Above the drinking table, below the planning table: The script is limited, the male idol's kiss scene with Dieu Nhi was criticized

On the drinking table, under the planning table were three rising female stars in Vietnamese showbiz, Kha Nhu, Dieu Nhi and Thuy Ngan along with box office face Kieu Minh Tuan, but could not save the lackluster script with many holes.

In the film, the characters Gao (Dieu Nhi), Lai (Kha Nhu) and Trieu (Thuy Ngan) are three close friends, often chatting at the beer bar of the "back garden" gangster Tri (Kieu Minh Tuan).

Rice is a webtoon artist who sells his works to make a living. Lai is an extra actor who often faints when he gets too excited. Trieu is a "womanizer" who is ready to compete with men who look down on women.

The other day, Gao and Trieu revealed that they were defrauded of 1.3 billion VND by Truc (Tran Ngoc Vang), president of a company selling friend-making applications. To punish the bad guy, the group and Tri discussed a plan to break into Truc's company and rob the lost money back.

The film's three female leads only act at a decent level. Kha Nhu continues her humorous role, making jokes through dialogue and body language. The scenes where she pretends to be a ghost at the beginning of the film are exaggerated, creating a sitcom feel. Thuy Ngan continues with the image of a strong woman, good at martial arts, although her expressions are more diverse than when she played the Female Host. Dieu Nhi has a lot of acting space and has the clearest journey among the trio. Throughout the film, she succeeds in expressing many opposing emotions. In one scene, singer Anh Tu's wife performed an adventurous scene walking on the wall of a high-rise building. She made an effort, but her role did not really rise to the level.

As for Kieu Minh Tuan, his role does not need to express many complex emotions, but is also the "heaviest" role. The actor has many comedy scenes that are almost solo, forming a side-story that separates the main storyline of the film.

As the second male lead, Tran Ngoc Vang appears weak compared to his brothers and sisters due to his weak acting and heavy theatricality. With a young face and stereotypical expression, Tran Ngoc Vang does not express well the two aspects of Truc's character: a seemingly successful businessman, and a sinister fraudster. Truc's role proved to be too much for the 25-year-old actor. In many scenes, the audience found him funny and awkward rather than intelligent and cunning.

On the Drinking Table, Under the Conspiracy Table has a similar premise to many heist-themed movies, such as Money Heist or Ham Tran's Super Thief. Director Tien M. Nguyen's work also closely follows the classic formula of this genre: the main group of characters must devise a plan to break into the "final boss's" lair for money, appoint a member to be an inside man, then encountered conflicts leading to the plan being "derailed".

In most previous heist movies, what created excitement for the audience was the detailed layers of the plan, how each character used their own set of skills to solve difficult situations. However, this detail is superficially exploited in On the Drinking Table, Under the Conspiracy Table, when the main characters mainly... get lucky, or the situation is arranged to bring about a feeling of inauthenticity. Specifically, Lai easily pretended to be a foreign designer applying for a job at Truc company, or the villain himself was portrayed as dangerous and devious, easily believing in Tri's clumsy disguise.

It's unclear whether due to censorship or the director's intentions, the film's plot took place very quickly. The film's development from the moment Rice reveals that he was deceived until the whole group plots is only one scene apart. The characters' personalities also change constantly, sometimes calm, sometimes panicky, without a clear order or routine. Facing difficulties, the main characters often receive support from the sky, or accidentally remember details that benefit them. When the relationship between Trieu and Tri was revealed, it felt absurd, as to how two close friends like Gao and Lai didn't know anything about this couple's past.

Another weakness is that the film lacks motifs, a concept in films that refers to elements that are repeated to clarify the theme (main theme). Hearing the name of the movie On the drinking table, under the planning table, viewers will easily assume that one of the main scenes is Tri's beer shop, or that the characters will easily succeed thanks to alcohol. However, the drinking scene only appears at the beginning of the film and has almost no impact on the overall development. The values of friendship and brotherhood therefore also become blurred.

Trên Bàn Nhậu Dưới Bàn Mưu: Nội dung hài hước, Diệu Nhi diễn xuất siêu đáng yêu Uyển Đình17:16:41 28/12/2023Trên Bàn Nhậu Dưới Bàn Mưu nhận được sự quan tâm khi quy tụ dàn diễn viên chắc tay như Khả Như, Diệu Nhi và Thúy Ngân cùng với gương mặt phòng vé Kiều Minh Tuấn. Trước ngày ra mắt, bộ phim nhận được sự phản ứng tích cực từ khán giả.