In case the title Si Riang Sian Tot confuses you, it’s a simple reference to Thai card-playing terms: color, straight, full-house. And in this debut comedy written and directed by actor-turned-director Supakit Tangtatsawat, these are also the names of the four main characters played by Shahkrit Yamnam, Suthep Po-ngam, Theeradanai Suwannahom and Phatra Athiratdakun. Thanks to his many years in showbiz, the director has also persuaded many fellow stars to drop by for a few minutes each. But what he could actually use most is some help from a decent scriptwriter.
Sian (Suthep), an old man who makes a living selling counterfeit amulets, is drawn into trouble when his gambling nephew Riang (Theeradanai) forces him to place a bet on a fixed boxing bout. It goes wrong, of course. So, desperate to pay off their huge debt to the mafia, they come up with an ingenious idea: to take money from another mafioso who runs a casino by cheating him in a card game. The two recruit nightclub magician Tote (Shahkrit), who is adept at card tricks and in need of money, and Si, a wild and busty coyote girl, as a decoy. They manage to get to the card table and get away with easy money. To celebrate, the four get blind drunk in full-on Hangover-style, ending up taking a van to Poipet. Later, more sober and all the more greedy, they decide to pull the same stunt again, at a bigger casino with an even bigger mafia.
The foul four might sound like a lively bunch, but they are actually the blandest characters you could imagine. With these sort of films, you’re often entertained by the anti-heroes’ masterful trickery, like in 21, or their sheer audacity, as in Ocean’s Eleven. That’s not the case here, as that hoped-for touch of brilliance or cleverness never arrives. Though Sharkrit is one actor you’d think is capable of pulling a Clooney, his one-dimensional character won’t allow it, as Suthep’s half-witted Sian plays the mastermind of this game.
Instead, the film looks to entertain through a succession of troublesome and moronic situations. But the problem is that the absurdity here is just not funny. The director even throws in a midget, an Obama and a Chuvit lookalike, and they only add to the mess. It’s a similar feeling to when a friend tries telling a joke but bungles the punch-line. There’s a good story somewhere in here, but Supakit isn’t the one to tell it. Far from a good comedy, Si Riang Sian Tot works only as a nonsensical farce.
