Life

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by Leong Wai Kitcover story

We don’t see very much of Jack Neo these days (other than in hair-growth endorsement posters) but he hasn’t disappeared from the entertainment industry. Ever since Jack moved behind the scenes to focus on directing, he has been climbing the beanstalk, reaching new

heights in his fi lmmaking career. His heartwarming movies like Money No Enough, Homerun and I Not Stupid (1&2) are testaments to his hard work.

The way Jack weaves our everyday Singaporeaness into plots that blow up air peculiarities has proven a successful formula whatever critics might say. This time, he puts the spotlight on something we all collectively sigh at: red tape, both corporate and government, presented as comic drama with the help of Fann and Gurmit.

Jack Neo may have hung up his strap-on bosoms for the director’s chair, but his cross-dressing skills have not gone to waste. In his latest production Just Follow Law (opens Feb 15), Jack directs Gurmit Singh, who plays an Ah Beng trapped in Fann Wong's body. Poor Fann, on the other hand, is occupying the crotch-scratching body of Lim Teng Zui (Gurmit). Wah, what an exchange. How not to watch, you tell me?

breaks some

Jack

laws

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LifestyleJan07

013

cover story

The storyOur doe-eyed Fann Wong ditches her soft-spoken Dragon Lady for the garang

Offi ce Lady role here. She plays Tanya Chew, a high-fl ying statutory board employee who’s a stranger to EQ. Gurmit takes on the role of Ah Zui, a blue collared Ah Beng whose career highlight was to be scapegoat of the day.

During a visit by a government offi cial to their work place one day, a badly erected wall gives way and crashes on the visiting Minister. As with all standard practice, corporate taichi and anxious fi nger pointing follow. Being on the receiving end of the corporate food chain, Ah Zui ends up taking all the blame for the wall fall. Angered, he confronts Tanya ala a Tamiya car chase. This of course lands both of them in an accident and they awake to fi nd their souls swapped. Yah lah, speed some more!

It is here that the plot takes a hilarious turn as they both struggle in their unfamiliar bodies. This is also where Gurmit is offi cially excused from his awkward Mandarin, giving Fann the opportunity to show off hers.

Girl-mit Singh It’s not diffi cult for Gurmit to play Tanya but the funnyman says he tends to

“overdo it”. “It’s easy for a guy to cross that line to become very unbelievable,” he says of his diva dilemma.

And who best to direct Gurmit’s girliness than the been-there cross-dressing guru Jack Neo himself? After all, Jack’s portrayal of women is so subtle it’s real. Just look at Liang Si Mei, the endearing housewife who can – eerily enough – pass off as our mothers.

“So there were times when Jack had to tell me, tone it down, Gurmit, you’re getting so womanly that you don’t come across as a woman,” he says. While Gurmit thinks it’s emotionally straining playing Tanya, Fann fi nds physical exertion in being a man.

Fann’s the man“You need a lot of energy to play a man, especially when he’s an Ah Beng!” Fann

says in impeccable English. “The way they talk, the way they emote, I’m just so strained by the end of the day,” she says in exasperation. It’s fun being Ah Zui, (“Yah, and I get to watch Fann scratch her crotch,” Gurmit cheekily injects at this point) but Fann’s glad her Beng days are now over.

“I spent quite a bit of time researching on how to behave a like man, and in the process, learnt to classify the male species into different categories – the Bengs, the gentle, the manly... and Gurmit’s the manly, gallant and handsome type,” she jokes.

For Fann, this role is a breakthrough for her especially when she has to act unfeminine, something she’s never done before.

Just listen lawAmid all the drama, the

underlying message of the movie is for us to learn to laugh at ourselves, loosen up and be less rigid, the actors say. “It’s often too easy to make sweeping statements about people,” Gurmit says in serious mode. “But if you really step into the shoes of say, white or blue collared workers, you’d fi nd each has a set of circumstances that they have to face. And because

they have to go through this, they come out the way they do. We have to learn and appreciate these differences.”

The actors agree too, that this world is getting more diffi cult with technology. Take for example, requesting for simple things like fi xing your offi ce air-con – you’ll probably have to write in. “It’s silly to use emails as a cover-your-behind tool. Emails should just be used for communicating. I mean, who starts emails with ‘as per our tele-conversation – who’s going to remember everything in the tele-conversation?” asks Gurmit.

How true. Some laws just have to be broken. Just Follow Law, which airs next month, looks set to tickle our funny bones, so we just watch law ...

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