- When was the last time you praised someone?
When was the last time you were praised?
It's been a while, hasn't it?
——
I Not Stupid Too is a 2005 Singaporean satirical comedy drama directed by Jack Neo, and a standalone sequel to I Not Stupid.
The sequel revolves around a whole new cast of characters, focusing around the Yeo brothers, 15-year-old tech-savvy blogger Tom Yeo, and 8-year-old aspiring actor Jerry Yeo, whose relationship with their parents are strained owing to the siblings' work-obsessed parents, notably the father Steven Yeo (played by the director, Jack Neo) who's actively chasing a massive promotion and barely have time to spare for his sons. Meanwhile, Tom's bestie in school, Lim Cheng-chai, has problems with his father, an ex-convict and retired gangster.
Eventually, the three protagonists' conflicted relationships with their families reaches a breaking point. And everything goes to hell with little hope of turning back.The film's story was later continued in a 13-episode TV series.
A third movie (which is yet again, standalone) is scheduled for release in 2024.
Can we talk tropes?
- 6 Is 9: Mr. Lim went through his son's schoolbag without asking, uncovers a test sheet, and exclaims Cheng-chai had scored 91 points in tests... turns out the paper is upside-down and partially covered by another book. And Cheng-chai is due for another scolding for flunking his exams with 16 points.
- Abusive Parents: Lim Cheng-chai's single father, Mr. Lim, beats him on a regular basis. It is expected considering the father in question is an ex-gangster who knows nothing of disciplining his offspring, though Lim does care for his son in a Tough Love sort of way.
- Accidental Murder: Mr. Lim, fighting against a crowd for his son, was pushed down a flight of stairs and hits his head at the bottom, leading to internal bleeding. He succumbs to his injuries by the end of the film.
- Advertised Extra: Natalie Ong's character, Jing-jing. She's a classmate of Tom and Cheng-chai whose poor grasp of Mandarin got her reprimanded by Mr. Foo, but otherwise have lines countable on one hand and only makes sporadic appearances in crowd scenes. Somehow she's featured on the cast-lineup (seen on the above poster).
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Parodied when Mr. Lim - encouraged by Yang, a fellow stallkeeper he's friends with - tries bonding with his son by telling Cheng-chai "I Love You". Mr. Lim quickly changed the subject by claiming he's learning English.
- Arc Words: "Even a rotten apple can be salvaged", said in reference to the three protagonists by their parents.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Yeo siblings eventually made amends with their parents, who realized their negligence is a key factor leading their sons to ruination. On the other hand, Lim Cheng-chai's father has to fight for his only child after reuniting with him, only to suffer a fatal injury in the process. And despite all that transpires, Cheng-chai is still a school dropout with Tom Yeo feeling guilty over the incident.
- Cardboard Box of Unemployment: Mr. Foo carries one to be placed behind his motorcycle, after tendering his resignation. He did, after all, made it to the news for being the teacher beaten up by his own students. However, the school principal and faculty convinced him to stay.
- Children Are Innocent: Played straight by eight-year-old Jerry, the youngest of the three protagonists and the most guillible - from being tricked by his friends that he impregnated a girl in class, to walking in on Tom watching a pornographic film.Jerry: [completely innocent] Why is the man pushing the woman?
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
- Joshua Ang's characters differs in both films. Both boys hails from a broken, single-parent family (Boon Hock and his mother, Cheng-chai and his father) and their fathers have some sort of criminal background in the past; while Boon Hock is a diligent student, Cheng-chai fails his exams. Boon Hock abides violence and tries stopping his bestie Kwok Pin from starting fights, Cheng-chai partakes in fights by beating up some gangsters.
- Jack Neo's characters, in a nutshell. Liu Kwok-pin's father, Mr. Liu, is a mere copywriter working for a huge company; Tom's father Mr. Steven Yeo is a CEO of a multinational firm. Liu dresses casually, Yeo is rarely seen without his business suit. Mr. Liu cares for his son Kwok-pin and tries spending every moment with his child, Steven Yeo neglects his children and doesn't even appreciate Tom who helped him fix his laptop prior to an important presentation. Mr. Liu is chasing for a big promotion with a rival copywriter and despite his best efforts, ultimately lose his job (though he gets a better position anyways after working with Terry's father Mr. Khoo), Steven Yeo was due for a huge promotion, but post Jerkass Realization, decides to quit his job eventually to save his son, Tom... only to be miraculously re-hired anyways with his promotion intact.
