I Not Stupid Too

I Not Stupid Too (Chinese: 小孩不笨2; pinyin: Xiǎohái Bù Bèn Èr; lit. 'Children are not stupid 2') is a 2006 Singaporean satirical comedy film and the sequel to the 2002 film, I Not Stupid. A satirical comedy, I Not Stupid Too portrays the lives, struggles and adventures of three Singaporean youths—15-year-old Tom, his 8-year-old brother Jerry and their 15-year-old friend Chengcai—who have a strained relationship with their parents. The film explores the issue of poor parent-child communication.

This article is about the film. For the serialized version of the film, see I Not Stupid Too (TV series).
I Not Stupid Too
Directed byJack Neo
Produced byDaniel Yun
Written byJack Neo
StarringJack Neo
Xiang Yun
Huang Yiliang
Shawn Lee
Joshua Ang
Ashley Leong
Music byMo Ju Li
Production
companies
Distributed byUnited International Pictures
Release date
  • 26 January 2006 (2006-01-26)
Running time
124 minutes
CountrySingapore
LanguageMandarin
Hokkien

The director and screenwriter, Jack Neo, was inspired to make the film by a book about appreciation education. The movie was produced by MediaCorp Raintree Pictures on a budget of S$1.5 million. It stars Jack Neo, Xiang Yun, Huang Yiliang, Shawn Lee, Joshua Ang and Ashley Leong. Filming took place at several Singaporean schools in June 2005.

I Not Stupid Too was released in cinemas on 26 January 2006, and earned over S$4 million in total. The film became the second-highest grossing Singaporean film in history, with only Money No Enough grossing more. At the 2006 Hong Kong Film Awards, it was nominated for Best Asian Film, but lost to Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. Critical reception was ranged from a positive review, although some criticized the movie as overly preachy. A serialised version of the film was aired on Channel 8, and a Malay language remake was done four years later.

Plot

The plot revolves around the lives of Tom Yeo (Shawn Lee), his younger brother Jerry (Ashley Leong) and their friend Lim Chengcai (Joshua Ang). 15-year-old Tom is technologically inclined and a talented blogger, while 8-year-old Jerry enjoys the performing arts and has the lead role in his school concert. Mr. and Mrs. Yeo's (Jack Neo and Xiang Yun) busy schedules give them little time to spend with their children, leading to a strained relationship. With his mother absent, Chengcai was raised by his ex-convict father (Huang Yiliang), whose fighting skills he inherited.

During a school check for mobile phones, Tom is caught with a pornographic VCD. As his teacher confiscates it, Chengcai makes a cheeky remark that provokes the teacher into slapping him, leading to an exchange that escalates into a massive scuffle. The principal decides to expel Chengcai and Tom receives a public caning for their parts in the scuffle. Tom and Chengcai join a local street gang; as their initiation, they are forced to shoplift an iPod. However, they are caught by two conmen posing as police officers, who demand that they pay $2000 within two days or be arrested.

While tutoring his sons, Mr. Yeo tells them that people will pay $500 for an hour of his time. Jerry, who wants his parents to come to his school concert, starts saving money and eventually resorts to stealing. After he is caught, his furious father canes him, but calms down when the boy explains that he wanted $500 to "buy" an hour of his father's time. This prompts Mr. and Mrs. Yeo to read Tom's blog and realise how unappreciated and alienated their children feel.

Unable to raise $2000 themselves, Tom and Chengcai rob an old lady of her necklace, but regret their action and try to return it to her. A struggle occurs, and Chengcai bumps into several gangsters, while Tom's mobile phone falls out of his pocket. The phone hits the ground, accidentally calling Mr. Yeo, who is doing a presentation about 3G phones for a contract worth $3 million. He rushes off to the scene and pleads the old lady to give Tom a second chance. When the police arrive, she tells them she made a prank call. Two days later, Mr. Yeo meets the conmen and gives them thousands of dollars of hell money; the conmen are then arrested by real police officers who have been waiting in ambush close by. Having finally understood their children, the Yeo parents watch Jerry's concert, much to his delight.

Later, the gangsters whom Chengcai bumped into earlier beat him up. Mr. Lim, who happens to be nearby, tries to protect his son, but is beaten. He is taken to a hospital, critically injured. On his deathbed, Mr. Lim tells Chengcai that he loves him and that he should pursue his talent for fighting. Witnessing this scene, the principal is touched and allows Chengcai to return to school. The boy eventually becomes an internationally recognised martial artist.

