Controversies brewing

Opening this week is The Sin or Choo. It is the story of an older man (played by veteran action star Sorapong Chatri) whose pretty young wife (Helen Nima) falls for a younger man (Andy-Watchra Thungkaprasert). The ads are quite suggestive. They are everywhere. I saw one yesterday on the back of a mass-transit minivan.

I hate to see Sorapong as the cuckhold, but he's one of Thailand's best actors, who brings welcome subtlety to his roles.

Another is Cholesterol Tirak (Darling Cholesterol). It stars actress-model Methinee Kingprayom, who apparently is taking her cues from Charlize Theron or Renee Zellweger - two actresses who packed on the pounds for movie rolls. In the film, Methinee stuffs herself to gain more than 150 kilograms, Ken writes. Can that be correct? That's like 300 pounds!? Whatever. It'll be something to see, or maybe not.

Methinee, who starred with her brother Mike in the Thai LA gangsta movie Province 77 is better known in Thailand as Look Ket. She was at the center of a publicity generating controversy last year when she took a shower on the back of a flatbed truck as it motored around Bangkok in a promotion for a brand of soap. She wasn't naked and the shower was surrounded by opaque glass, but the image was enough to raise the ire of my favorite useless ministry, the Ministry of Culture, which by calling attention to the stunt played into the hands of the soap company and the shameless actress who were only trying to get their names in the public eye.

Also opening this week is the comedy Chao Sao Pad Thai (Pad Thai Story). It stars Mamee Nakprasert (Mai Bia, Butterfly Man) as a woman who cooks the popular Thai noodle dish in a bid to find the man she'll marry.