MuTeLuv: Fist Foot Fusion

Frozen Fist Frustration!

I am a little disappointed in this one because despite the actors being at top form, it just completely failed to deliver - as a comedy or a romance or even a heartfelt story.

Fist Foot Fusion follows Khlairung, a Tik-Tok boxing influencer who has been at odds with Sunshine, an influencer debunking influencer (he basically goes around "exposing" people's online presences). Sunshine says Khlairung is a fake boxer, so he asks for help proving that he's a real boxer from the shrine of a former Thai traditional dance teacher, by promising that he will dedicate a performance to the shrine. But when he forgets to do it, his fist is frozen into place. So to fulfill this promise, he enlists the help of Malai, the teacher's granddaughter who is an aspiring idol.

And that's it. That's the story. They say so and so has to happen, it happens. Done.

I loved all the performances - acting and dancing. Sky was his usual best, I actually enjoyed Prim's performance, Mark just gets better and better, and though we don't get to see much (or as much as I wanted) of Piploy or Thank, I think they did a solid job.

The script just let me down though. Everything felt like a half attempt. Hingeing on a few reactions for the entire comedic plot. The romance not really hitting the spot. And I think there may have been a encouragement/heartfelt try at writing but it fell flat.

It's a nice little addition but definitely the weakest of the anthology (until now) for me. The other three until now had a balance of heart and comedy and/or romance, but Fist Foot Fusion tried so hard to have all three and ended up with almost none.

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Surprise Mother Father

The initial sports and influencer scheme wasn't much interesting until the supernatural conceit kicks in and Klairung has to figure out what is happening to his stiffening hands. This entry really benefits from casting two of the company's more capable actors that also have camera presence as the leads and good supporting roles as well, which importantly comes into play for Klairung's deep insecurities that's preventing him from properly boxing for years and Malai's difficulties from her debt and not receiving any help despite having a magical spirit grandma that grants the wishes of everyone that makes some at her shrine. There's inherent romantic chemistry between Kairung and Malai, but the growth of the character's relationship with each other makes sense. The rival influencer Sunrise whose schtick is to expose the schemes and facades of various other influencers has a funny catchphrase where he says "Surprise, Mother Father!", but the funniest moments are when the shrine spirit grandma uses her power to show herself to people behaving badly towards her or her granddaughter like when she scares the jerk scamming Malai by endlessly extending her debt and smacking down Sunrise all in her giant form. It was funny too when Klairung is giving her the updates and mentions that Malai is staying at his house and peaces out of the dream before she can say anything. There are also little moments that have that wonderful Parbdee trademark comic timing that's fun too.

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