On my way to watch Jack Neo’s Money No Enough 2, I camwhored in the taxi.

Sometimes, I wonder what taxi drivers think about my camwhoring activities. I camwhore a lot in taxis because firstly, there is nothing else to do in there and I hate sitting around having nothing to do.

Secondly, I hardly have time to camwhore otherwise. Just the fact that I even take cabs show that I’m always running behind time. Otherwise, I would take bus/MRT to save money.

I can’t explain this facial expression.

Let’s just say that I went home and downloaded the photos and I saw this and I couldn’t remember what I was thinking when I shot this.

There was a kink in my fringe. I was trying to add a bit of a curl to my stupid stubborn straight hair with a hairdryer, but in my hurry, I made an angle instead of a curl.

Dumb hair.

So, the reason I’m talking about camwhoring in a taxi is because I didn’t camwhore at the cinema for the Blog Aloud movie event.

I know some readers get upset when I don’t post camwhore pics for them to criticise and insult.

The reason I didn’t camwhore at the cinema before the show started was because I thought I could do it after the show, together with all the bloggers attending the event with me.

The reason I didn’t camwhore after the show was because I had cried so much during the show that my makeup had all run away.

When I went up to say hi to director Jack Neo after the movie, it took him five seconds and a very close look to recognise me.

“Oh, it’s you!” he said, after studying my face for a while, trying to figure out whether I was human or ghost.

“Yes, your movie did this to my makeup,” I accused him.

“Good, good,” he said. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

I did, indeed, enjoy Money No Enough 2.

If you look past the product placements, slapstick jokes and sometimes cheesy CG, you’ll feel touched by the message that the movie wants to bring across, that love transcends money.

In a harsh, materialistic society such as ours, it’s hard to uphold the traditional values of love, loyalty and filial piety without sacrificing monetary happiness. Something has to give and the end result is often hard to swallow no matter what you choose.

I don’t think the movie answers any questions or offers any ready solutions (other than just try your best to do the right thing), but it makes us stop and consider what we truly value in life. I think that is a very powerful message.

The star of the show, to me, is undoubtedly veteran Malaysian actress Lai Ming.

She plays the long-suffering mother of three sons (played by Jack Neo himself, Mark Lee and Henry Thia).

I would even go as far to say that her performance deserves an Oscar, such was the extent to which she impressed me with the love and vulneribility that shone through her eyes with every word she said or didn’t say.

She was the reason my piece of tissue paper (very kindly sponsored by molemole, who noticed me rubbing my face with my hands halfway through the movie) got so wet I couldn’t find a dry spot left to dab my eyes by the end of the movie.

The melancholic Hokkien songs helped, too.

I love the Hokkien songs in Jack Neo movies. They’re always so sweet and poignant and nothing like the scary ones you hear at KTV pubs.

By the way, the movie is dominated by Hokkien because the director feels that it makes the movie more realistic. Also, he’s very afraid that, one day, knowledge of Hokkien will totally be wiped out in Singapore, therefore he feels the need to immortalise the language in his movies.

“Young people like to read subtitles, anyway,” he explained during the interaction session at the end of the movie, “So having a Hokkien-dominated movie doesn’t mean they won’t understand it.”

Money No Enough 2 could be shorter, in my opinion, because crying nonstop is really exhausting, not to mention embarrassing. Despite my most heroic efforts to quell the dam, the tears just freely flowed, as if someone had forgotten to turn off the tap.

It’s good, though.

I read somewhere that crying helps to remove toxins from your body so you get better skin after that.

Cool. Let’s call it a movie facial.

But if you’re going to do a movie facial, I recommend either doing it at home, or not wearing any makeup if you’re doing it outside.

Catch Money No Enough 2 at Golden Village cinemas. Support local movies… because you know it’s the right thing to do.