Watch Nasi Lemak 2.0 For Free

Sadly Over-hyped

Load of rubbish!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

For Malaysians of all races, "Nasi Lemak 2.0" has a built-in lure. Its film-maker and rapper, Wee Chee Meng (better known as Namewee) has attained such notoriety on YouTube and in the news (for various offences which I don't care to mention here) that his name has become synonymous with rebelliousness and subversiveness.If anything, the public would want to know what he's up to this time around with this movie called "Nasi Lemak 2.0". Is he going to make an ass of himself again? Or make asses out of his cast? But wait, the so-called '1-Malaysia comedy', reportedly made on a shoe-string RM1-million budget, has grossed RM7 million at the local box-office! That should raise a lot of eyebrows, especially of people like me who consider this production a low-brow comedy. Of course, the clamour by a group for the movie to be banned must have given a new boost to its takings. Namewee plays Chef Huang, a young cook who sets out with his new-found friend Xiao K (Karen Kong) to find the ingredients and make the best nasi lemak in the country. In his quest, he meets up with various local celebs like Datuk David Arumugam, Afdlin Shauki, Reshmonu and Kenny and Chee, and learn what being in a multi-racial country like Malaysia is all about - besides how to make good sambal and curry, of course.The movie, mostly in Mandarin and local Chinese dialects, looks like it has been rewritten from Stephen Chow Sing-chi's 'mo-lei-tau' (or nonsense) comedies, especially the 1996 "God Of Cookery". Having Karen Kong made up in such clownish-looking eyebrows and spectacles reminds us of the Smoking Landlady (Yuen Qiu) in Chow's Kungfu Hustle, except that Karen Kong's Xiao K just looks silly and not funny. Ditto that for most of the so-called comic sequences in the movie.The narrative is illogical and messy but in the absurdist sequences can be found a few comic gems. The main plot about the quest for the best nasi lemak recipes is really the 'side dish'. The real garnishings are those little gestures, the song and dance numbers, and visuals that take a swipe at Malaysian culture, society and politics. Examples of these are a kris-wielding scene reminiscent of the exploits of an Umno personality; the famous "looks like me, sounds like me, but is not me" quote refuting a video-clip; and allusions to other Malaysian politicians.I would like to think that Namewee had fun as the 'hero' in this movie, but his efforts are too self-indulgent and crude to be hilarious. Again, he opts to use obscenities, naming his characters Lan Qiao (colloquial for 'penis') and Gong See Fatt, and idiotic situations that make us cringe rather than laugh. However, his use of local celebs, like Adibah Noor, Afdlin Shauki, David Arumugam, Patrick Teoh and Kenny & Chee help to spark and sustain audience interest in the plot. As director, he seems to have allowed his 'guest stars' to run loose and do whatever they want with their cameos. Let's hope Namewee learns from his flaws and not wallow in its RM7-million gross.

Most of the scene relates to my childhood and adult as Malaysian Chinese. Great materials for current government to rethink and understand why some Malaysians still think there are much more room for IMPROVEMENT / to be a normal government, in my opinion.Karen Kong was lovely in this movie and I knew why she cried.Namewee was hero for me as he is brave and considered enough to voice and shoot out how my heart feels.Overall, 9/10. The 1 point was because he somehow think Nasi Lemak is much tastier then Chinese food, any how, that was the point of this movie, I guess.

From all the movies made by Malaysian Chinese I watched, Nasi Lemak 2.0 is perhaps, having the shortest mean-time-between-laughing. The only movie come second to this one, is The Superhero Movie. It's simply indisputable. Even the title itself refers to the recent riot, Bersih 2.0 that fights for fair and square general election.Although the synopsis suggested he is on a journey to search for the best recipe of Nasi Lemak, the fact is this movie brings you on a quick tour on Malaysia's pathetic coward politicians' stories, specialties of each races and sometimes small story clips that make you laugh. Name Wee wrote a very, very good script for this.The downside is this movie is unsuitable for family viewings, there are many crude sex jokes involved and some characters are named after Chinese profanities, like Lan Qiao and Gong See Fart. And the bloody offscreen penis chopping scene is definitely a not-so-humorous joke.Thankfully, for those who read newspaper often and pay attention to recent happenings know what the movie is talking about. They presented the bad sides of the infamous politicians in a humorous and sarcastic way. And sometimes characterization is not important at all. There is no definite biography for all the characters. For instance, the Gong See Fart can suddenly be CSL, the next moment he became Li***m, or the Chef Huang would transform into a guy in MCA. It's a total fun ride of politic jokes.Lastly, as Malaysian you will feel warm-hearted when watching this movie. Maybe you even feel that you don't know Malaysia as it is. The races mentioned are Chinese, Baba Nyonya, Indian and lastly Malays. I don't want to spoil the features of each races here.There is not much to complain about this film, I like it. But you have the liberty to hate it, conservative guys.

