No one can deny that Jack Neo is Singapore’s most prolific and most bankable filmmaker. Barely half a year after his last movie Ah Long Pte Ltd screened at local cinemas, Neo is back in Malaysia with his new film Money No Enough 2.
The director was at GSC One Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, last week with main cast members – Mark Lee, Henry Thia, Lai Ming, Lin Ru Ping, Zhu Ling Ling – for a press conference to launch his latest movie.
Money No Enough 2, the long-anticipated sequel to his 1998 box office hit, opens in Malaysian cinemas on Thursday.
A happy family meal in Money No Enough 2. Written by Neo and directed by Tay Teck Lock, the original cost only S$800,000 (RM1.89mil) to make and became Singapore’s highest grossing film with S$5.8mil (RM13.7mil) in box office receipts. It was surpassed in Singapore then only by Titanic, the highest-grossing film of all time, and remains a tough act to follow.
His previous offering, Ah Long Pte Ltd, came just after the Chinese New Year and was a light-hearted take about the loan shark business. The noir comedy starred Fann Wong as a fierce triad leader and Mark Lee as her effeminate husband. It made S$2.94mil (RM6.97mil) at the box office in Singapore and raked in S$4.44mil (RM10.5mil) in Malaysia.
Ten years after his biggest hit, Neo has finally found apt inspiration to make the sequel. “A friend suggested that I document ordinary folk’s money woes every decade.”
Jack Neo portrays Yang Bao Qiang in Money No Enough 2. In addition to presenting current financial problems, the sequel includes a key element of filial piety, an Asian value which encompasses love and respect for one’s parents and elders.
“I wanted to make a movie that connects to my audience using elements close to their hearts.” With this in mind, Neo, who got his audience teary-eyed in films like I Not Stupid, is set to do the same in Money No Enough 2.
The story revolves around an elderly woman portrayed by veteran Malaysian actress Lai Ming, 81, (of 1970s long-running TV series Empat Sekawan fame) who is the mother to three married sons. The eldest Yang Bao Hui is played by Thia, 56; the middle son Yang Bao Qiang by Neo, 48; and the youngest son Yang Bao Huang by Lee, 39.
Neo, who has made it a point to unearth new talents, has more new faces to introduce to his audience this time around. Making their big screen debut are Taiwanese TV actress Vivian Lai, now based in Singapore and seen regularly on Channel 8 Variety, as well as Zhu Ling Ling, half of the singing Ming Zhu Sisters.
With his propensity to nurture new talents, has he found any who might be able to eventually assume his reins? “That’s not an easy thing to do. Young people nowadays are impatient and calculating.” And, that is pretty much demonstrated in his latest flick.
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