I Not Stupid 3 (Chinese: 小孩不笨3) is a 2024 Singaporean comedy film written and directed by Jack Neo, featuring child actors Zhou Yuchen, Camans Kong, Goh Wee-Ann and Joseph Ng Zhiyang. The film also stars Hu Jing, Jae Liew, Collin Chee, Cheryl Desiree Chan, Xixi Lim, Ben Logan Sng, Glenn Yong, Terence Cao, Selena Tan, Patricia Mok, Anna Lin Ruping, Xiong Lingyi, Lee Kin Mun and Chew Chong Tak. It is the standalone sequel to I Not Stupid (2002) and I Not Stupid Too (2006).

Plot

Wang Zi Hao (Zhou Yuchen), a Chinese Primary 6 expatriate student from Shanghai, China and residing in Singapore, performs badly in his 4 subjects being English, Mathematics, Chinese and Science in Yuzher Primary School (宇哲小学) and plays video games on desktop computer at the rented home excessively, while his mother, Wen Ting (Hu Jing), forces him to study in various ways, such as memorising an English dictionary and a Chinese novel, and also going for endless tuition classes for English and Science at Xin Yuan Fei Edu Hub (新源飞教育一站式), which is one of the popular and well-known Tuition Centres in Singapore. As he always scored better grades for Chinese and Mathematics, which explains why he doesn't need tuition for the latter 2 subjects. Over time, Zi Hao's grades gradually improved and was about to surpass his class known as Class 6A's top student and good friend named Jayden Lee Jun Wei (Camans Kong). Jayden's mother, Sophia Chew (Jae Liew) notices this and warns Jayden to Not study and hang out with Zi Hao anymore. Due to this, their friendship is strained, and Jayden views Zi Hao as a foe. Meanwhile, a new teacher named Mr. Lee (Glenn Yong), takes over Class 6A as their Form Teacher and Mathematics Teacher, and impresses Class 6A after solving a high-difficulty and complicated Mathematics Algebra Equation and is quickly loved by Class 6A due to his handsome appearance. Wen Ting signs Zi Hao up to an English Speech Competition whilst she was dealing with marital issues with her China husband, who is reluctant to financially aid them, and eventually Zi Hao and Wen Ting got evicted and reside from the rented semi detached house to a rented HDB Flat. Whilst moving in, Zi Hao's Father sent a text message to Wen Ting regarding to his desire of a divorce, and this majorly affected Zi Hao and Wen Ting herself. On the day of the English Speech Competition, the contestants are Jayden, Zi Hao, and a few other students from Class 6A. During Jayden's speech, he struggled with speaking about his topic of "My Mother", due to his uneasy relationship with her and gets last place. Next up is Zi Hao, who was chosen with the same topic and received fifth place. Sophia is enraged after hearing Jayden got last place, so she ordered Jayden to sneak cheat notes in Zi Hao's pencil case. During the Science Preliminary Examinations, Zi Hao was caught red-handed by their Science Teacher named Mr. Lim (Terence Cao) and was interrogated by both Mr. Lee and Mr. Lim himself; since the handwriting on the cheat notes and Zi Hao's handwriting had a major difference, it turns out that one of their fellow classmate from Class 6A named Rachel wrote the cheat note to do Jayden a favour. During Jayden's interrogation, he reveals that Sophia often canes and verbally abuses him for losing to Zi Hao in grades for English, Mathematics, Chinese and Science, and Zi Hao overhears this and decided to intentionally lose to Jayden by crossing out his correct answers during the Mathematics Preliminary Examinations. A few days later, Sophia and Mr. Lee meet in Yuzher Primary School's meeting room for a discussion about how she mistreats Jayden, but she reported Mr. Lee by lodging a formal complaint against him, and mistaking him for interfering with her marital affairs with Kelvin Lee (Collin Chee), and then after some disagreements with the School Principal of Yuzher Primary School named Mrs. Tan (Selena Tan) inside the School Principal's Office, Mr. Lee then resigns which made his form students from Class 6A unwilling bidding farewell to him whilst crying, and they're all going to miss him and couldn't bear to see him resigning. The next day, Sophia and Wen Ting got into a heated argument after Sophia believed that Zi Hao intentionally lost a few marks to Jayden during the Mathematics Preliminary Examinations was a rumor and confronts Wen Ting about it. Sophia returned to her car and attempted to report Wen Ting to Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and get her deported back to Shanghai, China, but Jayden stopped her from doing so, and in doing so, made a remark about Sophia, mostly about how this wasn't his mother's behaviour and that he did Not want to have a mother like her. This caused Sophia to be angered and slap him across the face. Jayden runs out of the car and onto the streets as Sophia chases him. However, during the chase, Jayden ran across a street, and accidentally got struck by an oncoming car and was rushed to the hospital in a coma. After this incident, Sophia sincerely regrets her actions and tearfully apologizes to Wen Ting. After the students from Class 6A completed their Primary School Leaving Examination for English, Mathematics, Chinese and Science, they parted ways and head to their desired secondary schools. The movie ends with Jayden waking up from his coma and decided to enroll in a neighbourhood secondary school instead, since no matter what, the point is just to study hard and get good results.

