Curious Objects

Lagi-lagi Senario.

The comedy has all the charms of a Happy Meal: satisfying, but easily forgettable. Fired at a French restaurant, a waiter suddenly finds himself working in a roti canai stall. His overnasalized, almost mocking French air proves marketable; soon they attract more customers than flies. The stall has its problem: a rival snatches its staffs and later its patrons, and the movie will soon revolve around the mild hooliganisms between competing incompetents. Director Aziz M Osman packed his comedy with an eclectic array of jokes, hoping any would stick—slapsticks, innuendos, puns, parodies—but expect no wits or insights: this is a movie directed to the gang's fan base; children, that is. There is something that could have been a self-conscious metacomedic wink that finally comes out as a repulsive shameless promotion. In a particularly amusing auterial slip, a couple of token Indian and Chinese characters wistfully appreciate their good fortunes in an obvious message of national unity, but we later find them being the buyers of the Malay owners' land; a rather unconscious sentiment, perhaps? But the movie's appeal ultimately derives from its cutish innocence and our realization that the even the bad guys are actually good—and funny—at heart.