Oversteer (PG)

Starring Aden Tan, Zhang Yaodong, Tian Long, Jannassa Neo, Hanrey Low, Grace Teo

Directed by Derrick Lui

Oversteer: Look out! A-hole drivers coming through! 

This local indie feature doesn’t deserve to be called Oversteer; Overhaul is a more fitting  title. Narratively patchy and visually unappealing, “Singapore’s first car-racing movie” — but shot partly in Malaysia  — needs to be taken apart, scrapped and rebuilt from scratch. Writer-director Lui's story, of a young man (Tan)  who defies his domineering father (Zhang)  to be a motorhead, is pure family drama hokum, woefully underwritten and risibly over-acted. Even the romance part — including a problematic encounter where one character forcibly kisses another — is awkwardly handled. Lui also throws in a random musical number which seems to belong in another movie. The shoestring-budget shortcomings are most obvious in the racing sequences: haphazardly filmed, amateurishly sound-mixed, and totally devoid of any shred of genuine excitement. It boggles the mind how Oversteer even got this far. The entire picture feels like a 20-part TV serial compressed into 86 minutes… and it still feels long. Maybe I was dreaming the whole thing. Or was it dreaming me? (1/5 stars) out in cinemas

Photos: Vogue Films

Argylle (PG13)

Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, John Cena, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L Jackson, Catherine O’Hara

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Argylle: Sam Rockwell and Bryce Dallas Howard are on the run from some bad people.

The Kingsman helmer returns to the spy-vs-spy sandbox with this enjoyable albeit uneven (and PG13-rated) caper about an author (Howard) whose fictional books have real-life consequences on the intelligence community. The Apple TV+backed Romancing the Stone-meets-The Long Kiss Goodnight (think I just divulged a plot turn…ish) action-comedy at times feels like one of those generic star-studded titles streamers periodically churn out  (hello, Ghosted!); other times there’s enough crazy juice to keep the plates spinning even as things get more twisty than twisted. The momentum loses a bit in the third act, but not before it drops a bonkers ice-skating set-piece. (2.5/5 stars) out in cinemas

Photo: UIP