UrbanWire

"BAI LIU LI BAI... HUI BU HUI KAI!"

Over the past month or so, commercials for Jack Neo's latest movie, The Best Bet, have been blaring on the television, over the radio, and even on MRT train platforms, much to the annoyance of commuters. Translated into English, the commercial sings, "Will my 4D number be the winning one this weekend?" While we're not sure about that, we've very sure, and very grateful, that the movie finally opened last weekend, and we won't have that irritating jingle disturb our train rides anymore.

The Best Bet kicks off with the ever-hilarious Jack Neo rapping in dialect about the woes of Singaporeans who religiously purchase 4D lottery tickets every week, but always fail to hit the jackpot. We are then introduced to the 3 main characters, Chen Jun Huang (Mark Lee), Li Yong Shun (Christopher Lee), and Richard (Richard Low), who are good friends, but share vastly different views on gambling.

Jun Huang, a self-professed gambling addict, and "runner" (bookie assistant) for an illegal betting syndicate, champions the spirit of luck to the point of irresponsibility and sibling abuse. The more levelheaded Richard, on the other hand, is a caring husband and father, but spends most of his monthly income on 4D, while Yong Shun, an ambitious young business man, staunchly disapproves of his friends' gambling habits.

What ensues is comical banter between the 3 characters about the local gambling scene. You'll be bombarded with over the top, Ally-McBeal-style scenes of the very "innovative" ways Singaporeans think up 4D numbers. From an Indian traffic police officer dressed up as the Chinese God of Fortune, providing a winning 4D number on a speeding ticket, to a con man posing as a monk rubbing his buttocks on a hawker center stool to "grind" out 4 numbers for his "donors", even talkingcock.com will be put to shame.

Also, as with all Jack Neo films, there is the ever-present political satire. This time, Jack Neo portrays 4D patrons, all dressed up as the Chinese God of Fortune, queuing up at a 4D outlet, not to purchase 4D tickets, but to "give" the government money.

At the end of it all, Yong Shun manages to convince the other 2 to join him and go into business together. However, bad luck from their past starts to catch up with them. Yong Shun and Jun Huang land in jail, leaving Richard to repay the bank loans, after seeing their joint business venture fail spectacularly. Desperate and without any hope, they turn to - you guessed it - gambling. Coaxed by Jun Huang and even Yong Shun, Richard agrees to buy their 4D number for them and split any winnings with them once they're free.

And as this being reel life, the 4D number miraculously, but unsurprisingly, wins the top prize. Richard, being the good friend and righteous Nicholas Cage character in It Could Happen to You, is prepared to split the prize money with his friends. However, Richard's wife, played by the excellent Chen Li Ping of Holland Village fame, has other ideas. She convinces him to forgo his promise and keep the winnings all to themselves.

From this point on, it all goes wrong for Richard's family, and amid a couple of attempts at jokes, which turned out really lame, we see Richard and his wife trying to con Jun Huang and Yong Shun out of their share of the prize money, by convincing them that Richard did not place the bet. All the stops are pulled, from emptying their living room to make it look like creditors had raided their house, to hiding the money under bed sheets. Of course they fail miserably as Jun Huang and Yong Shun are just too smart, or too cynical, to believe their "friend". You'll also feel the tension of the situation every time Richard is close to being exposed. The actors, too, put on stellar performances. Aided by a clever and witty script, you actually feel genuinely frightened for the well-being of Richard and his family as they try to pull off the bluff. Christopher Lee, in his debut feature film, also holds his own very well opposite the veteran Mark Lee, a regular on Jack's movies.

Though the direction of the movie was excellent, what really went wrong for the movie was the fact these positives were undermined by the rather anti-climax "twist" to the plot near the end. We'll not give away that little bit of the movie, but let's just say that Jack Neo wasted everyone's time.

The conclusion was no better. Predictably, the friends overcome adversity and successfully start up their business. This is the third Jack Neo film to feature an ending which involves striking out on your own, Neo's first 2 films being the car polishing business in Money No Enough and selling original VCDs in Liang Po Po. You almost suspect Jack Neo is trying to appeal to Singaporeans' yearnings for success as their own boss or echoing the government's entrepreneurial drive.

All in all, when the dust has settled and the winning 4D numbers have been announced, Jack Neo's The Best Bet, wasn't too much a gamble, and could hold its own against blockbusters like Harry Potter 3 and Spiderman 2 this summer. His forte at coupling holds-no-barred witty dialect in his movie scripts, and larger-than-life scenarios in his films, as well as addressing issues close to heartland, has stuck a chord with the average Singapore citizen. However, The Best Bet, which started out so promisingly, soon became seriously undermined by the glaring plot "twist" near the end of the show and the cliché ending. Maybe Jack should start buying a different 4D number.