To really appreciate this movie, there must be two conditions: you either are Malaysian, or at least know what is going on in our country as of late, in a political sense. I'm a Malaysian, and I'm glad I saw this movie.The Malaysian film industry is in a sad state. I hate to admit it but it's true. Many of the local-made films are tailor-made mostly for certain races, and doesn't even try to integrate into others'. Many of the local movies rely on slapstick, frothy humor to entertain the audience where the ugly truth that it is just overused, lame and stupid that people don't want to see them. Our industry's "thriving" success mainly comes from English - quote "Hollywood" - films. With Yasmin Ahmad's unfortunate death, Malaysia is in dire need of another daring mainstream filmmaker who's not afraid to tread serious ground.Enter controversial Taiwan-educated, Malaysian-born rapper Namewee who makes his feature film debut throwing a triple-punch (starring/directing/co-writing) here in this simple, light-hearted and frothy slapstick comedy (fantasy too, perhaps?) that touches some sensitive ground along the way - issues perhaps familiar only to Malaysians, involving racial tension, inequalities, and intolerance, yet these traits are all laid into the background as Namewee wants the audience to sit back, chill, and laugh. He succeeds.The local actors and a variety of languages, races, and style of humor mostly blend in nicely, making this the closest thing to a true "Malaysian" movie since Yasmin Ahmad's great "Sepet" where people of all races integrate into a peaceful and (in this film's case) lively tale. The local celebrity cameos such as Afdlin Shauki, Adibah Noor, Reshmonu, Nadine Anne Thomas and Dato' David Arumugam don't detract the film either.The story goes along the all-too familiar lines of a cooking competition between siblings in which the victor gets ownership of a restaurant, and Namewee plays an arrogant chef who participates against a pure Chinese chef. By using a simple and easily accessible plot-line, Namewee frames the country's social problems and commentary around it and deconstructs them one by one, it is refreshing to see Malaysians acting like real Malaysians and not playing the fool too much like in many, many Malaysian movies (that has jokes that simply fall flat because of this).There are some flaws (let's face it, what movie doesn't?) The Malay, Nyonya and Indian segments were kind of short and I wish they had more/equal time to focus on those. There are a few characters that are too foolish to be funny. There's random musical moments and fantasy sequences, and some of the humor sort of falls flat, but Namewee manages to succeed for the most part, as he promotes peace and unity in our country in quite an honest manner.You gotta understand, the Bersih 2.0 protests (regarding clean and fair elections, in which our government responded by shutting down parts of the capital Kuala Lumpur, and heavily enforcing police rule) which were months ago are still lingering in our memories, and the stereotypes of other races causes mistrust and misunderstanding us. Namewee is telling us to chill, relax and get along, as well as respecting and appreciating other people's cultures. This is what we need, to laugh our problems behind us. There's this other local campaign known as "1Malaysia" which was created to promote unity and tolerance among us Malaysians. This film, I guess, can be a small but important reminder for us to move towards that promise.This film isn't as controversial and daring as "Sepet" but it is still a bold and noble effort for a first-time filmmaker who in his film presses issues that are considered taboo in conservative media. I've seen radical Malaysian bloggers threatening to boycott this movie. For what, I ask? It's a comedy with some slice-of-life. It's fun and it teaches some.And what about Namewee? Well his performance was funny, and makes for a good local comic lead. He's also quite adept behind the camera, handling the other actors with a light-hearted touch. And he and co- writer Fred Chong manage to conjure up lots of funny lines in the script (one of the characters has a name which is almost exactly like a Mandarin swear word). In short, a good start. And the rap song at the end really speaks out for all of us Malaysians.Recently Malaysia's PM had announced to abolish two security laws, an act which may pave the way for our country to be a more mature democratic one. This is good for freedom of speech here, and perhaps the movies here from then on will touch on more sensitive issues in a serious manner. "Sepet" was perhaps the first big push, and "Nasi Lemak 2.0" is the second. We now await the next one.So in short, it's an above average local comedy, and definitely not bad at all - but it may be an important movie for Malaysia right now. Namewee has made a flawed but entertaining and somewhat daring comedy that isn't afraid to tackle issues, yet it teaches us as well to be tolerant and respectful of other races. I hope many Malaysians will watch and appreciate the movie for what it can offer them - laughs and some lessons to be learned. Already in it's second week in cinemas here and it's still selling out at the local box office. That's a good sign, and judging from the real-life events above, a promising start for Namewee's mainstream filmography, and here's hoping for the revitalization of the Malaysian film industry as well. This slice of modern Malaysian life is flawed, but worth seeing.Overall rating: 65/100