Sell Out! (2009) - Movie
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Movie Plot |
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Her name is Rafflesia Pong (Rafflesia = largest flower in the world, which reeks of animal carcass; Pong = stink). She's a bottom-ranking arts show host who's disillusioned with those overrated underachievers we call "artists". He's Eric Tan (Eric = Eric, Tan = typical Chinese surname), a product designer who's just about to learn that it doesn't pay to be creative. They both work for FONY, a multinational conglomerate whose mission statement, copied from a Taiwanese company, is to be original. In the face of such pressure, Eric and Rafflesia is questioned whether they will retain their artistic integrity or will they finally sell out to fame, fortune or some other nasty thing that also starts with "F".
User's Review and Ratings |
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Sell Out or Washed Out
0 of 4 people found this review helpful
What I loved most: A profound film that gives meaning to "Malaysia Boleh"
What I really hated: Trying to find that fine line that separates the movie from being a classic from trash
With so many awards ascribed on the movie poster and with so many raving reviews in the media, one can't help but want to catch this made-in-Malaysia production, made for the discerning and profound movie-goer with a sense of humour. If this film is about mocking all film genres, all commercial film makers, the people of Malaysia, movie goers and presenting the ironies of film making, then indeed the movie truly hits the nail on the head. For self-professed profound movie-goers hoping to be intellectually tickled, this is one movie which will not disappoint. The movie provokes one to really think real hard about where and when the punchline are said. And yes, you have to exercise your grey matters to decipher the humour used in the movies. I reckon the judges The intellectual humour starts right at the beginning of the movie when the director was typecast as an artistic film director and mentioned that his award winning movie is about boring people. Boring people as in making people bored, not people who are boring or maybe it is both. Ah, the movie is indeed profound. Anyway, people might laugh at the director's speech that he is making a boring film, thinking that it's a joke. But really, the greatest joke is, he is not joking about that. Sell Out is really a boring movie. I can attest to that because I fell asleep 10 minutes into the movie. And when I woke up, I realised that I didn't miss anything, and an hour has gone by. The movie has so much depth that it is indeed hilarious because it made me wonder how it even make it to the big screen and won so many awards overseas in the first place. I reckon that Asian fever has hit foreign film festivals in greater measure that I thought. Foreign judges are quick to embrace any Asian work that is unremotely Western. I think I have mastered the art of silent laughter after watching this movie. There was much promises about how the movie will tickle my funny bones but I failed to laugh uproariously. I blamed it on the fact that fellow movie goers in the cinema (7 of us in total) for secretly napping during the movie or practicing the silent laughter. Three left the theatre shortly after I woke up. The movie was unbelievably good that I was shocked that it can be so bad! I have slept during movies before but I always wake up to catch the ending. But this movie, has worked very effectively to bore me into not sleeping anymore and to just leave the theatre with the other 3 movie-goers. As I walked out of the theatre, I suddenly have a stark enlightenment of "Malaysia Boleh". Malaysia boleh that a washed out movie like Sell Out can win awards and have so many people giving it two thumbs up and perhaps even more if men were created with more than two thumbs. Malaysia Boleh because anything, anyone and anywhere, as long as you are in Malaysia, BOLEH! I am giving it an overall rating of 4 stars because it is memorably bad! If only movies like Spartan and Scary Movies were marketed as art films about American culture and people, then they would have won many foreign awards too. For its subjectively intelleactual humour, daringness to portray and make fun of America's popular culture and people.
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CO's Review |
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From what could probably be deemed as Malaysia's first Manglish comedy musical film, "Sell Out!" shows its quirky and comedic side with dark humour and obvious inside jokes. Producer, composer, writer and first-time feature filmmaker Yeo Joon Han amusingly crafted an artsy film that pokes fun at almost every issue that society encounters or surrounds itself. It jokes on a variety of questionable thoughts like why Chinese people create unofficial English names for themselves, how power hungry business conglomerate bosses are blinded by profit or how ridiculous it is to have reality TV shows where society determines people's fate by sending SMSes among others.
In the opening film, the filmmaker turned the tables onto himself by introducing himself as an artsy director with very little words and pokes fun at the question and answer session which caused much frustration to the interviewer. A refreshing start for a Malaysian film. Since this is part musical, this reviewer believed Joon han when he said that all songs were sang by the casts themselves. So expect a few non-melodic tunes, especially from the half-English lead actor, Peter Davis. Heck, this film even makes fun of musicals! Regardless of that, the songs are brilliantly witty focusing on money, love, rejection, death and a couple more.
"Sell Out!" sees Eric Tan (Peter Davis) as an innocent young man who tries to persuade his bosses to market his 8-in-1 Super Soya Maker machine invention at Fony Corporation. Meanwhile, he is infatuated with Rafflesia Pong, a straightforward TV host who can't wait to out succeed her rival, Hanna Edwards Leong (Hannah Lo) in the ratings game. The true show stoppers are the CEOs of FONY Corporation played by Kee Thuan Chye and Lim Teik Leong as their characters are packed with ridiculous slapstick humour and are sometimes unfortunately, degrading. But then again, they're perfect as money-minded businessmen.
Needless to say, with all the humour involved, the comedic timing is spot on, but there are times where some sequences and gags are thrown in for no reason than to rake in the laughs. And surely, it'll be hard not to even giggle or crack a sound while watching the scenes.
Compacted into 106 minutes of pure entertainment, this is a good film to catch if you're looking for a unique element that is out of the ordinary in Malaysian films.
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