I Not Stupid Too (Chinese: 小孩不笨2; pinyin: Xiǎohái Bù Bèn Èr; lit. 'Children are not stupid 2') is a 2006 Singaporean satiricalcomedy film and the sequel to the 2002 film, I Not Stupid. A satiricalcomedy, I Not Stupid Too portrays the lives, struggles and adventures of three Singaporean youths—8-year-old Jerry, his 15-year-old brother Tom and their 15-year-old friend Chengcai—who have a strained relationship with their parents. The film explores the issue of poor parent-child communication.
I Not Stupid Too was released in cinemas on 26 January 2006, and earned over S$4 million in total. The film became the second-highest grossing Singaporean film in history, with only Money No Enough grossing more. At the 2006 Hong Kong Film Awards, it was nominated for Best Asian Film, but lost to Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. Critical reception was ranged from a positive review, although some criticized the film as overly preachy. A serialised version of the film was aired on Channel 8, and a Malay language remake was done four years later.
A sequel, I Not Stupid 3, is scheduled to be released in 2024.
Plot
The plot revolves around the lives of Jerry Yeo (Ashley Leong), his older brother Tom Yeo (Shawn Lee) and their friend Lim Chengcai (Joshua Ang). 8-year-old Jerry enjoys the performing arts and has the lead role in his school concert, while 15-year-old Tom is technologically inclined and a talented blogger, Karen and Steven Yeo's (Xiang Yun and Jack Neo) busy schedules give them little time to spend with their children, leading to a strained relationship. With his mother absent, 15-year-old Chengcai was raised by his ex-convict father Mr. Lim (Huang Yiliang), whose fighting skills he inherited.
During a school check for mobile phones, Tom is caught with a pornographic VCD. As his form teacher and Chinese languageteacher Mr. Fu (Johnny Ng) confiscates it, Chengcai makes a cheeky remark that provokes Mr. Fu into slapping him, leading to an exchange that escalates into a massive scuffle. For their parts in the scuffle, the school principal (Selena Tan) decides to expel Chengcai due to multiple disciplinary records and subject Tom to public caning respectively. Tom and Chengcai join a local street gang; as their initiation, they are forced to shoplift an iPod. However, they are caught by two conmen posing as police officers, who demand that they pay $2,000 within two days or be arrested.
While tutoring his sons, Mr. Yeo tells them that people will pay $500 for an hour of his time. Jerry, who wants his parents to come to his school concert, starts saving money and eventually resorts to stealing once. After he is caught, a furious Mr. Yeo canes the boy, but calms down when the boy comes clean and explains that he wanted $500 to "buy" an hour of his father's time and that's why he did resort to stealing. This prompts Mr. and Mrs. Yeo to read Tom's blog and realise how unappreciated and alienated their children feel.
Meanwhile, out on the blue right on the same day Jerry's caning occurred, Tom and Chengcai rob an old lady of her necklace, but regret their action and try to return it to her. A struggle occurs, and Chengcai bumps into several gangsters, while Tom's mobile phone falls out of his pocket. The phone hits the ground, accidentally calling Mr. Yeo, who is doing a presentation about 3G phones for a contract worth $3 million.
Later, the gangsters whom Chengcai bumped into earlier beat him up. Mr. Lim, who happens to be nearby, tries to protect his son, but is beaten and fell down the stairs as a result, which made him got rushed to the hospital due to being injured. Meanwhile, with Tom, Mr. Yeo rushes off to the scene and pleads the old lady to give Tom a second chance. When the police arrive, she tells them she made a prank call. Two days later, Mr. Yeo meets the conmen and gives them thousands of dollars of hell money; the conmen are then arrested by real police officers who have been waiting in ambush close by. On his deathbed at the hospital, Mr. Lim tells Chengcai that he loves him and that he should pursue his talent for fighting. Witnessing this scene, the principal is touched and allows Chengcai to return to school. The boy eventually becomes an internationally recognised martial artist. Having finally understood their children, the Yeo parents and Tom watch Jerry's concert, much to his delight.
Cast
Ashley Leong as Jerry Yeo The younger brother of two of the Yeo family, and doubled as the film's narrator.
Charles Chan played as infant Jerry, and Raffles Neo played as baby Jerry during the film's epilogue.
Shawn Lee as Tom Yeo The older brother of two of the Yeo family. Lee reprises his role from the first film.
Joshua Ang as Lim Chengcai A close friend of Tom and a good martial arts street fighter. Ang reprises his role from the first film.
Xiang Yun as Karen Yeo The mother of the Yeo family and is a magazine editor. Xiang reprises her role as the mother of Shawn Lee's character from the first film.
Jack Neo as Steven Yeo The father of the Yeo family who is a salesman of handphones. Neo reprises his role as the father of Shawn Lee's character from the first film.
Huang Yiliang as Mr. Lim, the father of Chengcai It was revealed in the film that he had previously lived in an environment of thugs and an ex-convict, though was overprotective on Chengcai's actions.
