singaporereveal.com

Movie: Xiaohai bu ben (2002)

“Kok Pin, Boon Hock and Terry are classmates in “EM3″ stream. In Singapore, that means that at the age of 12, the government has decided that they are not as academically inclined as their peers. Kok Pin is creative and a born artist but his parents would rather he focus on his Maths and Sciences. Boon Hock comes from a low-income family and needs to balance school and helping out at the food stall. Terry, a spoilt brat is just too lazy a student. While the three children suffer from the pressure of school, their parents have another set of problems – their jobs and careers … Written by L.H. Wong {lhw@sfs.org.sg}”

• Director: Jack Neo
• Release Date: 9 February 2002 (Singapore)
• Run Time: 105 min | Japan:108 min
• Country: Singapore
• Genre: Drama , Comedy

Goofs: Factual errors: At one point, someone says that “Chinese New Year is coming soon” (the date of Chinese New Year varies, but it is always in January or February), but later Jerry Khoo receives a text message and says that “terrorists flew a plane into the tallest building in the US” (September 11, 2001). Since Chinese New Year occurs at the end of the movie, perhaps the filmmakers added the second line as a memorial to 9/11 but forgot that it was the wrong time of year in the movie.