Most of Jack Neo’s movies lack creativity but nevertheless manages to appeal to Singaporeans due to their local context which many can relate to. However, it seems that Jack Neo has finally lost his magic touch.
While he was perhaps once the most famous director from Singapore, his recent 7th month blockbuster “WHERE GOT GHOST” seems to be a real letdown with movie goers deterring everyone else from catching the movie.
HWZer “decibels” created a movie review thread and called it “1 of the worst movies of 2009”.
“Where got ghost” is the latest movie which tries to provide some comic relief and tasteless scares for people obsessed with the supernatural world.
Director Jack Neo tries to string 3 unrelated tales in the movie, but fails miserably in his cringe-worthy attempt.
For would-be movie-goers, I hereby offer an unofficial synopsis to what you can expect and would advise that you bring your cash elsewhere.
- The first story talks about spirits and offerings. It gives young people an idea of Hungry Ghost Festival and this is perhaps the best story of the 3.
- The second story talks about National Service. It started off well but the story was killed by an anti-climax.
- The 3rd story is the worst, if you had watched "Money No Enough 2", be prepared to go WTF as the ah ma returns to haunt her sons (and the audience).
I have to agree. The director seems to be running out of ideas and is more concerned about churning out new movies in time to milk the Singaporean audience with cheesy, repetitive themes. The movie is released to coincide with the coming lunisolar 7th month (Ghost Festival). In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month(鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. During the Qingming Festival the living descendants pay homage to their ancestors and on Ghost Day, the deceased visit the living.
Please, Director Neo, it is time to come up with more credible storylines. Playing with the movie title is no longer witty and telling a stale joke twice is no joke.
"Jack Neo Chee Keong, PBM (simplified Chinese: 梁智强; traditional Chinese: 梁智強; pinyin: Liáng Zhìqiáng), born January 24, 1960 is a Singaporean actor, host andfilm-maker, most notably known for his comedic acts and skits.
Career
Neo started his TV career in 1980 and has become one of the most successful TV celebrities in Singapore, well known especially for his comic cross-dressing roles, one as a feisty eighty-something granny (Liang Po Po), another as a fortyish woman homemaker (Liang Ximei) with two adolescent sons in the Comedy Night series.
In 1998, he received the Best Director Award at the Silver Screen Awards for his short film. He has also recorded and produced several albums.
He started directing features, although he had starred in a number of movies, in That One Not Enough (1999). He has also set up his own artiste management company J Team Productions which nurtures some of Singapore's better known comedians such as Mark Lee, Henry Thia and John Cheng.
His movies, especially Money No Enough and I Not Stupid are recognized for having touched an emotional chord in Singaporeans. In recognition of his achievements and contributions towards Singapore’s media industry, Film Director Jack Neo was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. In 2004, he became the first local film-maker to be honored with a National Day Award, the Public Service Medal. On October 21,2005, Jack Neo was presented Singapore's Cultural Medallion, together with other talents like Dick Lee.
In 2008, Jack and Mark Lee bought the Singapore master franchise rights for OLDTOWN White Coffee, a coffee retail concept from Ipoh, Malaysia. The grand opening of their first store at Big Splash was on March 30 2008."
Source: http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2460432
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2460432&page=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_Ghost_Festival
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Neo
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