Thai Moviegoers Celebrate 'Hormones,' Shun 'Shutter'

Hormones, an ensemble teen romantic comedy, is tearing up the box office in Thailand. Variety says that the film took in $1.2 million in its opening weekend -- six times what is usually considered a strong opening. Meanwhile, the US remake of Thai horror flick Shutter did just OK by comparison ($252,964), finishing third behind Hormones and (surprise!) the critically-maligned Step Up 2 the Streets, per Box Office Mojo.

The movie behind the headline may be even more interesting than its financial success. "Some surprises are in store in Hormones, not the least of which is the presence of a former Japanese porn star in an orange string bikini." So begins Wise Kwai's eye-opening review. (He's an excellent writer, especially on Thai films.) Inspired by Richard Curtis' Love Actually (don't groan yet!), the film follows four romantic scenarios: two schoolboys compete to get a girl's phone number, a geeky college boy tries to woo a popular girl, an excitable teen girl obsesses about her favorite male singer, and another college student contemplates cheating on his long-time girlfriend.

Wise Kwai comments: "Instead of being the usual sanitized depiction of Thai culture, concessions are made to contemporize things and make the film a little more realistic." He notes that the film doesn't stray terribly far from commercial formulas: "The only real surprises are in watching how debauched or morally questionable the characters become." Yet he still found it to be well-made and entertaining. Don't expect to see Hormones in the US anytime soon, though; foreign-language action movies and horror flicks have a much better chance of getting a Region 1 DVD release than dramas or comedies.