We Not Naughty

We Not Naughty (simplified Chinese: 孩子不坏; traditional Chinese: 孩子不壞) is a Singaporean film directed by Jack Neo.[4] It was officially released on 19 January 2012 in Singapore.[5]

We Not Naughty
Directed byJack Neo
Produced byJack Neo
Melvin Ang
Written byJack Neo
Ho Hee Ann
Sun Lin
StarringShawn Lee
Joshua Ang
Cherry Hsia
Daniel Chan
Xiang Yun
Jacky Chin
Eric Moo
Yan Li Ming
Li Feihui
Cheryl Yeo
Amos Yee
Music byMo Ju Li
CinematographyChiu Wai Yin
Edited byYim Mun Chong
Production
company
J Team Productions
mm2 Entertainment
Starhub
Distributed byGolden Village
Clover Films
Release date
  • 19 January 2012 (2012-01-19)
(Singapore)
Running time
137 minutes
CountrySingapore
LanguageMandarin
BudgetS$1 million[1]
Box officeS$2.2 million[2] US$1,716,930[3]

The film can be seen as the third installment of the 'Not Stupid' trilogy (viz. I Not Stupid, I Not Stupid Too and this film), featuring children who are slighted of poor academic performance, the idea of talent beyond academics, and parent-children relationships.

Themes

The film examines the problems faced by parents with their rebellious children in Singapore's current society.[6] Other themes in the film include cyberbullying, peer pressure, gangsterism, morality and teacher-student relationships. A prominent theme relevant to Singaporean society is the social stigma about ITE students and favouritism towards students who excel academically.

Cast
  • Shawn Lee as Chen Weijie[7]
  • Xiang Yun as Mrs Chen, Weijie's mother
  • Jacky Chin as Mr Chen, Weijie's father
  • Ivan Lo Kai Jun as Ah Bao, Weijie's younger brother
  • Cheryl Yeo as Nicole, Weijie's younger sister
  • Joshua Ang as Liu Jianren[7]
  • Amos Yee as Amos, Jianren's younger brother
  • Yan Li Ming as Cynthia Pua, Jianren's mother
  • Daniel Chan as Mr Liu CK
  • Cherry Hsia as Mrs Liu
  • Li Feihui as Ah Long
  • Eric Moo as Boss Ma
  • Ashley Leong as Alvin, ITP student
  • Natalli Ong as Natalie, ITP student
  • Tony Koh Beng Hoe as Ah Long 2

In addition, Lim Jiow Yong and Chia Kin Seng (ITE lecturers) are featured.

Synopsis

Chen Weijie and Liu Jianren are two ITP (International Technical Polytechnic, ostensibly a reference to the Institute of Technical Education) students who are constantly put down for being "dumb" despite the fact that they display a talent for designing and creating gadgets. Jianren comes from a wealthy single-parent home and is estranged from his mother and younger brother Amos, a fluent English speaker. He joins the gang of a local loanshark and becomes a runner. Weijie's father is a compulsive gambler who frequently swings from loving husband and father to crazed gambler running from loansharks. To complicate matters, his younger sister Nicole is academically gifted and pampered by their mother, thus causing frequent quarrels and misunderstanding amongst them. Unknown to the rest of them, Nicole becomes involved in a serious cyberbullying case and later becomes a victim of bullying herself.

One day Mr CK is announced as Weijie and Jianren's new class teacher. The young and energetic Mr CK tries hard to connect with the group but they fail to respond. He challenges them to a bet in a radio-controlled helicopter race and if he loses, he will do a run of ITP in the nude. The students defeat him and he honours his promise. The story and the controversy it caused made the national news. However, he had earned his students' respect and they responded accordingly when interviewed by the press. As a result, the board decide against dismissing him.

Unfortunately, one of Weijie and Jianren's "inventions" falls into criminal hands. This made Weijie, Jianren, Mr CK, his wife and Jianren's mum to travel to Johor Bahru, where Weijie and Jianren are tasked to use the invention to carry S$1000000 (which are actually drugs) by a few of their former gang members. The invention was close to crossing the Singapore-Malaysia border when Mr CK took control. Soon the gang members fought with Weijie, Jianren, Mr CK and Jianren's mum. Jianren's mum asked both Weijie and Jianren to escape while she suffers from an injury. Weijie and Jianren encounters Mr CK's wife, who is about to give birth. While the two are trying to help her give birth, they realised on what they have done wrong towards their parents. Soon after Mr CK's wife gave birth to a healthy baby, Weijie and Jianren are asked to help the police out using their invention to capture the criminals. Once the criminals are captured, Mr CK, his wife and Jianren's mum are admitted to the hospital while Weijie and Jianren thanked her for saving their lives.

Once again, Mr CK had hit the headlines and is proclaimed as a national hero. It was then revealed that Weijie and Jianren became winners of a national science competition.

References
  1. See the cast of Jack Neo's WE NOT NAUGHTY at GV VivoCity!, incinemas.sg
  2. Chan, Boon (August 5, 2012). "Reel War". The Star.
  3. "2012 Singapore Yearly Box Office". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  4. We Not Naughty synopsis Archived 2012-07-15 at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese) Thousand Movies. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  5. We Not Naughty, incinemas.sg
  6. We Not Naughty, movies.insing.com
  7. We Not Naughty (2012) M Time. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
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