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Forever Fever

Forever Fever
Directed by Glen Goei
Produced by
  • Glen Goei
  • Jeffrey Chiang
  • Tan Chih-chong
Written by Glen Goei
Music by Guy Gross
Cinematography Brian Breheny
Edited by Jane Moran
Production
company
Tiger Tiger Productions
Distributed by Shaw Organisation
Release date
  • 1998 (1998) (Singapore)
Running time
93 minutes
Country Singapore
Language
Budget S$500,000
Box office S$800,000 (Singapore)

Forever Fever (released as I Like It Like That in the US) is a 1998 Singaporean musical comedy film written and directed by Glen Goei. It stars Adrian Pang as a Bruce Lee fan who becomes interested in disco once he sees Saturday Night Fever. As he competes in a local disco contest, John Travolta's character enters the real world and gives him advice. The film was released internationally by Miramax and was the first Singaporean film to perform well internationally.

In 1977, Ah Hock, a supermarket employee in his 20s, desires to buy a new motorbike, though he does not have enough money. When Saturday Night Fever is released in Singapore (under the title Forever Fever), he is inspired to enter a dance contest to raise the money. Guided by his heroes, John Travolta and Bruce Lee, Hock competes in the contest and fights against local bullies.

After experiencing difficulty as a theatre director in the UK, director Glen Goei taught a course on film at New York University. From this experience, he became interested in directing his own film. After a project failed in London, he wrote his own script and moved back to Singapore to produce it. The Singaporean film industry was not well-established, and Goei had to rely on friends, such as actress Tan Kheng Hua, who served as casting director. To help finance the film, Goei had to mortgage his London apartment. He later described his behavior as naive, as he took major risks, such as licensing expensive pop songs. The songs paid off, however, when Harvey Weinstein of Miramax cited the music as a reason why he connected with the film and picked it up for international distribution.

Forever Fever grossed S$800,000 in Singapore, where it was released in 1998 by Shaw Organisation. After retitling it That's the Way I Like It, Miramax released it in the US on October 15, 1999, and it grossed US$19,319.Forever Fever was the first internationally successful Singaporean film. China on Screen authors Chris Berry and Mary Ann Farquhar attribute this to its mix of Eastern and Western values, symbolized by the use of both Bruce Lee and John Travolta as Ah Hock's heroes.


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