Tacky jokes and tedious plots still conquer the hearts of comedy moviegoers

Director: Ko Zaw (Aryone Oo). Cast: Myint Myat, Kyaw Kyaw Bo and Wut Hmone Shwe Yee alongside with the other supportive acts. 120 minutes

Some people decide to watch a film because of its favourable reviews. Others decide to watch because of feedbacks from the people who already watched it. A few settle on by monitoring the ticket sales. Still others select the movies they watch depending on the film genres.

For me, I watched this Myanmar comedy film “Mingalar Kadin” (Wedding Night Bed) not because of veteran actor Myint Myat, who is famous for his comedy role in several commercial films, but because of the controversy the movie generated  among the mainstream film viewers ever since the online battle between the local art and entertainment page –MMDB (which covers film reviews) and the Mingalar Kadin official page which has over 3.4 million followers, erupted in social media and Facebook.
Friday morning show didn’t look so good as only one-third of the seats in Shae Saung Cinema was occupied. It might be because the film was running on its third week at the theatre as it started showing on August 10.
After a half-dozen trailers of local films were screened, “Mingalar Kadin” started showing at 10:20 am.
The film is set in a beautiful village which is not a surprise since it is the usual settings for most Burmese comedy films. The two male actors: Chit Khin (Myint Myat) and Pae Toe (Kyaw Kyaw Bo) are fierce rivals for the heart of village beauty, May Phyu (Wut Hmone Shwe Yee). Unfortunately for the two, she hated both of them.
The plot is simple like the other comedy films as the two protagonists fought tooth and nail to win May Phyu’s affection by cheating, fighting and profiting from each other.
Chit Khin uses a lot of tricks based on suggestions from his friend on how to winMay Phyu’s heart. So does Pae Toe. In here, the director presented the characters in comical ways through their costumes and family backgrounds.
Being a rich man, Chit Khin wears Myanmar Paso (male longyi) and white-collared shirt together with a big gold necklace and always carrying a black purse. But despite his opulent attire, he is the stingiest person in the village.
On the other hand, Pae Toe, who likes to wear cowboy style attire, complete with a hat, gloves, sunglasses and boots, is a scheming, street smart man who was able to convince Chit Khin that he is not going to win May Phyu’s love.
Two-third of the film featured Chit Khin’s tricks in winning May Phyu’s affection, as Pae Toe tried different ways to disturb them.
Myint Myat, who played the role of Chit Khin, is already famous for his comedy acting skills and he acted his role perfectly. But Kyaw Kyaw Bo who is acting the role of Pae Toe gave Myint Myat a run for his money for his impressive portrayal as Pae Toe. 

Some of the scenes are funny because of their acting skills. However, the jokes mainly revolved around sex and physical appearance. In one scene, Chit Khin’s friend suggested using force to get May Phyu’s love.
I was surprised that his sexist joke became popular in the Facebook: “Rape May Phyu and win her love”. I couldn’t understand why the audience laughed and even considered that a joke. There were similar nonsensical jokes, but what surprised me most was people inside the theatre laughed at these kinds of jokes, which I find not funny at all.
No wonder Myanmar films have such a low standard and could not be compared with the international films. Most commercial filmmakers blame it on the lack of latest technique in filmmaking.
But all it seems is not lost in the local film industry. There is a growing resentment among some people against these low standard Myanmar movies, such as the “Myanmar Paw Kar Myar Yat” (Stop making silly Myanmar films) group. However, the filmmakers claimed they are doing these kinds of movies because the people patronise it.
The last part of Mingalar Kadin is about May Phyu’s wish: to get a nice and expensive bed as a wedding gift from Chit Khin, who finally won May Phyu’s love. Pae Toe again, tried to frustrate this by telling Chit Khin not to fulfill her wish.

Even though I’m not the director or scriptwriter of the film, I already knew who will win May Phyu’s love.
It is so annoying to watch Mingalar Kadin. However, I saw most of the audience inside the cinema enjoyed watching it.
Mingalar Kadin is just one of those nightmarish Myanmar commercial movies, which have no aim to educate the people. It is just purely entertainment like other local comedy films; loud and chaotic. I wonder why this film was able to get the nod of  the country’s censorship board which has been very strict with indie films.