Follow Aunty La (PG13)

Starring Charlene Huang, Xixi Lim, Mayiduo, Regina Lim, Sai

Directed by Mayiduo

A dumpy fishball seller in a market, Ah Hua (Charlene Huang), hires a glam influencer, BBGirl (Regina Lim), to boost her sales via livestream.

The hottie sleeps with Hua's lousy hubby, Leonard (Sai). Turns out, BBGirl used to the Pimply Girl bullied at school who had the hots for the spouse louse. Man, even the Ugly Duckling couldn’t do an extremely extreme makeover like this.

The reconnected adulterers conspire to totally ruin Hua by taking over her untapped big-bucks Teochew fishball biz with a 300-year-old history from the Qing Dynasty. Her ancestors (all played by Cayydences) keep popping up to pep her up like unexorcised clan members.

Hua, aided by her pal and fruit-stall neighbour, CC (Xixi Lim) — full name: Coco Chanel De Cruz — seeks help from ex-cinematographer, Hock (director-actor Mayiduo, real name: Kelvin Tan), a very pissed-off shouter who needs SkillsFuture anger management classes urgently yesterday.

They team up to turn the zero-skill aunty into a major-sell influencer herself within three weeks because “You don’t need to be good-looking to be an influencer” to turbo-gain viewers to defeat BBGirl in a livestream sales contest to save Hua’s beloved fishball stall.

Yep, I know. Based on these cartoonish names alone, we're either watching Tolkien's Lord Of The Cringe or Stephen Chow's sales pitch to a hawker centre.

Nope. Neither.

Follow Aunty La: Regina Lim and Sai deliver their best 'This tastes funny' look. 

Unless I’m mistaken, this may be Singapore's first full-fledged influencer film, written by Link Sng (Geylang, Long Long Time Ago). Jack Neo's half-baked attempt in The King Of Musang King, notwithstanding. Lots of actual influencers cameo like it’s a Suntec convention in this Jack Neo-style show that’s better than a Jack Neo show. Which may not necessarily be a good thing.

With the vibe here being essentially Malaysian. Like Close Ur Kopitiam. Because those jiuhu folks are way ahead in these influencer-annihilator flicks.

Question One: Do we really need to follow — or in online parlance — “like and share” this Aunty La lah?

Question Two: Do we even need an influencer movie anyway?

Well, not when this comedy isn’t very comical and it doesn’t get us any deeper into the catty, bewildering World Of Warcraft, Influencers And Livestreamers. Instead this pic looks like an underdog tale that’s seen in any cooking, dancing, football or even Tiddlywinks competition movie.

Are these preening beauties narcissists, exhibitionists, camera capitalists, con artists or just plain lunatics yakking and yakking to a round light and a phone? We still don’t know.

By the way, cancel culture becomes cancer culture here. There are, gosh, jokes about cancer.

The usual, predictable plot points are dumped into this tale. Ordinary girl outmatched by powerful villain. Girl trains and gains. Villain sabotages. Final showdown comes up.

Actually, Follow Aunty La does perk up in that last act — the livestream competition — after a draggy, long fat bulk which sets up Hua’s entry into social-media terror incognita. She dances in her videos (not funny), engages in a PK (player knockout) duel with a popular liverstreamer to drum up viewers (interesting), and basically act cute in grotesque heartland tai-tai make-up (even less funny).

At least debut director/content creator Mayiduo puts fresh faces right in our faces. Huang and Lim are likeable as working-class-zero buddies. The former shows promising spunk. The latter is slapped by her feisty dementia-stricken grandma which puts a whole new spin into “elder abuse”.

Lim’s BBGirl, an “onscreen angel, offscreen bitch”, is too good a Barbie baddie not to be deployed in a James Bond parody. While Mayiduo himself, who’s game enough to be described as someone “who looks like he spent his time at an economy rice stall”, should stay behind the camera a lot more if he isn’t going to curtail his inner raving-loon Joe Pesci.

He does, however, insert good bits into this concoction. Ah Hock texts Ah Hua even as she stands right in front of him while the seller of “fake followers” for Hua's online site turns out amusingly to be a ruthless little girl in a playground.

Still, a livestream, as any practitioner knows, can often be too exposed and too revealing.

“This is better than a local TV drama,” someone quips about Follow Aunty La’s final livestream showdown.

Not really.

Think a TV drama is better. (2/5 stars) in cinemas now

Photos: mm2 Entertainment