Let me just say first that I have not seen another made-in-Singapore movie before this one, and I watched "One Leg Kicking" solely for the sake of seeing it, and because Gurmit Singh (who never fails to make me laugh in "Phua Chu Kang Pte. Ltd.") is in it. My mother laughed at me when I told her I wanted to see it, and my father called it "cheap junk" in Mandarin. Neither of them have seen it; that's just the impression of Singaporean films a lot of people have. And I admit, that was what I thought of local movies for a long time.
Well, I have changed my mind. "One Leg Kicking" is no masterpiece, but it *is* a movie that is supposed to entertain. And was I entertained? Mainly, yes.
I'm not going to recount the plot, as I see that imdb already has a plot outline for it. What I liked about the movie was that it doesn't take itself seriously. Most of the things the characters did were in the name of fun; their putting together a football team was merely to have fun and have a shot at making it to the next world cup (as spectators, not competitors). The story also flowed pretty smoothly, which basically means that it wasn't boring. And I had a real kick out of seeing Singaporeans on the big screen and hearing the local slangs and all that, instead of always seeing ang mos (Westerners) and stuff like that.
Gurmit Singh delivered a fine performance as Tai Po. He is a pretty ordinary character (but the actor is a pretty extraordinary comedian), but his desire to give his children something better than what they already have is particularly touching. His children dream of being on an aeroplane (although why anyone would want to be on one is beyond me), and since he is, to put it plainly, poor, he is financially unable to grant them that. His kids are also not doing too well in school, and there is a particular scene where he tells them to study hard so that they wouldn't end up useless like that. That scene really touched me, which goes to show that "One Leg Kicking" not only has humour, it has drama as well. Which is always a good thing.
The humour aspect mainly comes from that guy who dreams of being a pop star. He is in his 30s (if I'm not wrong) and, quite frankly, unable to dance to save his life, but he wants to be a pop star anyway. The scenes involving his performances with his band are hilarious. Another funny one is Hossan Leong. He plays the scrawny leader (I think) of the football team and Tai Po's daughter's female teacher. His turn as the teacher had me in fits, especially when he put on that posh English way of speaking English, rather than the Singaporean way of speaking the language. Gurmit Singh's response was equally hilarious.
One thing I didn't like about the movie was its two-dimensional and typical characters. Lim Kay Tong plays Tai Po's employer, who is your basic mean and thoughtless boss. His son Gavin (a suitably over-the-top Robin Leong with his irritating American accent) is also quite stereotyped: spoilt rich brat who lives off his father's wealth and bask in the glory of it and doesn't care about anyone or anything but himself. But then, this is a light-hearted movie. Leong's character is supposed to be funny, I believe, but there are times he came off more as annoying than funny.
There is this *spoiler* incestuous angle that involves Gavin and his sister Gwen (Fiona Xie, who was impressive). Instead of adding colours to Gavin, it felt like the film-makers thrown it in from way left field to make Gavin more interesting. I'm sorry, but it failed. Instead of developing on it, they had one scene of Gavin pulling a Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator), and that's it. Hardly what one would consider characterisation. That angle, in my opinion, was not needed at all. *end spoiler*
Sharon Au and Mark Lee make a cute couple. Lee's character's name alone is enough to crack me up. He's called Handsome, but strangely enough, he is anything but. Au is sweet as uh, I forget her name, and I thought she was going to join the football team, but unfortunately, she didn't. It would be interesting to have a female footie player on the team. Fiona Xie had too little screen time, as I thought her character was pretty interesting as compared to Gavin and his stupid father. But, oh well, too bad, I'll get over it.
To sum it up, "One Leg Kicking" isn't a great movie, but trust me, I have seen worse. It was S$6.50 well-spent. Thumbs up to all involved in the movie, I am definitely going to the next made-in-Singapore film.
Well, I have changed my mind. "One Leg Kicking" is no masterpiece, but it *is* a movie that is supposed to entertain. And was I entertained? Mainly, yes.
I'm not going to recount the plot, as I see that imdb already has a plot outline for it. What I liked about the movie was that it doesn't take itself seriously. Most of the things the characters did were in the name of fun; their putting together a football team was merely to have fun and have a shot at making it to the next world cup (as spectators, not competitors). The story also flowed pretty smoothly, which basically means that it wasn't boring. And I had a real kick out of seeing Singaporeans on the big screen and hearing the local slangs and all that, instead of always seeing ang mos (Westerners) and stuff like that.
Gurmit Singh delivered a fine performance as Tai Po. He is a pretty ordinary character (but the actor is a pretty extraordinary comedian), but his desire to give his children something better than what they already have is particularly touching. His children dream of being on an aeroplane (although why anyone would want to be on one is beyond me), and since he is, to put it plainly, poor, he is financially unable to grant them that. His kids are also not doing too well in school, and there is a particular scene where he tells them to study hard so that they wouldn't end up useless like that. That scene really touched me, which goes to show that "One Leg Kicking" not only has humour, it has drama as well. Which is always a good thing.
The humour aspect mainly comes from that guy who dreams of being a pop star. He is in his 30s (if I'm not wrong) and, quite frankly, unable to dance to save his life, but he wants to be a pop star anyway. The scenes involving his performances with his band are hilarious. Another funny one is Hossan Leong. He plays the scrawny leader (I think) of the football team and Tai Po's daughter's female teacher. His turn as the teacher had me in fits, especially when he put on that posh English way of speaking English, rather than the Singaporean way of speaking the language. Gurmit Singh's response was equally hilarious.
One thing I didn't like about the movie was its two-dimensional and typical characters. Lim Kay Tong plays Tai Po's employer, who is your basic mean and thoughtless boss. His son Gavin (a suitably over-the-top Robin Leong with his irritating American accent) is also quite stereotyped: spoilt rich brat who lives off his father's wealth and bask in the glory of it and doesn't care about anyone or anything but himself. But then, this is a light-hearted movie. Leong's character is supposed to be funny, I believe, but there are times he came off more as annoying than funny.
There is this *spoiler* incestuous angle that involves Gavin and his sister Gwen (Fiona Xie, who was impressive). Instead of adding colours to Gavin, it felt like the film-makers thrown it in from way left field to make Gavin more interesting. I'm sorry, but it failed. Instead of developing on it, they had one scene of Gavin pulling a Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator), and that's it. Hardly what one would consider characterisation. That angle, in my opinion, was not needed at all. *end spoiler*
Sharon Au and Mark Lee make a cute couple. Lee's character's name alone is enough to crack me up. He's called Handsome, but strangely enough, he is anything but. Au is sweet as uh, I forget her name, and I thought she was going to join the football team, but unfortunately, she didn't. It would be interesting to have a female footie player on the team. Fiona Xie had too little screen time, as I thought her character was pretty interesting as compared to Gavin and his stupid father. But, oh well, too bad, I'll get over it.
To sum it up, "One Leg Kicking" isn't a great movie, but trust me, I have seen worse. It was S$6.50 well-spent. Thumbs up to all involved in the movie, I am definitely going to the next made-in-Singapore film.
