Ah Long Pte Ltd

Infobox Film
name = Ah Long Pte Ltd

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director = Jack Neo
producer =
writer =
starring = Fann Wong
Mark Lee
Richard Low
Jack Lim
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =
released = Singapore:
7 February 2008
Malaysia:
13 March 2008
runtime =
country = Singapore
language = Mandarin
Cantonese
Hokkien
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.mediacorpraintree.com/ahlong/
amg_id =
imdb_id = 1182615"Ah Long Pte Ltd" (zh-s|s=老师嫁老大) is a comedy film directed by Singaporean Director Jack Neo, starring Fann Wong and Mark Lee. Co-produced by MediaCorp Raintree Pictures, Scorpio East Pictures and Double Vision (Malaysia), the film was mostly shot in Malaysia, in the city of Kuala Lumpur, with a budget of $1.2 million. [cite news | url = http://www.youth.sg/content/view/4241/28/ | title = Jack Neo, Fann and Mark ‘lelong’ Ah Long Pte Ltd | date = 2008-01-22 | publisher = Youth.SG] This film is also the seventh collaboration between MediaCorp Raintree Pictures and Jack Neo. [cite news | url = http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/325858/1/.html | title = Jack Neo's latest movie deals with illegal moneylending business | date = 2008-01-30 | publisher = Channel News Asia] Ah Long was released in Singapore on 7 February 2008, and in Malaysia on 13 March. Its language consists of Mandarin, and some dialects like Hokkien and Cantonese.

Production

Jack Neo feels that most people think that loan sharks are "heartless and evil", however after research, he has found out that there are "kind and caring" loan sharks as well. He was sure that the movie would be well-received by Singaporeans. The scriptwriting took 6 months to complete, while the movie is shot in 35 days. [cite news | url = http://www.moviexclusive.com/article/ahlong/ahlong.htm | title = You'll Want to be with Ah Long this New Year | date = | publisher = movieXclusive.com™]

Plot

Chen Jun (played by Richard Low) is the leader of Shao He Triad. He is retiring from the triad and money-lending business. He was succeeded by a young lady, Wang Li Hua (played by Fann Wong), who tries to restructure the "Ah Long (money-lenders) system" as much as possible to dismiss the use of violence to make money-borrowers pay them back.

Li Hua and several of her subordinates (played by KK Wong and Daniel Tan) start implementing a series of creative methods to attract people to borrow money. They also practice hilarious methods to pressure the money-borrowers to repay in a way that is not violent. However, this restructuring was met with opposition from the majority of the "elders" in both her own and rival triad.

Li Hua was pressurised by her mother to get married. Li Hua decides to force Mr. Fang (played by Mark Lee) to marry her. Mr. Fang is a dance instructor who appears sissy. Mr. Fang agrees to the propose, wanting to prove his masculinity. Subsequently, Mr. Fang offers to help Li Hua out by introducing creative ways to reduce violent methods of debt collection.

(to be continued)

Ending

Mr. Fang fetches Li Hua on the day of her release out of jail. Mr. Fang surprised her by bringing her to a office opened by Mr. Fang with members of Shao He Triad. Li Hua found the drive to lead again in the office after being idled away in jail for 10 years.

Cast

Reception

A series of roadshows were held at Ang Mo Kio Hub on 19 January 2008. [cite news | url = http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/323629/1/.html | title = MediaCorp Raintree Pictures "Ah Long Pte Ltd" to hit cinemas on Feb 7
date = 2008-01-19 | publisher = Channel News Asia]

Ah Long's achievement was evident despite mixed reviews from the press. The Straits Times (13 Feb) reported that over the Chinese New Year weekend, Ah Long reaped a box-office earning of $1.47 million, coming in second, behind Stephen Chow's CJ7 ($2 million), while beating Jay Chou's Kungfu Dunk ($1.41 million). All 3 movies were released in Singapore on 7 February 2008. [cite news | url = | title = Ah Long triumphs despite bad notices | date = 2008-02-13 | publisher = The Straits Times]

The ranking remains the same until 19th Feb, when the box-office earnings of CJ7 is almost 3 million ($2,840,282), Ah Long with 2.4m and Kungfu Dunk with 1.96m. [cite news | url = http://8.mediacorptv.sg/around8/interviews/view/1067/1/.html | title = Huat ah, Ah Long Pte Ltd! | date = 2008-02-20 | publisher = MediaCorp Pte Ltd]

Reviews from 8 Days were expressed with much negative comments. Ah Long was rated as half a star out of five. [cite news | url = http://www.omy.sg/showbiz/enews/200802/20080219_011_jackneo.html | title = zh icon 梁智强：《长江7号》抄我的戏 | date = 2008-02-19 | publisher = omy.sg]

Criticism

Various movie reviews indicated that this film had "copied ideas" from Cho Jin-gyu's My Wife Is a Gangster 3. There was also a scene in which Li Hua performed soccer tricks, and was pointed out by critics for copying Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer. [cite news | url = http://www.moviexclusive.com/review/ahlongpteltd/ahlongpteltd.htm | title = Review by John Li | date = | publisher = movieXclusive.com™]

References

See also

* Jack Neo
* Fann Wong
* Mark Lee

External links

* [http://www.ahlongpteltd.com/ Official Website]