Money No Enough
Encyclopedia
Money No Enough is a Singaporean comedy film about three friends with financial problems who start a car polishing business together. Written by Jack Neo
, directed by Tay Teck Lock and produced by JSP Films, the movie stars Neo, Mark Lee
and Henry Thia
. Released in cinemas on 7 May 1998, Money No Enough earned over S$5.8 million and remains the all-time highest-grossing Singaporean film, but the movie received mixed reviews from critics. Its success helped revive the Singaporean film industry
and pave the way for the emergence of other Singaporean cultural phenomena.
, Ong, a general contractor
, and Hui, a kopi tiam
waiter. After an argument with his boss, Keong quits his job and is unable to get another due to his poor command of English, lack of academic qualifications and computer illiteracy. With bills (especially instalments) to pay and a family to support, he goes heavily into debt whereupon his wife leaves him, taking their daughter with her. Ong borrows S$40,000 from loan shark
s, and plans to repay them after collecting a debt owed him by a friend who subsequently runs away. The loan sharks beat up Ong for not repaying the loan within the two-week deadline, so he flees to Johor Bahru
. Hui, who is single and lives with his elderly mother, wastes his meagre salary on 4D
and pursuing an insurance agent who he has a crush on.
In an attempt to resolve their financial problems, the three friends decide to start a car polishing business together with the limited capital
they have. However, at the opening ceremony of their business, Hui's mother collapses and is taken to hospital, where she is diagnosed with leukaemia. Hui has three wealthy older sisters, but they refuse to help pay the medical bills, and his application for financial assistance is rejected because of his sisters' high incomes. To compound matters, the loan sharks show up at the company to harass Ong. Ong and Hui ask to cash out their shares so they can pay the loan sharks and medical bills respectively, but all their money has already been spent on equipment and other business running costs. Hui's mother then dies.
At the wake for Hui's mother's, which raises ten thousand dollars of bai jin (contributions toward funeral expenses), the loan sharks turn up, pursue Ong and are arrested after a lengthy police chase. Keong convinces his wife and daughter to enter an obstacle race where they win the first prize of S$100,000, which he uses to pay his creditors, and his family is reunited. The car polishing business is successful, and the three friends go on to become the directors of Autoglym
Singapore.
film 12 Storeys
, and saw potential in the then virtually nonexistent local film industry. He wrote a screenplay about expatriates in the advertising industry, but decided the concept would not appeal to most Singaporeans, so he thought of writing a story about Ah Beng
s (a stereotype of certain young Chinese men), drawing on the humble backgrounds of Lee, Thia and himself.
Inspired, he contacted Tay Teck Lock, a former producer for Channel 8, and suggested they collaborate. They decided on a plot about three Singaporean men facing financial difficulties. Neo spent eight months writing the script, while Tay helped develop the characters and jokes. Despite the Speak Mandarin Campaign
, Neo chose to use Hokkien
dialogue to "reflect real life" and "reach a different audience".
Money No Enough was produced by JSP Films on a budget of S$850,000. The production crew included Deri Ng as first assistant director, J.P. Tan as producer
, Kamis as cinematographer
, A. Supranamian as film editor, Anthony Ng as art director
and Abdul Shukar Mohd as sound designer. Filming was plagued by financial problems, such as poor quality shooting equipment, confiscation of props
that were not paid for, and a High Court petition against the producer which almost caused the project to be declared bankrupt.
After the Board of Film Censors
reviewed and approved Money No Enough, distributor Shaw Organisation released the film on 21 screens on 7 May 1998. The success of the movie led to a dispute between Neo and JSP Films over their shares of the profits. To mark the tenth anniversary of Money No Enough in 2008, the film was re-released in cinemas and was followed by a sequel, Money No Enough 2
.
for a month. In total, the film made S$5.8 million, and remains the best Singapore box office showing by a local movie bettered only by two foreign films (Titanic
and The Lost World: Jurassic Park
). At the end of its box office run, a record 70,000 VCD
s of Money No Enough were sold.
The film received a mixed critical reception with LoveHKFilm.com commending the film as "an effective satire of...Singaporean culture" and noted that the actors "do a credible job representing characters from Singapore's varying social strata", while a Variety
review described the movie as "initially fresh and amusing but ultimately too one-note and local in its humor to travel far". Francis Dass of the New Straits Times
wrote that Money No Enough was "spot-on" and "funny", but criticised the "clichéd script and the director's penchant for melodrama".
The movie's success sparked the film career of Jack Neo, who won the Best Director Award at the 1998 Silver Screen Awards and would go on to make hits like I Not Stupid
, as well as to develop the Singaporean film industry. Four more Singaporean movies were produced in 1998, two of them described by critics as copycats of Money No Enough. With its use of Hokkien and crude portrayal of Singaporean life, the film is also credited with paving the way for other Singaporean cultural phenomena such as mrbrown
and TalkingCock.
