Friday, December 30, 2016

Cek Toko Sebelah - A Nice Drama Comedy from Ernest Prakasa

My wife and I have been eyeing to see this movie for a while ever since we saw the trailer few times before. In actual fact, we wanted to see it on the premiere date on Wednesday, but one thing led to another and we had to postpone it till yesterday. Despite being late by 1 day though, the audience for this movie was still a lot, as proven by its fully packed studio. As usual on a weekday, we watched it at the nearest location from my office at 7 PM. And after many many advertisements & few trailers before the start of the movie, finally it started at 7.05 PM. So let's get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Ko Afuk (Chew Kin Wah - My Stupid Boss) was an owner of a grocery store where he had built his store from zero till it was quite a success. His store was next to another grocery store owned by Pak Nandar (Budi Dalton - Shy Shy Cat) who saw Ko Afuk as his competitor. Despite being in direct competition, Pak Nandar and Ko Afuk always respected each other. Ko Afuk had five store assistants who helped him during the day and aside from their daily routine, were always goofing around.

Ko Afuk was a widow with 2 sons named Yohan (Dion Wiyoko - London Love Story, Sundul Gan: The Story of Kaskus etc) who was the older one and Erwin (Ernest Prakasa - Ngenest). There have been like a rivalry between these 2 sons, especially from Yohan side who always felt that his father favor Erwin. Being a college dropout and marrying a woman that his father disagree certainly did not help. Good thing for Yohan was his wife Ayu (Adinia Wirasti - Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?, Arisan! 2 etc) always could calm him down whenever he felt down after falling out with his father. Yohan worked as a freelance photographer while Ayu worked in a cafe with her passion of making pastries, but due to their financial constraints, they had to struggle for their dreams of having their own businesses (photo studio and a cafe).

Meanwhile, Erwin had a wonderful job at his office, with his boss Bu Sonya (Asri Pramawati - Suami Suami Takut Istri TV series) who was very supportive of him. Erwin was doing such a good job that there was a possible high level vacancy in Singapore that he had chance to fill. He had a girlfriend named Natalie (Gisella Anastasia) who was also a successful working girl. After having some health problem, Ko Afuk need to be hospitalized and asked Erwin to become his successor. Despite trying his best to reject, Erwin was unable to avoid this request. Yohan who really wanted to be the successor was understandably very disappointed with his father's decision.

With Ko Afuk's promise of letting Erwin to try working in the store for 1 month only, he started his days later assisting his father. This would be the beginning of the various craziness that Erwin would experience. In one of those days, Erwin also realized about a real estate boss named Robert (Tora Sudiro - Arisan!, Warkop DKI Reborn, etc) who wanted to buy the lands in the area of the stores (including the stores owned by Ko Afuk and Pak Nandar) which bothered them. On the other hand, Yohan also got his own financial problem and on the job challenges when handling his clients in photo shooting session. Things also got more complicated when Ayu's old fling came to her with an offer that she probably could not resist. 

So could Erwin manage his 1 month's "work" in his father's store? Would Ko Afuk stand in his son's way if Erwin really did got his dream job? What would also happen to Yohan and his problems, plus Ayu's confusion? And could Natalie accept the possibility of her boyfriend changed from a career person to a grocery store owner? Also, would Robert's intention of buying off the area successful? Find all the answers and many many more fun stuff while watching this movie till finished.

End of Brief Story Line

Well this movie was truly enjoyable. My wife and I laughed quite a lot and could definitely relate with the story especially when involving the father-children relationship. The movie was a bit heavier than I thought as it was not purely only senseless no-relation kind of comedy, but almost all of the scenes did have something to do with the main story line (which was of course the father-sons and brother-brother relationship). The movie was filled with countless cameos of public figures and Ernest Prakasa also involved many stand up comedians who I am very sure would be known by many of the fans of Stand Up Comedy programs on TV.

Having those comedians in the film really did the movie great, since their jokes were usually quite smart one liner jokes. However, there was also some brief vulgar joke (usually involving Anita). There were so many crazy moments involving the store assistants of both stores who were played by standup comedians. The ones who really stood out to my opinion were the expressionless Kuncoro (Dodit Mulyanto) and of course the feminine guy Naryo (Yusril Fahriza). Other supporting characters involving many other stand up comedians in different smaller roles, like the Doctor who treated Ko Afuk or Yohan's friends. Even the brief cameos also gave us some surprises. 

This movie was moving at just the right pace. Some heavier dramatic scenes were combined with few fun scenes every once in a while. In a way, I felt that this movie was more like a drama comedy, rather than a full blown comedy movie. But of course the comedic scenes were largely effective and were provided in a nice proportion that we do not feel overly gloomy after the sadder scenes. Chew Kin Wah did a wonderful job portraying the father in the more serious scenes, which was quite different from his role in My Stupid Boss

As a person who loved to be entertained and had good laughs, this movie certainly got them. But please ensure that you are also ready for some heavier moral message that does not usually exist in a full comedy genre movie. Overall, this was a good and enjoyable movie to watch. Well done to Ernest Prakasa who was able to combine so many talents in the comedy industry and still manage to send across a good message to the audience in 1 movie.

So if you are looking for a good drama comedy movie to fill your days, then this one definitely can be an option. It is currently playing in all cinema chains in Indonesia, so you would not have any problem finding a cinema to see it. And please do not leave your seats immediately, as there would be some bloopers during the end credit.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars

No comments:

Post a Comment