It used to be Jackie Chan movies or some Hong Kong comedies last time, but this year, I decided to go for a Singaporean movie called "The Wedding Game". I went with my sister and her two children on the second day of Chinese New Year to GSC at Mid Valley.
I chose to watch this movie for two reasons. First, I am a big fan of Singapore-based Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham who directed "The Wedding Game". He is famous for his movies "Beautiful Boxer", "Pleasure Factory" and most recently "The Coffin". All his movies were outstanding except perhaps for "The Coffin", which was quite a disappointment for me. You can read my reviews of "The Coffin" here.
Ekachai is also famous for directing Singapore’s longest running musical, "Chang & Eng", which happens to be my favourite musical of all time.
Director Ekachai discussing a scene with Fann and Christopher
The second reason is that I wanted to watch all the hypes surrounding Singaporean actress Fann Wong and her soon to be husband, Singapore-based Malaysian actor, Christopher Lee. This famous couple, with the highest profile in Singapore, is rumoured to be tying the knot on the 9th Sept 2009 (09.09.09) – the number 9 signifies eternity in Chinese. And since we are not likely to get invited to their wedding, this movie will be the closest thing we can get to the real thing!
The story centred on two actors, Jack and Vikki (played by Christopher Lee and Fann Wong respectively) who hated each other, but decided to get married to further their careers and fortunes. This “fake” marriage was actually planned by their respective managers, May (played by Hong Kong actress-singer Alice Lau) and Tom (played by Taiwanese media personality Charles Chen). However, when their secret plan was somehow revealed to the public, things turned chaotic and we get to see all those comedic events that ensued.
Watch the movie trailer here
How did I find the movie? Well, to be honest, it was actually pretty entertaining! I mean the storyline was quite predictable, but I think the two leads, Fann Wong and Christopher Lee have just the right chemistry to pull it off. I would say both their acting were excellent! Fann Wong especially, showed a wide range of emotions in this movie, which I like very much! Christopher Lee was funny, and also shirtless most of the time. I guess his female fans and gay fans will really lap it all up!
The two supporting cast, Alice Lau and Charles Chen (aka. Hei Ren or Blackie) gave good performances too. Alice plays May who pines for Jack and is secretly in love with him, while Charles Chen plays Tom who is gay. As I said, the story is pretty predictable, and there’s no prizes for guessing that Jack and Vikki will eventually fall in love, and Alice will pair up with Tom, who will of course discovers that he is not as “gay” as he thinks!
I like the opening part of the movie where they show the credits and the camera zooming up the wedding cake to reveal the couple figurines which start to fight each other. That very impressive scene made me almost forget this was a made in Singapore movie – it really looked like an American movie!
The couple figurines atop the wedding cake
Alas I did not realize this movie was rated PG13. And my niece and nephew were there watching the entire movie with me and my sister! It was rightly rated as such for I soon realized there were many scenes which were not too suitable for kids.
For instance, the part where May got a little horny seeing Jack naked in the shower, my nephew asked what was wrong with her. I did not reply as I do not know what to say! My sister quickly explained that she (May) was not feeling well. Haha! I could not help laughing!
Another scene was where we see Jack strutting in just his tight shorts. My nephew exclaimed loudly, “Last time daddy wore like that too!” My sister quickly said, “Shhh! Don’t speak so loud!” Haha!
Halfway through the movie, my sister told me she is taking her son out for a walk. I was like, what? why? “He asked too many questions!” was my sister’s reply. “And I’m too embarrassed to answer because he asked so loudly and those sitting at the back and in front could hear.” So I said OK and she brought him out.
They came back in about 10 minutes later. I did not know what my sister taught him in those 10 minutes, but it was damn effective. He did not asked too many questions after that!
"The Wedding Game" also starred a few Malaysian actors, namely Lai Meng of Empat Sekawan fame, who already made a name for herself in Jack Neo’s movies "Money No Enough 2" and "Ah Long Pte Ltd". There’s also Cicakman Saiful Apek and actress Syanie Hisham providing more laughs. And not forgetting model turned actor, Daniel Tan.
The movie was filmed both in Singapore and Melaka. I really like it that the director chose to include scenes from Melaka, which is actually Christopher Lee's hometown in real life.
I also liked the theme song for this movie. It was sang by Christy and Hagen and is based on the famous English wedding song called Ave Maria. Here's the Youtube video for you to enjoy!
Actually, I also like another song in the movie which was sang during the scene when Jack was heartbroken and desperately looking for Vikki after the press conference where Vikki revealed the truth to the media and the public. I wonder if Hagen sang that song too. Anyone knows the title of the song - please let me know.
So my ratings for this movie? I'll give it 3.5 stars out of 5.
In terms of both comedy and drama, it won't be able to beat Jack Neo's "Money No Enough 2".
If you are a fan of either Christopher Lee or Fann Wong or both, you will definitely like this movie. If you are not a fan, you won't be raving about it too much, but it is still an entertaining movie, so go watch it!
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