Don't Believe the Hype

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

A MAN and his lover are busy texting each other as they head for the wedding dais. Viewers think that both of them are getting married to each other but, as it tuns out, each is getting married to another person.Director, co-writer and star Afdlin Shauki's Untuk Tiga Hari starts off with this intriguing premise and introduces many flashbacks to explain how the two got into this precarious situation. The movie is based on Ahadiah Akashah's novel of the same name.Zafrin (Rashidi Ishak) and Ujie (Vanidah Imran) have known each other since their college days 10 years ago. Six months before their marriages, they scheme to get married only for three days and to divorce their spouses after that.Zafrin proposes this solution as he is under pressure from his mother (Khatijah Tan) to marry a woman of her choice.Zafrin and Ujie promise each other that they will do their best to avoid consummating their marriages. Ujie arms herself with pepper spray and Zafrin slathers himself with prawn paste (belacan) and durian.However, complication arise as Ujie has married the sympathetic and understanding Armi (Afdlin) and Zafrin is with the gorgeous and ever- willing-to-please Juwita (Ayu Raudhah).Armi and Juwita are crushed to learn that their spouses have been deceiving them.Armi, who's such a nice bloke because he's played by the director himself, convinces Ujie that he takes his marriage seriously. Juwita begs Zafrin not to divorce her and even tells him that he can marry another.One concern I have with this scenario is the absence of Armi and Juwita in their spouses' lives six months before the marriages. Didn't Armi and Juwita have any inkling that their future spouses were committed to others?The movie doesn't say whether both couples got to know each other before their marriages. In fact, Zafrin asks his wife whether she had loved anyone previously only on the second day of their marriage.I find it hard to believe that both couples didn't meet their intended partners before their weddings, even if they were arranged marriages.So the movie has created a scenario that could have easily been avoided. The movie says marriage is serious business but it creates unnecessary problems to explain that.Afdlin directs the bedroom scenes with a certain panache and in the style of old Hollywood comedies. It's hilarious to watch Zafrin and Ujie rebuffing their partners by all means possible.Both Zafrin and Ujie's mums (Fauziah Ahmad Daud) are portrayed as baying shrews. Zafrin's mum, especially is a control freak.A flashback shows Zafrin dating Balqis, the smartest girl in Form Five. His mum, however, is against their relationship as Balqis is poor and lives in a squatter home. One day, Balqis and her mum just disappear from the face of the earth.Viewers will wonder for a long time what happened to Balqis, and her disappearance is explained only at the end.Also, the actor who plays Zafrin at 17 looks much older. The young Ujie, too, has a boyfriend who doesn't look his age.www.jeffleemovies.com

I am not really a fan of love story, but this one is quite different. Yes it is still a love story, but it played in a different way.It played in a perspective of a lover who faced conflict between his parent's hope and what he wanted.The story is a combination of comedy and serious relationship matters. It may be suitable for 18 above viewers as the story mostly related to married couple, you know...what is marriage for right? The plot is created in such a way that viewer will understand why those character do what they want to....it's all about love.But, love without a mature decision will cause a real chaos in relationships not only to the lovers but also family members.I really recommend this, and to those who are planning for marriage, watch it! You will get good lesson from it!