Boo-Ya!
Khomkrit Treewimol returns to the big screen with a supernatural romance that works, against its better judgement.
My Boo
Director: Khomkrit Treewimol • Writers: Khomkrit Treewimol, Chai-a-nan Soijumpa, Kirati Kumsat
Starring: Maylada Susri, Sutthirak Subvijitra, Timethai, Chaleumpol Tikumpornteerawong, Thatchaya Supathanyasatit
Thailand • 2hrs 5mins
Opens Hong Kong Sep 19 • IIB
Grade: B
When Joe (Sutthirak Subvijitra), a nearly professional, underemployed gamer in modern Bangkok, finds out his grandfather has died, he thinks it’s his chance to get some quick cash that will help him realise his gaming ambitions. Hey, at least he won’t have to worry about rent and food, right? One problem: at the reading of the will, Joe, the rest of the family and their lawyer discover grandpa kicked off before he finished writing – literally. Joe gets nothing. No big, because his brother (Adisorn Trisirikasem) tells him he’s welcome to the derelict house that he got. Thinking he’s struck gold: the house is huge and Joe figures sellign it will net him some good cash. But upon inspecting the place he promptly finds out it’s haunted. The spectral inhabitants are the beautiful (duh!) Anong (Maylada Susri), and her trusty servant-companions, Thong Gon (Chaleumpol Tikumpornteerawong) and Thong Yip (Thatchaya Supathanyasatit). Again, no big, because the quartet comes to an agreement on sharing the house, part of which involves Joe moving in and making a mint off the “haunted house experience” and country fair attraction he creates. It goes without saying, Joe and Anong fall in love. Can their supernatural romance transcend life and death?
Models in love
Of course it can, at least for the most part. That’s why the title of writer-director Khomkrit Treewimol’s ghostly rom-com is a play on “mah boo”. My Boo plays like a weird hybrid of A Chinese Ghost Story and Dead Again, and in truth despite – perhaps because of – the height of its concept it provides a surprisingly appealing diversion, thanks in part to some unironic performances and a few legitimately funny sequences, helped along by some sharp editing. My Boo has proved diverting enough to land on the list of Thailand’s top ten box office winners for 2024, alongside the likes of Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2 – all of which trail How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies.
Khomkrit, who broke out with the nostalgic rom-com My Girl back in 2003, does absolutely nothing to play with the rules and conventions of the form; he’s not interested in exploring concepts of reincarnation or destiny, forgiveness, unattainability and the way emotion can cloud our judgement, especially when it comes to romantic entanglement. Sure, My Boo wedges in a subplot about Anong feeling jealous due to her inability to interact with Joe in the real world, on a real physical level the way his ex-girlfriend Miw (Kanyawee Songmuang) can. But Anong’s fears are also a device deployed to ensure the emergence of the jealousy-based, second act conflict. Can’t have a rom-com without the Other Wo/Man after all, just one of the beats Khomkrit and co-writers Chai-a-nan Soijumpa and Kirati Kumsat make sure to hit along the way. That and making sure the star-crossed lovers are appropriately photogenic and can squeeze out the Lone Tear of Despair on cue.
My Boo is a wisp of a thing, and regardless of how it might be categorised it never really flirts with horror territory. It’s oddly bloated, though, thanks to a subplot about Anong’s death back in the 1930s (?) and the connection she and Joe seem to have stemming from that tragedy. It’s a needless add-on, however, and the backstory doesn’t really do anything for the front story except muddy up the players and their places.
But this is a rom-com, and to whine about silly contrivances and hand-waving away character development is moot. It needs romance, and it needs comedy. It has both, even if a couple of the film’s best gags ride the very find line between inspired and offensive. When Joe discovers Anong can possess living bodies, it offers them a chance at a first date. Lest we forget, this was reason enough to accuse Wonder Woman 1984 of using assault and lack of consent as a narrative crutch. Uh-oh. And one of the funniest passages here could be accused of trading in gay panic if popular musician Timethai, as Joe’s bestie Kong, and Puang Kaewprasert as Joe’s neighbour Uncle Pom, weren’t so effortlessly amusing as their possessed selves, and were Sutthirak not so unbothered by getting flirty with a couple of dudes. It almost makes a broader statement about the person on the inside being the thing we fall in love with. Not the physical body. My Boo is generally so sweet and good-natured it’s hard to believe there’s anything sinister to its comedy. Its horror certainly isn’t. — DEK