Writer: Lai Swee Wei

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Effects: NA
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Watch this if you liked: "Adults Only"

From what could probably be deemed as Malaysia's first Manglish comedy musical film, "Sell Out!" shows its quirky and comedic side with dark humour and obvious inside jokes. Producer, composer, writer and first-time feature filmmaker Yeo Joon Han amusingly crafted an artsy film that pokes fun at almost every issue that society encounters or surrounds itself. It jokes on a variety of questionable thoughts like why Chinese people create unofficial English names for themselves, how power hungry business conglomerate bosses are blinded by profit or how ridiculous it is to have reality TV shows where society determines people's fate by sending SMSes among others.

In the opening film, the filmmaker turned the tables onto himself by introducing himself as an artsy director with very little words and pokes fun at the question and answer session which caused much frustration to the interviewer. A refreshing start for a Malaysian film. Since this is part musical, this reviewer believed Joon han when he said that all songs were sang by the casts themselves. So expect a few non-melodic tunes, especially from the half-English lead actor, Peter Davis. Heck, this film even makes fun of musicals! Regardless of that, the songs are brilliantly witty focusing on money, love, rejection, death and a couple more.

"Sell Out!" sees Eric Tan (Peter Davis) as an innocent young man who tries to persuade his bosses to market his 8-in-1 Super Soya Maker machine invention at Fony Corporation. Meanwhile, he is infatuated with Rafflesia Pong, a straightforward TV host who can't wait to out succeed her rival, Hanna Edwards Leong (Hannah Lo) in the ratings game. The true show stoppers are the CEOs of FONY Corporation played by Kee Thuan Chye and Lim Teik Leong as their characters are packed with ridiculous slapstick humour and are sometimes unfortunately, degrading. But then again, they're perfect as money-minded businessmen.

Needless to say, with all the humour involved, the comedic timing is spot on, but there are times where some sequences and gags are thrown in for no reason than to rake in the laughs. And surely, it'll be hard not to even giggle or crack a sound while watching the scenes.

Compacted into 106 minutes of pure entertainment, this is a good film to catch if you're looking for a unique element that is out of the ordinary in Malaysian films.

Cinema Online, 29 April 2009