Famed Thai comedian Mum Jokmok brings us his ninth production, a love triangle involving his self-named character, Mai (played by Thai singer and actress Mai Charoenpura) and Krapaow (Nong Cha Cha Cha) who plays Mum’s overweight ladyboy wife. Mum and Mai (the characters) have been friends since childhood, repeating over the years a pattern in which Mai gets her heart broken and Mum helps pick up the pieces. But when Mum suspects his Krapaow of cheating on him, he goes out drinking with Mai, and bada bing bada boom, Mai ends up pregnant. A comedy of errors ensues in which simple misunderstandings take forever to clear up.
If you’ve ever seen a Mum Jokmok film, you know what to expect: a thin plot, realism making sacrifices in the name of slapstick comedy and unconvincing, two-dimensional characters. Predictably, Krapaow is depicted as flamboyant, hysterical and irrational, making three suicide attempts (that are somehow comedic), one of them ending in her falling down a building and landing (safely) on a Thai Insurance truck. Physical comedy is one thing, but we’re not amused by homophobia and sizeism—though admittedly, Mum’s is not the only Thai or Western film to fall prey to these traps.
Still, you have to check all such reservations at the door if you’re going in to see this film. It meets all expectations set up by Mum’s previous films, and long-time fans will be rewarded by some self-referential jokes, such as the scene in the beginning of the movie, when Mum goes into a pub looking for the drunken Mai, and is called out to by various characters from his other movies. If you aren’t a disciple of his work, though, the laughs might fall flat. Natthanun Prasongchaikul