For every good Indonesian film that comes out (and there have been a lot of them recently), there is always a Flight 555.

The film, produced by Citra Visual Sinema and directed by Raymond Handaya, presents itself as an easy shot for critics because of its cheap jokes and mountains upon mountains of cringes. But to take advantage of such an easy target will only be pointless and to do so will render them as cheap as the film
itself.

Of course this film is not aiming for critical appeal. It is made purely for entertainment. It is what Hollywood describes as a “popcorn movie.” And as long as people enjoy it, then mission accomplished. When that happens, even bad films are considered quality. But that is the dangerous premise that the mainstream Indonesian film industry is operating on.

To make it fair, those who are not interested in watching Flight 555 should simply not watch and simply not say anything or judge those who enjoyed it. But let me say this: The bar needs to be set higher so that industry folks do not get away with this sort of thing, especially with comedies.

The producers said in a statement that the film was heavily inspired by the 1980 comedic masterpiece Airplane!. Jim Abrams’ and David Zucker’s Airplane! is a film that manages to succeed in every bit of humor that it delivers, and the jokes keep on coming like machine gun fire: the moment one joke is told, another is just beginning, and the audience hasn’t even finished laughing at the first. Flight 555 aims to follow that rapid pace, and while it doesn’t fail to make people laugh, it risks overwhelming the viewer.

Everyone involved in the film: the writers, the directors, the stars Tarra Budiman and Mikha Tambayong are living it up in “stereotype city.”

The film relies too heavily on cheap stereotypical jokes for laughs such as fat people not fitting in airplane seats, transsexuals from Thailand acting over the top (and the extreme rejection they get), muscular people being stupid and the extremely boring trope of ripping on people for being single. Basically, it offers low-brow Indonesian humor.

There are also several offensive segments, especially one where the main villains are Papuans, who are depicted incredibly stereotypically: rough and intimidating due to their dark skin, and carrying out their villainy in “traditional” Papuan garb (which comprises of almost naked men in body paint and spears).

We get it though. The film wants to have the subtle offensiveness of Airplane! But there is where the difference lies. Airplane! does not put its offensive jokes blatantly at the center of every scene, and does not treat those jokes as funny beyond the context of the film. Flight 555 does it all the time.

If I can describe this film in only one word, I would choose humiliating. Films like Flight 555 obviously only appeal to the lowest common denominator, and it’s hard for a public tired of low-quality Indonesian films to take it to heart.

It almost seems that the cry only tells us to support any Indonesian film regardless of quality, as long as it is made by an Indonesian. To force that mindset onto the public will only reveal the industry’s severe underestimation of public intelligence. But again, as long as some people are happy and enjoy the film, does it really matter?

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