Homecoming (2011)


Review:
Most who will be watching this will be watching out for the person who was in last year’s news Jack Neo. Perhaps to detract with the notion that bashers may be kinder to a woman or for the fact of his past successes as Liang Popo or Liang Simei, Neo again dons the wig and make-up as Karen Neo while Ah Niu plays her son, Ah Meng. Together, they embark on a bumpy ride across the Causeway for their yearly reunion dinner.

Of course nothing seems to go right en-route: Ah Meng accidentally mistakes sleeping pills for motion pills; the coach breaks down; Karen fights with teenage girl Mindy (Koe Yeet) over a seat; Karen ‘cheats’ a taxi driver, Zool (a hilarious Afdlin Shauki) of a bottle of medicated oil, to name a few. But a cleverly written line of “one must own up to their mistake…” mouthed by Karen seems believable enough, of her character, at least.

Mindy, meanwhile, is trying to make her way to Kuala Lumpur to see her remarried mother after having an argument with her temperamental celebrity chef father, Daniel Koh (Mark Lee), who is too busy preparing a reunion dinner in his restaurant for a very important Minister, to have it with his daughter. Of course things doesn`t go right for him too after he loses his temper and fires his main kitchen staff resulting in a mass walk out, leaving behind only his trusted Restaurant Manager, Fei Fei (Jacelyn Tay) who resorts to asking her family and relatives (a hilarious bunch of getai &TV`s veterans) to help out.

Of course, things are not as merry too in a household in KL. Newlywed bride, Jamie (Rebecca Lim), is spending her first Chinese New Year with her husband, Boon (Huang Wen Hong)`s family. A modern Singaporean girl to whom Chinese New Year means a vacation away from family, Jamie clashes with Boon’s traditional Chinese family (another bunch of veterans with Liu Ling Ling as mother-in-law).

What makes a reunion dinner more united than to fight and reconcile? Which makes for identifiable yet localised drama material.

SUMMARY: A delightful and tasty blend of comedy spiced with some drama. Like yu-sheng!

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars

LKS