You cannot deny the carbon copy of its premise with that of the Korean franchise My Wife is a Gangster, and here we have Singaporean's Fann Wong (Shanghai Knights) join the ranks of Shin Eun-Kyung, Zhang Ziyi and Shu Qi as the no-nonsense, hard kicking female triad boss, whose better half is almost incompetent when you put them side by side, hence becoming fodder for laughs. However, while audiences would have gotten their kicks already with Fann playing a member of the opposite sex in Jack Neo's previous movie Just Follow Law, her role here is more of the same, that she smokes, swears and does plenty of superhuman martial arts.
Her role of Li Hua, with a scar on her face, is the #2 in the Shao He Gang of Ah Longs (illegal money lenders), who recently got promoted when patriarch Chen Jun (Richard Low) decides to retire and pass the baton after a near death experience injures his middle finger. Yes, it's classical Jack style on display here, and I thought it was a very sly reference and jibe that he made on two key scenes. If you think that he only knows how to poke fun at our local authorities, here he ups the amp from one of his earlier movies Homerun, which had some Malaysia-Singapore jokes, and played out a rather obvious (though I think I was the only one chuckling) jibes at (ex)-politicians up north, whom I suspect the audience there would be able to pick up without a doubt.
But those expecting him to continue a barrage of such jokes, since this was made in Malaysia, would be a little disappointed. Those looking for a laugh a minute experience would be hard pressed to find something that tickles your funny bone. In fact, those who flock to a Jack Neo movie to witness the latest coffeeshop rumblings or social satires on screen will sorely miss those moments in Ah Long Pte Ltd. Here, the focus is more on the drama with a sprinkling of some comedy, together with action sequences spruced up by special effects. I thought it was rather wry to have taken a leaf out of one current rival's earlier movies, and incorporated it into this movie (ok, it's Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer), but you have to admit the effects were nicely done, even though they proved to be drawing a lot of attention to themselves. However, while some of the set pieces involving gangsters were built up nicely, it fell on the wrong end of the spectrum again when the action turned out to be a little juvenile and unfunny, some even cringe-worthy as they bordered quite close to the ridiculous (as with the many scenes involving guns).
The supporting cast were a mix of Malaysians and local actors, with auntie Lai Ming playing Fann's mother who tries desperately to marry off her daughter, and does so with the help of the Lao Zhar Bor (yes, that's her name again, literally translated as "Old Woman") who was featured in Just Follow Law, as did the return of the security guard from the same movie. Even Richard Low was having a field day with his over the top vulgarity spewing gangster chief, but the somewhat flat lackeys of Soldier Head (KK) and Emperor (Daniel Tan) were up the same alley as the dismal ghostly rappers in Kelvin Tong's Men in White, bringing nothing new to the table.
The saving grace of the movie? It's Mark Lee to the rescue, hamming it up as Jojo Fang, the girly man dance teacher, who's always eager to defend his manhood at every opportunity it is being challenged. I can't recall in recent cinematic outings that he had actually played an effeminate character (though some may gripe that it's just another Gurmit Singh character in Just Follow Law, again opposite Fann), but here in his Malaysian-accented Mandarin, he has almost all the best lines in the movie, and delivers his end of the bargain with aplomb, though sometimes the premise of the scene didn't allow for him to dish out what he was capable of. Naturally, when I go to a Jack Neo movie, the songs are one of the highlights, and here, having it delivered by Mark was a big plus - that song which you see in the trailer, when performed in its brief entirety, was really entertaining.
Ah Long Pte Ltd departs slightly from the usual Jack Neo formula, trying hard to best fit all the varying ingredients together, and it'll be interesting to note how Jack would develop his future movies, should this be the point of inflexion in his career, hopefully for the better too. Don't set your expectations high, as you can definitely find ways that this could have become a better movie than it currently is.