Cast
  • Shawn Lee as Tom Yeo
    The elder brother of two of the Yeo family. Lee reprises his role as a protagonist Liu Kok Pin from the first film.
  • Joshua Ang as Lim Chengcai
    A close friend of Tom's and a good martial arts street fighter.
  • Ashley Leong as Jerry Yeo
    The younger brother of two of the Yeo family, and doubled as the film's narrator. He was charismatic and interested in performing arts.
    • Charles Chan played as an infant Jerry, and Raffles Neo played as a baby Jerry during the film's epilogue.
  • Jack Neo as Steven Yeo
    The father of the Yeo family who is a salesman of handphones. Neo reprises his role as a father of the protagonist Liu Kok Pin from the first film.
  • Xiang Yun as Karen Yeo
    The mother of the Yeo family and is a magazine editor. Xiang reprises her role as a mother of the protagonist Liu Kok Pin from the first film; Zoe Tay was initially cast for this role as replacement but later backed out due to other reasons.
  • Ng Suan Loi as the mother of Steven and mother-in-law for Karen
    She served as an advisor to Steven and Karen, and also shares experience as a parent to Steven.
  • Huang Yiliang as the father of Chengcai
    It was revealed on the film that he had previously lived in an environment of thugs and an ex-convict, though was overprotective on Chengcai's actions. This is also his only film role to date under his Mediacorp management.
  • Selena Tan as the school principal
    A school principal with inarticulate Mandarin Chinese, as seen in the film she was attempting to speak fluent Chinese while mixing some with English. Tan previously served the role as a mother of Terry Lim from the first film, in which Tan spoke a majority of English dialogue during that film.
  • Johnny Ng as Fu
    A school teacher specializes in Chinese language. He was praised by the school as a dedicated teacher who invested money on dictionaries and time as a remedial teacher, though sometimes strict in terms on the student's academic results. He was also the form teacher for Tom and Chengcai's class, which falls under the Normal (Technical) stream.
  • Nick Shen as He
    A school teacher who teaches another class from the Express stream.
  • Natalli Ong as Wang Jingjing
    A classmate under Fu's class.
  • Tan Xinyi as Xiaoxi
    a classmate and Jerry's closest friend.
  • Liu Lingling as Yang
    She was the coffee shop owner and a close friend of Lim. Following Lim's death at the end of the film, she was later a legal guardian for Chengcai.

Additional appearances in the film include Henry Thia as a sales owner in a bag store, and Jimmy Nah as an imposter police officer. The J-Team Production Academy also played a role as other students in the respective classes. Malaysian actress Asmiyati Asbah played as the maid for the Yeo family. Getai singer and another actress Anna Lim made a cameo appearance as a school principal in another school, while Yoo Ah Min portrays as an elderly who is a victim of a stolen necklace.

Production

After the release of I Not Stupid, a sequel was suggested, but Neo had difficulty finding a suitable topic.[1] His inspiration was a book on appreciation education, a method of teaching developed by Chinese educator Zhou Hong.[2] Through the movie, Neo hoped to capture the culture of Singapore at the turn of the millennium,[3] and to explore the issue of poor parent-child communication.[4]

Neo and Rebecca Leow co-wrote the script,[5] which was completed in May 2005.[1] I Not Stupid Too was produced by MediaCorp Raintree Pictures on a budget of S$1.5 million.[6] Shanghai Film Studio had agreed to co-produce I Not Stupid Too with Raintree Pictures, but backed out because they found the film too liberal.[7] The production crew included Daniel Yun as executive producer, Chan Pui Yin and Seah Saw Yan as producers, Ardy Lam as cinematographer and Mo Ju Li as sound editor.[8] Besides writing and directing, Neo starred as Mr. Yeo and composed the theme song, which was sung by Hong Junyang.[9]

Filming took place at Saint Hilda's Primary School, Presbyterian High School and other locations during the school holidays in June.[10] Neo hired real gangsters to act in several gangster scenes as he was dissatisfied with the extras. According to him, communicating with the gangsters was difficult, but when he decided to apply the lessons from the movie and praised them for a good take, they reacted well.[11] Several members of the cast also said that I Not Stupid Too inspired them to communicate better with their family members.[7] On 26 January 2006, distributor United International Pictures released I Not Stupid Too on 36 screens in Singapore.[12]

