SYNOPSIS:
Auntie Lucy is a proud and lively 'auntie' with a passion for helping people. She also loves collecting free gifts and being in the limelight. She and her two best friends are very active in their community especially Auntie Lucy who will speak up against any inconsiderable act she sees. When one of their friends is diagnosed with cancer and needs $100,000 for her operation, Auntie Lucy and her friends decide to do whatever it takes to help her. When their MP suggests they play a friendly match against the national youth team to raise funds, the aunties immediately took on the challenge! It is finally the day the aunties have been waiting for but can they really score against the youth team? What strategies do the aunties have up their sleeves?
MOVIE REVIEW:
Strictly speaking, Aunty Lucy Slam Dunk is not a movie. Sad to say it does not even reaches the heights of those usual direct-to-DVD releases. Once the DVD starts spinning, this so-called telemovie gives you a haphazardly stitch-up of unrelated comedic sketches and also a shameless parade of product endorsements. (You can have a 'spot-the-products' challenge with your friends and family)
Renowned local deejay Dennis Chew plays the title character Aunty Lucy, a popular character who originated from a Mediacorp variety programme called "Paris & Milan". Ironically, Chew outshines his fellow hosts such as Patricia Mok, Michelle Tay and Ben Yeo as a result of his hilarious portrayal of a heartlander aunty complete with outlandish makeup, dressing, trademark head gesture and favourite phrase, "So embarrassing!"… making his character a fan’s favourite.
Chew’s comic timing is undeniable given the talented showman has been in the industry for decades. From his days as a child actor, host and deejay, Chew has progressed to dabble in writing, theatrics in recent years and even tries his hand at co-writing the screenplay for the Fann Wong’s starrer, "The Wedding Game" earlier in the year.
Unfortunately, Aunty Lucy Slam Dunk is nothing but a cash-on despite Chew’s best attempts. After struggling for at least 20 minutes trying to find a footing, the telemovie finally got off to a start with Aunty Lucy and her two best friends, Lian Hua (Lina Ng) and Victoria (Cassandra See) taking part in a friendly match against the national youth team to raise funds for their ailing friend. Don’t tell me how this is possible in real-life but somehow the screenwriter wants us to believe that and yes, the MP for Aljunied GRC, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang even makes a guest appearance playing himself.
Honestly, I had a great time catching Aunty Lucy and her gang every week on "Paris & Milan" but then it’s an entirely different arena putting the character in an 85 minutes long movie if the story does not have a strong foundation, great humour and believable characters to sustain it. To make things worse, Patricia Mok and Michelle Tay didn’t even make any cameos here and instead we have the stiff David Aw (Men in White), newcomer Christy Yow and a very bored-looking Henry Thia to round up the supporting cast.
I’m sure the older folks and the younger crowd are going to have a lot of fun seeing Aunty Lucy in this telemovie. But to the rest of us, this is like what Aunty Lucy always says, "So embarrassing!".
SPECIAL FEATURES :
The DVD includes a 12 minutes Making of which consists of cast and crew interviews, a Trailer and a Photo Gallery.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Apparently the DVD comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 which I’m sure Aunty Lucy herself will find overwhelming. The visual looks good enough on the small screen for a telemovie shot in HD.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
Posted on 1 November 2009
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