Writer: Lai Swee Wei

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Watch this if you liked: "Sumo-lah"

Afdlin Shauki to me is still one of the kings of comedy in Malaysia and it can be seen clearly in his latest investigative comedy "Los Dan Faun", which features some overly peculiar dressed characters and a hilarious sofa company name owned by Tuan Soffarudin Al Sogood (played by Afdlin Shauki himself). You know you are guaranteed a good time laughing your heart out when Afdlin's behind it!

The story tells of two best friends, Carlos Rodrigo aka Los (Hans Isaac) and Ahmad Faun Bin Sulaiman aka Faun (Adlin Aman Ramlie), who decides to find their true life destiny in Kuala Lumpur. One day while working in a lingerie shop, Los discovers that Faun has a talent for finding lost items. Thus, they both set up a business to help people locate anything that are missing - and I do mean anything. Jasmin (Erra Fazira) contacts them to help locate her late husband Tuan Soffar's expensive watch. However, when Faun tries to locate the whereabouts of the watch, he finds that his powers are strangely affected.

The comedy behind it is absolutely hilarious with a combination of slapstick and intelligent humour. There is also a read-in-between-the-lines bit involving "Brokeback Mountain" that literally gives the true meaning to "laughing out loud".

This investigative comedy introduces something fresh to the Malaysian industry, as we don't normally see this on the big screen. It's nothing like Hollywood's "The Pink Panther" or "Inspector Gadget" that's for sure. The soundtrack is pretty funky and proudly original. Malaysia boleh, no? It has to be unique to suit the air of the film, if not it just wouldn't work out.

You can spot comedian Douglas Lim (TV sitcom "Kopitiam") playing a cameo role as Maitre'D in a restaurant. Speaking in typical Chinese slang with a lot of "lu" this and "lu" that, it's great to see this guy back on screen doing what he does best. The film also introduces Stephen Rahman Hughes, whose acting is rather mediocre but we can applaud his effort for his first role in a comedy film.

Of all the praises mentioned, one big letdown for the film is how complicated the ending is, with the heavy explanation involved. Sometimes the information given in a scene is too much to handle and gets lost in translation. I'm still not sure I have fully deciphered the evil master plan behind the missing watch but I guess it doesn't matter anymore as I got what I wanted out of Afdlin's film, which is a bag of laughs.

Cinema Online, 17 November 2008