Finally I saw the last of the holiday movies that I wanted to see (there was actually a fifth one but it was a horror movie that I did not have any intention of seeing). This was a sequel to the 2015 film titled Single which my wife did not enjoy, so I saw this by myself at the 5.55 PM show. A bit tight as my office hour was till 5 PM, but I still managed to be in the studio on time, thanks to the short distance. Well let's start with the movie now.
Brief Story Line
Few years after the events in the first movie, Ebi (Raditya Dika - Hangout, Koala Kumal etc) was still a single man without ever dating a girl. He was actually still in love with Angel (Annisa Rawles - Marmut Merah Jambu TV series etc) who had moved to Bali to continue her education, but he thought he had lost his chance with her. As encouraged by his new friends/neighbors, the happily married guy Johan (Yoga Arizona) and the seemingly experienced Nardi (Ridwan Remin), Ebi decided to try his luck and look for new woman to be his girlfriend.
Ebi's depression was further enhanced as his younger brother Alfa (Frederick Alexander) already had a family and their mother (Tinna Harahap) had put pressure on him to be married soon. As luck would have it, Ebi managed to get the interest from a young college girl named Alika (Mentari Novel).
So could Ebi be free of his single status and finally had a girlfriend? What would happen with the love of his life Angel? Find them all in this drama comedy movie.
End of Brief Story Line
This was a movie that surprised me, but not in a really good way. I was surprised that it was almost a total replication of the first movie. Normally when a formula worked really well, it could be understood for using the same way to make a sequel. Unfortunately though, for me it was not the case in this film. If you have seen the first part, you would notice that this one had almost identical elements. Ebi with two friends, albeit new ones but still same type of friends who provided him support & "help", went to Bali for holiday, had a major conflict, returning to Jakarta and problems solved. My surprise was that it somehow lack of creativity for an intelligent and experienced movie maker like Raditya Dika.
The drama aspect in here felt very strong, in fact I think the drama part was actually the best element since to me the comedy was not that entertaining. It would appear that the jokes provided by Ebi's new friends did not really suit me. Despite being quite well known comedian/youtuber, I think they could not replace the chemistry Raditya Dika had with previously Panji Pragiwaksono & Babe Cabita. At least they seemed like genuine best friends. The humors were cringe and cheesy and sometimes seemed out of place, although few of the audience seemed to like them (especially the couple beside me who could not stop laughing even during the not funny moment). The only time that I chuckled was during the scene in the night club, but unfortunately it was no longer a surprise because it was already shown in the trailer.
To me personally, this movie would have been more enjoyable if it focused just on the drama & romance and reduce the duration a bit. Just like in the first movie, this one also had > 2 hours duration which felt too long and could be shortened if there was less important scenes like the ones involving singles club. But I really liked the songs in the films (mostly sung by group bands Geisha and Pijar) which were done in the background at the right moments. Including the song during the end credit. Btw, this movie did not have any mid or post end credit scene.
Another thing that caught my attention was the ending. Surprisingly it was not what I expected but to me it was actually a good ending and probably the highlight of this movie. As usual, Raditya Dika performed his stereotype character of a guy having trouble with women and expressionless during most of the scenes. It might be a better idea for him to try different character and genre like in his movie Hangout which was really entertaining. His direction was actually pretty good and the angles taken were well done at times, especially with the beautiful scenery of Bali. I have mentioned a bit about the supporting cast above but no one really left a great impression to me, so I have no say about them.
Overall this was a movie that seemed to be entertaining and fun for hard core Raditya Dika fans. Neutral audience like me might need to keep a reaaaally open mind to enjoy this one. If the not so funny humor was taken out, possibly it would be more enjoyable for all. Of course the movie also had its moments. I liked the drama and few of the lighter humor of Ebi's awkwardness in certain part, and obviously the good ending. But if I had to make a choice, this might be the one least enjoyable of all the holiday movies I saw this week, though not the worst movie I ever saw.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment