Not many comedies can make you laugh until it hurts, but Tootsies And The Fake pulls it off with ease.
Now showing in cinemas, the new Tootsies film continues on from the popular TV series Diary Of Tootsies (2016-2017). Two years after its TV run, our favourite gang of three tootsies and a lesbian find new life in a hilarious mission to locate a "fake" -- a doppelgänger to impersonate a superstar who gets into an accident because of them.
From beginning to end, the movie bombards its audiences with an onslaught of jokes and comedic stunts. It seems they've employed every trick in the book. The latest slang and catchphrases are there. Sex jokes. Fat jokes. Fart jokes. Poo jokes. You name it. There's everything. Various celebrities make hilarious cameos, both as themselves and as fictional characters, bringing the fun to the max.
The movie opens with a dream sequence that parodies GDH studio hits like Pee Mak before the story begins to unfold, showing what each character has been up to since the series concluded. Natty (Pattarasaya Kruasuwansiri), the only lesbian in the group, is trying to get pregnant to please her cat-obsessed mother. Golf (Thongchai Thongkuntom), the larger-than-life gayzilla, is heartbroken because his boyfriend has decided to become a monk. Kim (Ratthanant Janyajirawong), the flight attendant with more than a few nose jobs, is unemployed. And then there's Gus (Paopetch Charoensook), the owner of the tootsies' diary and the film's narrator, who is now living with his boyfriend and his boyfriend's annoying niece, while his ex is trying to re-enter the picture.
A scene from Tootsies And The Fake sees Gus, left, trying to avoid his ex.
Their lives take a sharp turn when Golf and Kim are responsible for superstar Cathy (Araya A. Hargate) getting into an accident. Threatened with legal action, they have to find someone to replace Cathy for her upcoming ad shoot. They eventually discover Nam (also played by Araya), a street-food hawker who looks exactly like the star. One problem: where Cathy is polite and soft-spoken, Nam is loud and rude.
And so their mission impossible begins, and the laughs become more and more frequent. But is there such a thing as being too funny? The film sets up multiple story threads, but doesn't really dwell on any of them. The focus is very much on the jokes, while the story and characters seem underdeveloped and even insignificant at times.
Araya steals every scene she's in. The celebrity cameos are mostly funny, though you have to be quite familiar with Thai showbiz and social networks to get all the jokes. The tootsies gang, as a whole, do their job well. However Gus, who is supposed to be the main character, is pretty much forgotten. The internal conflict involving his love triangle and desire to take his relationship to the next level feels so light that it's uninteresting. He's memorable for his pink hair, but not much else.
In all its lighthearted glory, Tootsies And The Fake should be a hit among audiences this long weekend. Laughter is surely welcome at this festive time of year. It just would have been nice if there has been a solid story to make it a completely satisfying home run.
- Tootsies And The Fake
- Starring Paopetch Charoensook, Ratthanant Janyajirawong, Thongchai Thongkuntom, Pattarasaya Kruasuwansiri and Araya A. Hargate
- Directed by Kittiphak Thong-uam
- In Thai with English subtitles