Reception

With earnings of over S$1.41 million in the first six days, I Not Stupid Too set a record for the biggest opening for a Singaporean film.[13] The movie rose to the top of the local box office, beating Jet Li's Fearless.[14][15] In total, I Not Stupid Too grossed over S$4 million, becoming Singapore’s second-highest grossing movie after Money No Enough.[6][16] The film was then released in Malaysia, where it made RM1.1 million, and Hong Kong, taking in HK$3.1 million.[17] Following the success of the two I Not Stupid films, Neo has announced plans to make more sequels,[3][7] as well as a remake set in China.[18]

I Not Stupid Too was well received when it was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival.[19] It was also one of six Singaporean movies screened at the Singapore Season film festival in China. At the 2006 Moscow International Film Festival for Children and Youth, I Not Stupid Too captured the Children's Jury Award.[20] The film was also nominated for Best Asian Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards, but lost to Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.[21]

Critics praised I Not Stupid Too for its touching portrayal of the problems faced by Singaporean teenagers. According to a review in the South China Morning Post, the movie "presents a candid portrait of Singaporean society at odds with its stereotypically squeaky clean image".[5] Nie Peng of Shenzhen Daily felt the film "captured the emotional depth and effectively conveyed the underlying theme of generation gaps",[22] while movieXclusive.com reviewer Jolene Tan called it "a good local movie that will have [viewers] laughing in stitches and crying at certain points".[23] However, I Not Stupid Too was also panned for being overly preachy: a reviewer for The Hindu said that the movie "feels like a public service program written by Singapore's social welfare department".[24] Geoffrey Eu, a reviewer for The Business Times, commented that it "takes the line that the viewer needs to be clubbed into submission rather than persuaded via a more subtle line of reasoning".[25]

Malay remake

A Malay language remake titled Aku Tak Bodoh (the translation of the title of the first film) was made as a Malaysian co-production between Grand Brilliance The film, starring Jalaluddin Hassan and Adibah Noor among others, was released on 2 December 2010 in Malaysian cinemas.

References
  1. Mervyn Tay, "I Not Stupid again", Today, Singapore, 1 June 2005.
  2. "Educator who inspired I Not Stupid Too in town to give talk", Channel NewsAsia, Singapore, 5 February 2006.
  3. Ng Bao Ying. "I Not Stupid Too tackles communication problems in families", Channel NewsAsia, Singapore, 18 January 2006.
  4. "Have parents lost it?", Today, Singapore, 1 February 2006.
  5. "I Not Stupid Too", South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 22 June 2006.
  6. "List of Singapore Movies (1991-2006) Archived 2007-02-13 at the Wayback Machine", Singapore Film Commission, December 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  7. Wendy Teo, "Jack's not stupid", The New Paper, Singapore, 19 January 2006.
  8. Credits, I Not Stupid Too official website Archived 2007-05-11 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  9. "Theme song Archived 2007-02-28 at the Wayback Machine", I Not Stupid official website. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  10. "Young stars of I Not Stupid Too spend holidays filming in school", Channel NewsAsia, Singapore, 12 June 2005.
  11. "Neo's film sequel goes with a gang", South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 8 April 2006.
  12. Osborne, Magz (22 January 2006). "Singapore hopes for New Year's luck". Daily Variety. New York.
  13. "A fight to first place", Today, Singapore, 2 February 2006.
  14. "Stupid scores A-plus", Today, Singapore, 8 February 2006.
  15. Magz Osborne, "Stupid sequel tops Singapore B.O.", Daily Variety, New York, 7 February 2006.
  16. "I Not Stupid Too crosses $4m mark in box office takings", Channel NewsAsia, Singapore, 6 March 2006.
  17. Boon Chan, "Horror scope", The Sunday Times, Singapore, 12 March 2008.
  18. "MediaCorp Raintree Pictures works with HK, China on 2 new films", Channel NewsAsia, Singapore, 20 March 2007.
  19. Lee Sze Yong, "Hello, Cannes", The Straits Times, Singapore, 25 May 2006.
  20. "Singapore flicks: motorcycle kung fu to teenage angst", Shanghai Daily, 26 October 2007.
  21. "Welcome to the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards", Hong Kong Film Awards official website. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  22. "I Not Stupid Too shines at film festival Archived 2007-10-18 at the Wayback Machine", Xinhua, Beijing. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  23. "I Not Stupid Too - Review", movieXclusive.com. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  24. "I Not Stupid Too disappointing sequel to biting social commentary", The Hindu, Chennai, 14 July 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  25. Geoffrey Eu, "I Not Stupid Too employs same, tired formula", The Business Times, Singapore, 27 January 2006.

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