Amos Yee Jack Neo criticisms for Jack Neo’s latest movie We Not Naughty

One of the fiercest criticisms for Jack Neo’s latest movie We Not Naughty came unexpectedly from one of its cast members. The winner of a local newspaper short film contest Amos Yee, who played the role of Joshua Ang’s onscreen brother, disparaged the movie yesterday in the media conference.During one of the interview sessions, the actor, when being asked to assess the script, initially said that he did not want to criticize it. However, he later mentioned that there was something wrong with the structure.

The teenager further elaborated his views when he was asked on how would have improved on the script and shared, “There shouldn’t be so much weird transitions.”"Do you realised that the film has a lot of fade in and jumps from scenes over and over and over again,” the Zhonghua Secondary School student said and added, “That is confusing.”

That’s not all. On the development of the characters in the movie, he said, “You can do it at the beginning but it goes on for the entire film.”"And that bothers me,” he revealed, “and my whole family agrees that it’s freaking messy.”Despite his critical remark, the 14-year-old actor was earlier spotted singing praises of movie director Jack Neo during the conference.

“Oh, Jack Neo, you are awesome. You are like my uncle,” he proclaimed. He also mentioned that he likes his scenes in the movie.Speaking with a heavy American accent, the 14-year-old was oozing with confidence when he conversed with the emcee Danny Yeo throughout the session.When he was asked to compare the movie with his short films, Amos Yee tried to avoid the question and replied, “I don’t want to compare it with my short film.”

He was then asked to grade the movie, of which he gave a B+, while giving his own short film the same grade.
We Not Naughty marks Jack Neo’s return to the limelight from his hiatus following the news of his extramarital affairs.The film touched on the troubles faced by teenagers nowadays such as online bullying, gangs and studies, with the story centralized around the life of two polytechnic students played by Joshua Ang and Shawn Lee. The other main casts of the film include Hong Kong singer Daniel Chan and Taiwanese actress Cherry Hsia.

The veteran director handpicked Amos Yee for his role in the movie after looking his performance on his contest submission, in which Jack was one of the judges.The youngster explained that he agreed to participate in the film not because he likes the script, but he was “impressed by Jack’s previous work”, such as the I Not Stupid series and Homerun.

“He is like the best director of all time but he has this bad script that I wouldn’t go in,” said Amos Yee.”When they said they are making We Not Naughty, I immediately went in without considering the script.”Although Amos Yee said that it was “like a childhood dream come true for him” and called it “amazing”, when xinmsn asked him if the movie will boost his portfolio, Amos Yee firmly answered, “No.”

In response to Amos Yee’ comments on the movie, fellow actor Joshua said, “Maybe Amos Yee didn’t realized that we have actually shot a lot than what he saw and hence he could not understand the story well.”Further expressing his confidence in his long time working partner, he added, “I believe that Jack Neo knows what Singaporeans want, and I believe in what he wants to portray.”"Amos Yee is still young, and he will understand in time to come,” concluded Joshua.