- Terry Liu and Lim Cheng-chai's fathers.Two Large Ham men with No Indoor Voice, but of different family backgrounds where Jerry Khoo is a wealthy businessman whose family indulges in luxury, while Mr. Lim lives in poverty with a broken family. Jerry Khoo cares for his children Selena and Terry, even chiding his wife for being overly-strict; Mr. Lim is borderline abusive to his son. Jerry Khoo encourages his kids to follow their footsteps, while Mr. Lim outright forbids Cheng-chai in pursuing his dream to be a kung-fu star. The Khoo's upbringing leads to the son, Terry, becoming an overly-obediant Extreme Doormat; the Lim being a broken household leads to Cheng-chai fending for himself. Jerry Khoo tries forbidding his son, Terry from going on a bone marrow donation, preventing his son from saving a life until Terry performs a Calling the Old Man Out; Mr. Liu finally decide to make amends with Cheng-chai by saving his son from a mob, only to lose his life in the process.
- Crowd Hockey: Done with a pornographic VCD Tom dropped during a spot-check session, which ends right back into his teacher Mr. Foo's hands.
- Darker and Edgier: Besides toning down or outright removing it's funny moments compared to the original, the sequel also delves into more matured themes. Two of the three protagonists are teenagers (the first movie revolves around a trio of kids), the parents are neglectful if not outright abusive (while the first movie has overbearing parents, they at least acknowledged their children's existence), nearly every named character are depicted as jerks and assholes, the 3 main characters are forced to commit crimes at various points with one getting expelled from school, and the ending is bittersweet instead of blatantly optimistic as was the original.
- Dirty Cop: Tom and Cheng-chai tries stealing an expensive Ipod 6 after turning to a life of crime, only to be caught by two policemen who, instead of turning the two over to the authorities, decides to blackmail them for 2,000 Singapore Dollars as bail money. Subverted that the two cops aren't really cops, but two conmen posing as policemen who's tracking the gang for a while. Ultimately, it's Tom's father, Steven, who sets up a trap by getting the real police involved.
- Fair-Weather Friend: The street gang Tom and Cheng-chai joined, who called them "brothers", are nowhere to be found when the two protagonists are caught shoplifting and Ipod 6 and subjected to extortion. Tom lampshades it, "so much for being brothers...".
- From Bad to Worse: Tom and Cheng-chai, in a moment of impulse, beats up their class teacher, Mr. Foo, and were strictly disciplined with Tom subjected to public caning while Cheng-chai gets expelled. Once the incident made it to National Headlines, both Tom and Cheng-chai get into further trouble with their respective families and decides to flee their homes, and ends up joining a criminal gang and get into a bigger mess when they're caught shoplifting an expensive Ipod 6. Which leads to the two deciding to commit armed robbery in broad daylight for the bail money...
- Happier Home Movie: One plays near the end depicting the Yeos in happier times, back when Tom was four and the parents weren't as neglectful or ignorant as they were in the present. It ends with Mrs. Yeo waving a chocolate stick... which segues into a cane.
- Hypocrite: If the Yeos aren't neglectful parents, they're these. Best exemplified in the birthday dinner scene where both parents chides Tom for using his phone during meal time... and then using their phones. While trying to justify they're on important calls with business clients even though they're clearly lying.
- Imagine Spot: When Jerry though he had impregnated a girl in class (It Makes Sense in Context, long story), he took a glance at his classmate and realize in horror that she's holding a baby... of course it turns out to be a daydream one scene later.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Tom and Cheng-chai took the plunge once they decided to run from their homes and join a local gang, with a montage depicting the two hanging out with the gangsters in arcades and skipping schools (for Tom anyway, considering Cheng-chai was already expelled).
- That Man Is Dead: Non-verbal version, which Tom wrote on his online blog after deciding to flee from home. His parents accidentally turned on his computer while searching Tom's room, saw the blog post, and promptly goes My God, What Have I Done?"From today onwards, Tom Yeo is dead!"
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: While fleeing from mall security after stealing an expensive Ipod 6, Cheng-chai lose his flip-flops (his friend Tom wears sneakers and doesn't lose these). In a later scene the duo are arrested by the fake police, and Cheng-chai is shoeless while clearly outdoors.
- Married to the Job: The Yeo siblings' father, Steven Yeo, who's obsessed with work and barely spends time with his sons, to the point where his younger son Jerry never even had a proper look at his father. Until his Jerkass Realization - Steven eventually made amends when, upon finding out Tom is in trouble in the middle of a business meeting, quits his job on the spot, choosing to help his son instead.
- My God, What Have I Done?: All three parents - the Yeos, and the single father Mr. Lim - finally realized their atrocious parenting skills are what led to their sons fleeing their home and joining a criminal gang.
- No Antagonist: Just like the first film, with the story revolving the trio of protagonists attempting to mend their relationships with their parents. The fake policemen who extorted Tom and Cheng-chai have even less screen-time than the kidnappers who abducted Terry and Boon Hock.
- Non-Human Head: Only invoked, but tying with the film's recurring motif of "a rotten apple can be salvaged", in the final scene Cheng-chai - now a wushu champion - is fighting an American competitor. Whose head is depicted as a CG Apple which breaks apart when Cheng-chai scores a winning blow. It's obviously part of the character's Imagine Spot.