Cast

Zhou Yuchen as Wang Zi Hao Camans Kong as Jayden Lee Jun Wei Hu Jing as Wen Ting, Wang Zi Hao's Mother Jae Liew as Sophia Chew, Jayden Lee's Mother Goh Wee-Ann as Chen Jia Yao Joseph Ng Zhiyang as Andy Lim Collin Chee as Kelvin Lee, Jayden Lee's Father Cheryl Desiree Chan as Ada, Chen Jia Yao's Mother Xixi Lim as Andy Lim's Mother Ben Logan Sng as Andy Lim's Father, the CEO of all the handmade fishball noodles stalls in Singapore and also in neighbouring foreign country being Malaysia. Glenn Yong as Mr. Lee, Class 6A's Form Teacher and Mathematics Teacher of Yuzher Primary School (宇哲小学). Terence Cao as Mr. Lim, Class 6A's Science Teacher of Yuzher Primary School (宇哲小学). Selena Tan as Mrs. Tan, the School Principal of the Yuzher Primary School (宇哲小学), similar to her role from I Not Stupid Too as the School Principal of Tom Yeo (Shawn Lee) and Lim Chengcai's (Joshua Ang)'s Secondary School, and both of them are Not part of this film either. Tan previously portrayed the role as the mother of Terry Khoo (portrayed by Huang Po Ju, who isn't part of the prequel and this film) from the first installment, in which she spoke a majority of English dialogue during the first film, and spoke inarticulate Mandarin Chinese, as seen in the second film that she was attempting to speak fluent Chinese while mixing some with English. She is also the only cast member who has appeared in all 3 installments of the franchise thus far. Patricia Mok as Madam. Mok, the Discipline Mistress of Yuzher Primary School (宇哲小学), similar to her role as Miss. Tan from I Not Stupid, the Discipline Mistress of Terry Khoo (Huang Po Ju), Liu Kok Pin (Shawn Lee) and Ang Boon Hock's (Joshua Ang's) Primary School. Anna Lin Ruping as Madam. Ye, Class 6A's English Teacher of Yuzher Primary School (宇哲小学), Not to be confused with her role as Mrs. Alicia Tan, the School Principal from another Secondary School from I Not Stupid Too. Xiong Lingyi as Xiao Hui, a Chinese mother and Wen Ting's best friend from Shanghai, China. Lee Kin Mun, better known as mrbrown, as the Director, CEO and School Principal of Xin Yuan Fei Edu Hub, one of the popular and well-known Tuition Centres in Singapore. Chew Chong Tak as Class 6A's Chinese Teacher of Yuzher Primary School (宇哲小学). Foo Chay Yeow as Jayden Lee's Tuition Teacher for English, Mathematics, Chinese and Science, and was hired by Sophia Chew. Yati Asmiyati Asbah as Maria, the maid working at home for Jayden Lee, Sophia Chew and Kelvin Lee, similar to her role as Yati, the maid for the Yeo family consisting of Jerry Yeo (Ashley Leong), Tom Yeo (Shawn Lee), Karen Yeo (Xiang Yun) and Steven Yeo (Jack Neo) from I Not Stupid Too Movie and I Not Stupid Too TV Series, where Lee Jiaxun 李佳勳 portrayed Jerry Yeo in the latter TV Series after replacing Ashley Leong in the role. Richard Low as Jerry Khoo Bee Guan reprising his role from I Not Stupid. (cameo) Jack Neo as Mr. Liu reprising his role from I Not Stupid. (cameo)

Production

Lensing ceremony was held on 13 June 2023. In an interview, director Jack Neo said that the education system in Singapore has gone through numerous changes since the release of I Not Stupid in 2002 and I Not Stupid Too in 2006, and the film will explore the consequences when certain things remain unchanged. 90% of the filming took place onsite at a local school, with filming taking around 10 hours per day and with no night shots. The film centres around the four child actors Zhou Yuchen (age 11 as of July 2023), Goh Wee-Ann (age 12 as of July 2023), Camans Kong (age 12 as of July 2023) and Joseph Ng Zhiyang (age 11 as of July 2023). More than 2,000 people reportedly participated in the auditions for the film. Among the 4 main cast members, the film marked the acting debut of Joseph Ng Zhiyang. Filming began from late June and lasted until early August 2023. The screenplay was partially written by two Chinese scriptwriters who are based in Singapore. On the cast members, Hu Jing is a Chinese actress from Chuxiong, Yunnan, China and child actor Zhou Yuchen is also from Shanghai, China. Child actor Camans Kong is from Malaysia while newbie child actor Joseph Ng Zhiyang is from Singapore and previously resided in China for a couple of years. Child actress Goh Wee-Ann is active in the local television scene and has won the Star Awards for Young Talent twice.

Release and reception

Neo revealed that the film was released on 6 June 2024 during the school holidays in Singapore. It was also released in Malaysia on 13 June 2024, in China on 16 August 2024 and in Taiwan on 20 September 2024.

= Critical reception

= Tay Yek Keak of 8days gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, opining that the film, "despite good performances from both sets of mothers and sons, is long, long-winded and, like a dreaded year-end exam, it gets stuck kinda in the same old loop", and that the long-windedness of the film feels "like an exam checklist and sends [the storyline] to an average, unremarkable graduation."

References

Movie Terbaru dari LK21 dan Rebahin