Ng Suan Loi as Jerry and Tom's grandmother and the mother of Steven and mother-in-law for Karen She served as an advisor to Steven and Karen, and also shares experience as a parent to Steven.
Selena Tan as the school principal A school principal with inarticulate Mandarin Chinese, as seen in the film she was attempting to speak fluent Chinese while mixing some with English. Tan previously portrayed the role as the mother of Terry Khoo (portrayed by Huang Po Ju, who isn't part of this film) from the prequel film, in which Tan spoke a majority of English dialogue during that film.
Johnny Ng as Mr. Fu A school teacher specializes in Chinese language. He was praised by the school as a dedicated teacher who invested money on dictionaries and time as a remedial teacher, though sometimes strict in terms on the student's academic results. He was also the form teacher for Tom and Chengcai's class, which falls under the Normal (Technical) stream.
Nick Shen as Mr. He A school teacher who teaches another class from the Express stream.
Natalli Ong Ai Wen as Wang Jingjing Tom and Chengcai's classmate under Mr. Fu's class.
Tan Xinyi as Xiaoxi Jerry's classmate and closest friend.
Liu Lingling as Yang She was the coffee shop owner and a close friend of Lim. Following Lim's death at the end of the film, she was later a legal guardian for Chengcai.
Additional appearances in the film include Henry Thia as a sales owner in a bag store, and Jimmy Nah as an imposter police officer. The J-Team Production Academy also played a role as other students in the respective classes. Malaysian actress Asmiyati Asbah played as the maid for the Yeo family. Getai singer and another actress Anna Lin Ruping made a cameo appearance as a school principal in another school, while Yoo Ah Min portrays as an elderly who is a victim of a stolen necklace.
Production
After the release of I Not Stupid, a sequel was suggested, but Neo had difficulty finding a suitable topic.[1] His inspiration was a book on appreciation education, a method of teaching developed by Chinese educator Zhou Hong.[2] Through the film, Neo hoped to capture the culture of Singapore at the turn of the millennium,[3] and to explore the issue of poor parent-child communication.[4]
Neo and Rebecca Leow co-wrote the script,[5] which was completed in May 2005.[1]I Not Stupid Too was produced by MediaCorp Raintree Pictures on a budget of S$1.5 million.[6]Shanghai Film Studio had agreed to co-produce I Not Stupid Too with Raintree Pictures, but backed out because they found the film too liberal.[7] The production crew included Daniel Yun as executive producer, Chan Pui Yin and Seah Saw Yan as producers, Ardy Lam as cinematographer and Mo Ju Li as sound editor.[8] Besides writing and directing, Neo starred as Mr. Yeo and composed the theme song, which was sung by Hong Junyang.[9]
Filming took place at Saint Hilda's Primary School, Presbyterian High School and other locations during the school holidays in June 2005.[10] Neo hired real gangsters to act in several gangster scenes as he was dissatisfied with the extras. According to him, communicating with the gangsters was difficult, but when he decided to apply the lessons from the film and praised them for a good take, they reacted well.[11] Several members of the cast also said that I Not Stupid Too inspired them to communicate better with their family members.[7] On 26 January 2006, distributor United International Pictures released I Not Stupid Too on 36 screens in Singapore.[12]
Reception
With earnings of over S$1.41 million in the first six days, I Not Stupid Too set a record for the biggest opening for a Singaporean film.[13] The film rose to the top of the local box office, beating Jet Li's Fearless.[14][15] In total, I Not Stupid Too grossed over S$4 million, becoming Singapore's second-highest-grossing film after Money No Enough.[6][16] The film was then released in Malaysia, where it made RM1.1 million, and Hong Kong, taking in HK$3.1 million.[17] Following the success of the two I Not Stupid films, Neo has announced plans to make more sequels,[3][7] as well as a remake set in China.[18]
Critics praised I Not Stupid Too for its touching portrayal of the problems faced by Singaporean teenagers. According to a review in the South China Morning Post, the film "presents a candid portrait of Singaporean society at odds with its stereotypically squeaky clean image".[5] Nie Peng of Shenzhen Daily felt the film "captured the emotional depth and effectively conveyed the underlying theme of generation gaps",[22] while movieXclusive.com reviewer Jolene Tan called it "a good local movie that will have [viewers] laughing in stitches and crying at certain points".[23] However, I Not Stupid Too was also panned for being overly preachy: a reviewer for The Hindu said that the film "feels like a public service program written by Singapore's social welfare department".[24] Geoffrey Eu, a reviewer for The Business Times, commented that it "takes the line that the viewer needs to be clubbed into submission rather than persuaded via a more subtle line of reasoning".[25]
Malay remake
A Malay language remake titled Aku Tak Bodoh (the translation of the title of the first film) was made as a Malaysian co-production with Grand Brilliance.[26] The film stars Jalaluddin Hassan and Adibah Noor among others, and was released on 2 December 2010 in Malaysian cinemas.
