King of Musang King

King of Musang King is a Malaysian-Singaporean comedy-drama of epic proportions. The story revolves around durian farmer Liu Mei Lian who has to deal with numerous challenges. She has raised three children as a single mother for twenty years. Suddenly, her estranged husband shows up again and causes a lot of trouble. He is accompanied by a failed businessman who is unable to mind his own business. Liu Mei Lian's personal and professional relationship with Wang Mao Shan start to get more complicated under those circumstances. Three elderly businesspeople keep putting Liu Mei Lian under constant pressure. The coronavirus pandemic has serious financial and health impacts on her business. When she tries to use social media to adapt to such difficult circumstances, some people push their radical opinions and reactions too far.

On a positive note, King of Musang King convinces with an adventurous yet realistic story that makes its characters go through multiple ups and downs. The balance between comedic situations such as the business partner and the estranged husband trying to impress Liu Mei Lian and dramatic passages such as Liu Mei Lian and her son getting sick with the coronavirus is particularly appealing in this movie. Lead actress Yeo Yann Yann proves to be an excellent actresses as she impresses with authenticity, charisma and passion.

On the negative side, this movie certainly overstays its welcome with a length of two hours and twenty-nine minutes. There is not only a mid-credit scene but also a post-credit scene before further credits are shown. This film should have been cut by at least thirty minutes to make it more fluid. The beginning of the film is another significant flaw as the first twenty minutes feel like a propagandistic documentary about durian farming. Several actresses and actors constantly overact throughout the movie which becomes more and more tiring the longer the movie lasts.

At the end of the day, King of Musang King is Malaysian-Singaporean comedy-drama that convinces with an excellent lead actress, a balanced genre mixture and a plot with many creative yet realistic ideas. However, several actresses and actors are constantly overacting, the documentary parts of the film feel clumsy and the movie's overall length can be described as being excessive. Watching a Malaysian-Singaporean movie is a rare pleasure for Western audiences, so open-minded cineasts should certainly give this unique film a chance. Local audiences might however be able to watch much better films from the underground and can skip this overambitious movie.

My review of this film is that it was truly impressive. The storyline proved to be unexpectedly engaging and resonated with certain aspects of my own life, despite its divergence from reality in other situation. However, I must acknowledge that certain elements of the plot felt somewhat superfluous.

Nevertheless, the overall viewing experience remains highly commendable. This movie delves into the themes of trust and introduces innovative methods for marketing durians. I would also encourage individuals who may not be enthusiasts of durians to give this film a chance to have a watch.

Overall in my perspective of this movie, offers a compelling narrative that strikes to the main point of the story well. It stands out as a must-watch due to its exploration of trust and its new ways to take on durian sales to next level and accepting a new technique of the sales, making it accessible even to those who may not typically indulge in this unique fruit.

The storyline is simple, BUT solid! It sticks firmly to the plot, elaborates and exerts steadily with neither more nor less, everything is just nice!

With a runtime of 2 and a half hours, the jokes are there to keep your boredom away, and the pace is just nice and viewer-friendly.

The character development is good. All actors and actresses play their roles well and competently. The side role played by "Ah Hui" is fantastic; despite playing the same role all the time, he adds a lot of values to the film! The jokes are simple and natural, without overacting or unnecessary cold jokes.

No doubt, Jack Neo is good at storytelling! He educates audiences about Musang King durians; brings the right amount of emotion into his movie; plays on family relationships (between mother and son); and touches on our familiar memories about Covid-19 and live-streaming. All these engage effectively with the Malaysian audiences very much!

The chemistry between Jack Neo and Yan Yann in the movie is not well depicted, but somehow you feel them, and you wan them to be together. Due to this emotional engagement, at times, you may be worried that they are not together. Also, many parts are touching enough to make you sob, but it soothes the sobbing moment well with jokes in the next scene.

I gave 7 out of 10. Everything is intact, not too much, not too less. As said, it's the BEST movie among all the local + Singapore CNY movie productions. It's worth your money and time for this 2023 CNY! Go, Go, Go!!!