Jack Neo
Jack Neo Chee Keong , PBM, credited as Jack Neo on screen, is a Chinese Singaporean film and television actor, host and director...
, directed by Tay Teck Lock and produced by JSP Films, the movie stars Neo, Mark Lee
Mark Lee (comedian)
Mark Lee Kok Huang is a Singaporean Chinese comedian, actor and film director. He works in MediaCorp and J Team Productions with Jack Neo. He is famous for, amongst others, playing the title role in Singapore's MediaCorp TV Channel 5 television sitcom Police & Thief as Lee Tok Kong, Phua Chu Kang...
and Henry Thia
Henry Thia
Henry Thia is a Singaporean actor who is probably best known for his roles in Money No Enough and Police & Thief as Hui and Georgie Gan respectively...
. Released in cinemas on 7 May 1998, Money No Enough earned over S$5.8 million and remains the all-time highest-grossing Singaporean film, but the movie received mixed reviews from critics. Its success helped revive the Singaporean film industry
Cinema of Singapore
Despite having a flourishing Chinese and Malay film industry in the 1950s and 1960s, Singapore's film industry declined after independence in 1965. There were a few films that featured Singaporean actors and were set in Singapore, including Saint Jack and They Call Her Cleopatra Wong...
and pave the way for the emergence of other Singaporean cultural phenomena.
Plot
The plot revolves around the lives of three close friends: Keong, a spendthrift white-collar workerWhite-collar worker
The term white-collar worker refers to a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work, in contrast with a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
, Ong, a general contractor
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
, and Hui, a kopi tiam
Kopi tiam
咖啡店A kopitiam or kopi tiam is a traditional breakfast and coffee shop found in Southeast Asia. The word is a portmanteau of the Malay word for coffee and the Hokkien dialect word for shop...
waiter. After an argument with his boss, Keong quits his job and is unable to get another due to his poor command of English, lack of academic qualifications and computer illiteracy. With bills (especially instalments) to pay and a family to support, he goes heavily into debt whereupon his wife leaves him, taking their daughter with her. Ong borrows S$40,000 from loan shark
Loan shark
A loan shark is a person or body that offers unsecured loans at illegally high interest rates to individuals, often enforcing repayment by blackmail or threats of violence....
s, and plans to repay them after collecting a debt owed him by a friend who subsequently runs away. The loan sharks beat up Ong for not repaying the loan within the two-week deadline, so he flees to Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland...
. Hui, who is single and lives with his elderly mother, wastes his meagre salary on 4D
4-Digits
4-Digits is a lottery in Singapore and Malaysia. Individuals play by choosing any number from 0000 to 9999. Then, 23 winning numbers are drawn each time. If one of the numbers matches the one that the player has bought, a prize is won. A draw is conducted to select these winning numbers...
and pursuing an insurance agent who he has a crush on.
In an attempt to resolve their financial problems, the three friends decide to start a car polishing business together with the limited capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
they have. However, at the opening ceremony of their business, Hui's mother collapses and is taken to hospital, where she is diagnosed with leukaemia. Hui has three wealthy older sisters, but they refuse to help pay the medical bills, and his application for financial assistance is rejected because of his sisters' high incomes. To compound matters, the loan sharks show up at the company to harass Ong. Ong and Hui ask to cash out their shares so they can pay the loan sharks and medical bills respectively, but all their money has already been spent on equipment and other business running costs. Hui's mother then dies.
At the wake for Hui's mother's, which raises ten thousand dollars of bai jin (contributions toward funeral expenses), the loan sharks turn up, pursue Ong and are arrested after a lengthy police chase. Keong convinces his wife and daughter to enter an obstacle race where they win the first prize of S$100,000, which he uses to pay his creditors, and his family is reunited. The car polishing business is successful, and the three friends go on to become the directors of Autoglym
Autoglym
Autoglym is a British manufacturer of a range of car care and valeting products, which are sold in over 45 countries.Established in 1965, and based in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, Autoglym is part of the Altro Group....
Singapore.
Production
In the 1990s, Neo, Lee and Thia had became well-known in Singapore for their performances in the Channel 8 television show Comedy Night. Neo then acted in the 1997 Eric KhooEric Khoo
Eric Khoo is a film director from Singapore. He was introduced to the world of cinema at a very early age. He was educated at United World College of South East Asia before attending City Art Institute in Sydney, Australia where he pursued cinematography...
film 12 Storeys
12 Storeys
12 Storeys is a 1997 Singaporean comedy film directed by Eric Khoo. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.-Synopsis:...
