Here’s a sad fact about the local movie industry. Even with Ilo-Ilo winning Golden Horse Awards galore, it’s still easier to assume the worst of pretty much any local film turning up in cinemas. Everybody’s Business, the last local movie trundling into cinemas this year, certainly does itself no favours with its subject matter. A local movie with full license to indulge in crass toilet humour? Horrors! Here’s the thing though: give the film a chance, and it actually works unexpectedly well. For the most part, it manages to be funny, silly, and surprisingly insightful about Singapore’s uniquely bureaucratic political system.
John Lu (Singh) is a hygiene inspector obsessed with cleanliness who`s pretty hung-up on his failure to get a promotion after twenty years on the job. But, when a food poisoning epidemic is traced to the dirty toilet in a coffeeshop on his beat, he is promoted overnight to the brand-new Ministry Of Toilets under the leadership of Minister Kumari Kuppusamy (Kumar). Alongside his glory-seeking colleague Winston Li (Mark Lee), John tries to fulfil government edicts while reaching out to the people actually affected by the policies he`s now making.
For those who are sceptical about the quality of humour on display in Everybody`s Business yes, there are gags about excrement and flatulence aplenty. It`s unavoidable in a film based on, well, poop. If you`re particularly squeamish about people discussing and/or demonstrating (offscreen) their toilet habits, this might not be the film for you.
Otherwise, Everybody`s Business actually has some pretty sharp things to say about Singapore`s unique blend of bureaucracy, politics and red tape. The fictional Ministry of Toilets allows the film to poke good-natured fun at the myriad laws, rules and regulations that politicians and civil servants come up with to address the most mundane of problems. The efforts made to hire a toilet monitor by a pair of struggling coffeeshop owners (played by Liu Lingling and Wang Lei to great comic effect) are hilarious but also hit quite close to home.
What`s even more welcome about the film is the fact that its satirical tone is also surprisingly even-handed. Everybody`s Business delights in sending up our current political landscape, but also endeavours to tell both sides of the story. The concerns of everyday citizens are portrayed as being every bit as legitimate as the troubles faced by the authorities in trying to solve the problem at hand. There are no villains here, which is refreshing to see in a time when the government is almost automatically (and not always justly) demonised in internet forums.
It`s fun to see this cast getting to really dig down deeper into their roles, playing both the subtlety and broadness of the comedy in the script. Singh does well as the beleaguered everyman just trying to make things work for everyone around him. Kumar and Lee are both very funny in their parts, and the film is buoyed by a handful of cheeky cameos notably from Chua Enlai in full-on stuffy ministerial mode.
As movies go, Everybody`s Business is hardly a work of genius or art. The film does potter along in moments that aren`t especially funny or good, strung together to pad out the stronger parts of the script. Nevertheless, director Lee Thean-jeen has put together a film that at its best is considerably smarter and dares to say quite a bit more than the average local comedy. Talk about mixing business with pleasure!
Summary: Surprisingly sophisticated toilet humour.
RATING: 3 out of 5 stars
Shawne Wang