SYNOPSIS:
A glorious, delightful and touching romantic comedy that unveils the truth behind the most anticipated celebrity wedding. Jack (Christopher Lee) proposes to Vikki (Fann Wong) during the live telecast of a regional awards show. She accepts - much to the delight of the public who has been following and rooting for their much publicized romance. What the public doesn't know is that the entire love affair is an elaborate plan designed to further the careers and fortunes of the two 'lovebirds' by their ambitious managers May (Alice Lau) and Tom (Heiren). Will they succeed in fooling a nation, and come away richer but not wiser?
MOVIE REVIEW:
Thai theatre and movie director Ekachai Uekrongtham has directed quite a number of movies., ranging from the poetic Beautiful Boxer (2003), the seedy Pleasure Factory (2007) and the eerie The Coffin (2008). But his latest work isn’t really a movie. No, it really isn’t, considering the movie plot, and most importantly, how it was marketed. If you (as a Singaporean, that is) don’t already know by now, Fann Wong and Christopher Lee are getting married (we are still anticipating the actual date – not that we mere mortals would be invited, anyway), and this national event was turned into a movie event to celebrate the joy and bliss – how many couples have that kind of luck?
Jack (Lee) proposes to Vikki (Wong) on a “live” awards show and that sets the whole nation into a state of frenzy, especially their fans who have been following their widely publicised romance. The problem is, this is a charade planned by their publicity managers to save their dying career. Jack and Vikki hate each other, and have to put up a show (since it’s what celebrities do best) to fool the public. At then end of the day, the both of them could walk away richer, or fall in love with each other.
And who wouldn’t have guessed the ending 15 minutes into the 103 minute movie? What, you were expecting Jack and Vikki (who are two very good looking human beings – check out his hot bod and her flawless complexion!) to end up, gasp, not marrying each other? Like we mentioned earlier, this isn’t a movie – it’s a marketing opportunity.
How else would you explain the tons of money thrown in by sponsors to have their brands featured in the movie? How else would you explain the countless cameo appearances by other well known local personalities (get ready to spot Dennis Chew, Man Shu Sam, Chen Diya, Cassandra See, Ix Shen, Quan Yi Feng, Jing Junhong and Tao Li) for the sake of countless in jokes which may only make sense to the local viewers? How else can you explain the efforts put in by the filmmakers to shoot the movie in scenic and beautiful Malaysia, and have Saiful “Cicak-man” Apek to appear in one of the movie’s most hilarious scenes?
Yes, it’s all about product placement (bring on the abalone, and in a surprising move, a public message brought to you by the Singapore Sports Council). Yes, it’s also about having local audiences connecting with familiar faces and familiar jokes (bring on the rumoured Fann-Zoe rivalry). Yes, and in a move that’s also very important, it’s also about the marketability of the movie over the Causeway (as much as we love the sun soaked scenes shot in Malaysia, we wonder whether it could have been shot at Changi beach).
But oh well, as long as everyone had fun making this movie (from the looks of it, even foreign stars Alice Lau and Hei Ren had a hoot of a time), we shall go along for the ride, since we won’t be expecting an invitation from Chris and Fann when they really walk down the aisle.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains the movie’s Teaser, Trailer and a 22 minute The Making Of which has the cast and crew talking about how the movie was conceptualised and made – we especially love the part where Hei Ren talked about the possibility of the couple not getting married if the box office takings weren’t good.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual transfer of the DVD is fine, and is presented in its original Mandarin audio track.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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