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By Leon van Nierop

Journalist


Schuks! Pay Back the Money review (trailer)

You either love Leon Schuster or you would rather have your toe nails pulled out live on television than watch any of his prank movies.


So those who cannot stand his humour know exactly what to do. Stay away! But like Julius Malema, he is in your face and mercilessly repeats the same jokes and slogans until somebody listens, laughs or loses his temper. And that is precisely what happens here – repeatedly.

There are readers who have admitted they “managed to watch the occasional Schuster film because friends forced us”. They are reluctant to admit they enjoy his movies. These readers are almost like politicians who get caught with their hands in the till and now struggle to explain why they broke the law. This unwilling fan will get great joy from some of the scenes and even develop a stronger fondness for Schuster. They will get what they paid for, and more.

This review is therefore not for the uninitiated – who will not watch Schuster even with a gun against their heads – nor is it aimed at die-hard fans who break down the doors of any cinema showing his pranks. This one is for the closet Schuster admirers. They might laugh themselves silly at his latest antics in which he catches out ordinary and vulnerable South Africans with his often crude or cruel jokes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i59__qZDR4k

Schuster has his funny finger exactly on our violent and gatvol country’s pulse and realises subtle humour does not work for his audience, which is why he often uses a sledgehammer to bring out the humour or even irony in certain situations.

And, reluctant as one is to admit it, our country is currently in such a state, you catch yourself believing Schuster’s jokes because fiction has caught up with fact. And absurd as the jokes are, they seem quite plausible in the kind of country we currently find ourselves in.

SA’s number one prankster usually catches out defenceless people. But this time, he goes the extra mile and plays the fool with difficult individuals – victims he knows may physically attack him.

Like a naughty schoolboy, he experiments with how far he can push them, and this forms a wry comment on the intolerance and aggression in the current SA. People are now so fed up with incompetence and excuses, they explode at the slightest and even silliest provocation. Schuster manages to show the funny side to this status quo.

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