Review: Fast & Feel Love

My history of Thai cinema is short but it is one that I would give time to promote to a Western audience.

One in particular that I have been championing for the past few years is Bad Genius. A comedy heist that gives its own sub-genre a refreshing new take.

Comedy seems to work well with films from Thailand as this one has a familiar fast paced energy to it with a lot of Western influence.

The concept is pretty ridiculous and the purposeful over-the-top tone, fourth-wall breaking and meta style of comedy with countless pop culture references makes for a highly winnable creation.

I loved at how much it was making regularly mundane activities feel like it belongs in an action blockbuster. Plus some of the references that it uses enhanced the wonderful absurdity.

Even with it drowning in comedy, there is a meaningful coming of age theme to it as well with a lot of relatable sequences. This is where we see the film's heart and they even managed to give the film some emotion.

The whole cast did a great job with this. All had their moments and fitted with the tone perfectly. Particular props have to go to Nat Kitcharit and Urassaya Sperbund, who were great co-leads. Their chalk and cheese characteristics made for memorable sequences and helped with both the comedy and coming of age aspects.

The only negative that's worth mentioning is that it was too long. In the final act, there were sequences that felt repetitive or overstayed it's welcome. This slowed the momentum down a bit.

But other than that, this was highly enjoyable, consistently hilarious with a style of humour that suits me perfectly. I can see this working well with people of my generation that are big into their pop culture.

The over-the-top tone works really well for the most part and it is a unique way of portraying a coming of age story. While there is a lot of energy to it, there is time given for the emotional parts of the story as well.

I really hope this gets a solid distribution as this is the type of film that deserves success with a mainstream audience as it is a big crowd-pleaser.

I must also mention that there is a post-credits scene. I didn't know there was going to be one. But the way the film was going, I had this hunch there could be one. So my guesswork and patience was rewarded with an extra bit of screen-time.

Rating: 8/10