, and saw potential in the then virtually nonexistent local film industry. He wrote a screenplay about expatriates in the advertising industry, but decided the concept would not appeal to most Singaporeans, so he thought of writing a story about Ah Beng
Ah Beng
Ah Beng, from , is a stereotype applied to a certain group of young Chinese men in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Malaysia. The stereotypical view of an Ah Beng is a young Chinese man or teenager who lacks cultural refinement or indulges in criminal activity or is involved in brawls or...
s (a stereotype of certain young Chinese men), drawing on the humble backgrounds of Lee, Thia and himself.
Inspired, he contacted Tay Teck Lock, a former producer for Channel 8, and suggested they collaborate. They decided on a plot about three Singaporean men facing financial difficulties. Neo spent eight months writing the script, while Tay helped develop the characters and jokes. Despite the Speak Mandarin Campaign
Speak Mandarin Campaign
The Speak Mandarin Campaign is an initiative by the government of Singapore to encourage the Singaporean Chinese population to speak Mandarin, one of the four official languages of Singapore...
, Neo chose to use Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
dialogue to "reflect real life" and "reach a different audience".
Money No Enough was produced by JSP Films on a budget of S$850,000. The production crew included Deri Ng as first assistant director, J.P. Tan as producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, Kamis as cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
, A. Supranamian as film editor, Anthony Ng as art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
and Abdul Shukar Mohd as sound designer. Filming was plagued by financial problems, such as poor quality shooting equipment, confiscation of props
Theatrical property
A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...
that were not paid for, and a High Court petition against the producer which almost caused the project to be declared bankrupt.
After the Board of Film Censors
Censorship in Singapore
Censorship in Singapore mainly targets sexual, political, racial and religious issues, as defined by out-of-bounds markers.-Implementation:The Media Development Authority approves publications, issues arts entertainment licences and enforces the Free-to-air TV Programme Code, Cable TV Programme...
reviewed and approved Money No Enough, distributor Shaw Organisation released the film on 21 screens on 7 May 1998. The success of the movie led to a dispute between Neo and JSP Films over their shares of the profits. To mark the tenth anniversary of Money No Enough in 2008, the film was re-released in cinemas and was followed by a sequel, Money No Enough 2
Money No Enough 2
Money No Enough 2 is a Singaporean film written and directed by Jack Neo and produced by Neo Studios, Mediacorp Raintree Pictures and Scorpio EastPictures....
.
Reception
Money No Enough earned S$50,000 from sneak previews and S$42,000 on its opening day, then topped the local box officeBox office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
for a month. In total, the film made S$5.8 million, and remains the best Singapore box office showing by a local movie bettered only by two foreign films (Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
and The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a 1997 science fiction thriller film, directed by Steven Spielberg. The film was produced by Bonnie Curtis, Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen and Colin Wilson...
). At the end of its box office run, a record 70,000 VCD
VCD
VCD is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below:* VCD Athletic, semi-professional football team* Video CD* Voice command device* Value change dump * Vocal cord dysfunction* Visual Communication and Design...
s of Money No Enough were sold.
The film received a mixed critical reception with LoveHKFilm.com commending the film as "an effective satire of...Singaporean culture" and noted that the actors "do a credible job representing characters from Singapore's varying social strata", while a Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
review described the movie as "initially fresh and amusing but ultimately too one-note and local in its humor to travel far". Francis Dass of the New Straits Times
New Straits Times
The New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print , having been founded as The Straits Times in 1845, and was reestablished as the "New Straits Times" in 1965. The paper served as Malaysia's only broadsheet format English...
wrote that Money No Enough was "spot-on" and "funny", but criticised the "clichéd script and the director's penchant for melodrama".
The movie's success sparked the film career of Jack Neo, who won the Best Director Award at the 1998 Silver Screen Awards and would go on to make hits like I Not Stupid
I Not Stupid
I Not Stupid is a Singaporean comedy film about the lives, struggles, and adventures of three Primary 6 pupils who are placed in the academically inferior EM3 stream. Written and directed by Jack Neo, and produced by MediaCorp Raintree Pictures, the movie stars Xiang Yun, Richard Low, Selena Tan,...
, as well as to develop the Singaporean film industry. Four more Singaporean movies were produced in 1998, two of them described by critics as copycats of Money No Enough. With its use of Hokkien and crude portrayal of Singaporean life, the film is also credited with paving the way for other Singaporean cultural phenomena such as mrbrown
Mrbrown
Lee Kin Mun , aka mrbrown, is a Singaporean blogger well known for his social and political commentary amidst Singapore's tight media restrictions. Affectionately known by many as Singapore's "Blogfather", mrbrown is one of the more notable bloggers in the Singaporean blogosphere. His podcast...
and TalkingCock.