulaic romantic comedy wannabe that reminds us of all the far-fetched formulaic romantic comedies that have gone before. Better management next time, Stephen! |
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