- Parental Neglect: The running theme of the film - all three protagonists' parents are horrible, which the film doesn't waste time establishing. Early on, the Yeo brothers can only communicate with their parents using Post-It notes (with Mrs. Yeo dropping Jerry's message for the parents to attend his school play - and stepping on it) due to being busy with work and openly arguing and raising voices with each other despite Jerry being present, while Lim Cheng-chai's father barely gets to see his son, and the few moments they get to interact consists of Mr. Lim physically abusing his son for failing his studies and being obsessed with kung-fu.
- Playing a Tree: One of Jerry's friends is cast as a flower during their upcoming school play, yet his parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles and aunts are all coming to support him. This hits especially hard for Jerry who's playing the lead role, but his parents couldn't even spare a single day for him.
- Product Placement: While nowhere as blatant as the previous movie's Pink Dolphin tie-in, the sequel obviously had a deal with Singtel (Singapore Telecommunications) with the tech-savvy elder brother, Tom, and his preference for the then-recent Nokia phones, Macbook laptops and Ipod 6. There's also a scene where the camera lovingly closes upon some New Moon abalone cans.
- The Runaway: Both Tom and Cheng-chai fled their homes after joining a local gang, after realizing there's no hope for having a complete family and deciding to forfeit their own parents.
- Secret Diary: Tom Yeo's blog, www.lonelyboy.com.org, serves as a digital version, detailing his dissatisfaction over his parents and his desires to eventually leave home. His parents uncovers it after Tom ran away, and realize how badly they screwed up as parents when reading through Tom's online diary detailing a childhood incident where he's lost, but neither his father or mother paid any attention to him as he made his way back by himself.
- Short-Distance Phone Call: Done with Steven Yeo's conversation with the police when his son, Tom was caught fighting in public. What's even funnier is that the police sergeant making the call doesn't even see Steven before him.Sergeant: You know your son is in trouble, right?
Steven: Yes, absolutely.
Sergeant: You can come over to the station right now?
Steven: I'm already here. In front of you.
[cue the confused sergeant looking up] - Shout-Out Theme Naming: The main characters are a pair of siblings named Tom Yeo and Jerry Yeo. Huh?
- Struggling Single Mother: Lim Cheng-chai's father, Mr. Lim, whose wife was absent the entire film (it's implied she died sometime in the backstory). Due to the elder Lim being a retired gangster who was once in prison, and a cripple because of a fight in the past, he's hardly able to make ends meet or even spare time for his son.
- Take Me Instead: Near the end, when Tom Yeo is staring down an angry crowd who wants him arrested for mugging an old lady, Steven Yeo then arrives - post Jerkass Realization over realizing how his negligence as a father had ruined his son's life - and tells the arriving police to arrest him instead, claiming it's his fault for being a terrible father. Luckily, the mugging victim is a Cool Old Lady willing to drop all charges.
- Title Drop: Jerry's opening narration."I'm not stupid. I always scored Band 1 for all my subjects, but my mother barely praises me..."
- Totally Radical: Steve's eventual methods of reconnecting with his estranged son, Tom, in a diner after the family matriarch - Steven's mother and Tom's grandmother - tells him teenagers of the 2000s are all about talking with hip slangs and lingo. It plays out as awkwardly as it sounds (and a borderline Mood Whiplash considering it takes place shortly after Steve practically dragged his son back home)Steve: This lamb chop is like a lame chop, yeah?
- Tragic Dropout: Cheng-chai, a troubled kid from an abusive family whose discipline records weren't on the positive side, finally reaches a tipping point when he beats up his class teacher Mr. Foo. It predictably leads to his expulsion.
- Was Too Hard on Him: Despite being a neglectful dickwad to his sons, there are some minor moments where Tom and Jerry's father, Steven Yeo, felt guilt over his actions. Notably the night after the botched birthday dinner, with Steven going into his sons' bedroom and adjusting their blankets before switching the lights.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Mr. and Mrs. Yeo are an example where they're present, but not physically around for their sons, being too busy with work and ignorant over their children's needs. This hits especially hard for Jerry who's cast in a lead role of the school play, but can't even get his parents to show up and watch him perform unlike literally everyone else in his class.
- World of Jerkass: Taken to the extreme with almost every named character; Tom and Jerry's parents are neglectful dickwads and hypocrites, Cheng-chai's single father is an ex-con who's abusive to his only child, the class teacher Mr. Foo is downright apathetic, Jerry's fellow performing arts mates working together to trick Jerry into believing he impregnated a girl, and in the aftermath of Tom being subjected to public caning, Tom's so-called friends all made fun of him. Even the main characters themselves aren't saints, with Tom bordering on being a Big Brother Bully to Jerry.
- You're Not My Father: Both Tom and Cheng-chai rejects their parents, either over the parents' negligence or abusive nature. Tom even drops this line when Steven tries forcing him to return.Tom: I'm not going back... that's NOT my home!
