Popcornalysis: Ah Long Pte Ltd

Popcornalysis (pop-kawrn-nal-uh-sis)
Ability to analyze a movie and provide own opinions and critiques.
Difficulty: Moderate

Movie Review: AH LONG PTE LTD

Sypnosis
Ah Long Pte Ltd is a light-hearted black comedy about the triad world and the money-lending business. The movie takes on a humorous and sarcastic treatment on the underworld. It depicts how a young lady, Li Hua (Fann Wong) tries to restructure her money-lending triad into a professional and ‘loving’ triad that stands against the use of violence after she takes over from her triad leader (Richard Low) who retired. Her various restructuring plans (which are no doubt very creative) bring about hilarious results.

Li Hua tired of her mother’s constant nagging to get married, she finally relented and proposed to Mr Fang (Mark Lee), an effeminate dance instructor cum image stylist. Surprised to many and even herself, Mr Fang accepted the proposal. The unusual union, despite the misfits, soon blossom into love.

(Sypnosis taken from www.gv.com.sg)

*WARNING* This review may contain spoilers.

Ah, my first movie of the Chinese new year period would be Ah Long Pte Ltd. I chose to watch it first as it was the first on my list and it was the most anticipated of the 3 for me. I watched it at 120am this morning at GVmax and luckily, the movie was entertaining enough to keep me awake throughout.

First of all, I must clarify that I am kind of a Jack Neo’s movie person because I do anticipate and look forward to his movies. Because I do know that there are people we would “not waste money” on local films or Jack Neo’s films. So, my point of view may be a bit bias as I do have a lot of expectations from Jack Neo’s movies.

Ah-la-la-Long, ah-la-la-long, ah-lala-longlong-long-long-long-long…. That’s the catching tune that got stuck to me ever since I watched the trailer. I admit that the trailer definitely made me want to watch the movie as soon as possible. Nice song, nice footages… why not? Music may just play a major role in attracting movie-goers (for me at least). However, after watching the movie, I was a little disappointed.

First, there was all the abrupt deletion in several scenes. What I am talking about is the footages which were cut out by the Media Development Authority (MDA). From the link below (note the duration of the movie), a good 3 minutes were censored/cut from the original version.

http://www.mda.gov.sg/wms.www/resources_result.aspx?search=AH%20LONG%20PTE%20LTD&actor=&producer=&rating=&language=&decision=

I am not really sure what exactly they took out but I really hope that those were not the best parts. Looking at the report from MDA, it looks like they took out the sexual humour part and forced it into a PG rating. Probably because Jack Neo’s films are usually a family movie and they do not want to change their target audience.

Secondly, the whole storyline that was promised by Jack Neo to be different from the “My wife is a gangster” series, didn’t turn out to be too much of a difference afterall.

Another aspect of the movie I didn’t like, are the conversations between the characters. I really hate it when the do not converse in a common language. ‘A’ talks to ‘B’ in Cantonese, ‘B’ reply in Hokkien, talks to ‘C’ in Mandarin and ‘C’ reply in Cantonese. If the character only speak Hokkien and speaks Hokkien to who ever that speak to him in Hokkien, it is alright. But in the movie, our lead actress speaks in so many different languages and mostly in Mandarin. Which local triad boss is a woman and speaks Mandarin so perfectly? One from China? No, it’s not. If it was meant to be so due to some part of the storyline that explains why she speaks Mandarin so well, it would fit in better. But, it didn’t seem to be so. Hence, another setback.

However, I did enjoyed the movie. Why? All credits go to Mark Lee. He plays a Malaysian-mandarin accented sissy dance teacher cum fashion designer. His acting is so good that he made this Jojo Fang character comes to life. Almost every funny part from the movie that ejects you from your seat are done by him. I really enjoyed all the humour he brought into the movie that made this violence Ah Long movie an enjoyable comedy. Mark Lee definitely saved the movie from bad ratings. Well unless you want to include the pathetic half star out of five rating given by a local magazine of course.

Overall, I would reccommend that anyone who enjoys a different take in a gangster movie with all the creativity put in by the scriptwriters and a good laugh, you may consider watching this. I do not recommend this movie if you are someone who enjoys a unique storyline, a satisfactory and unexpected ending. Although this must be one of the lousier Jack Neo films, it is still worth watching again.

Just take away expectations and watch the movie. It would be a better experience.