Rare local sci-fi film fumbles the funny despite strong efforts from the cast.

Singapore hasn’t had many science fiction films, perhaps because our regional storytelling often leans toward fantasy or the supernatural. In that sense, We Can Save The World!!! is a bold undertaking, pioneering a genre that’s still vastly underexplored here. In a small arts industry like ours, even completing a feature-length film is no small feat, and director Chai Hong Cheng and his team deserve applause for seeing it through.

Cheng, known for web hits like Average Guys and Neighbourhood Watch Task Force, makes his feature debut here. The premise has promise: Ryan (Noah Yap), a weary town council officer, stumbles onto Peng (Jun Vinh Teo), a homeless man who claims to be an alien. Together, they uncover a doomsday cult, recover Peng’s memories, and attempt to save the world. The set-up is uniquely Singaporean, blending public service bureaucracy with deadpan absurdity, and featuring familiar names from the local comedy scene.

Unfortunately, the film struggles to balance ambition with execution. At nearly two hours, its story feels stretched thin, often padded with side plots that add little to character or narrative development. The central relationship between Ryan and Peng, meant to evolve from reluctant allies into genuine friends, sometimes gets lost in humour that leans awkward rather than heartfelt. Secondary characters, while energetically performed by Fauzi Azzhar, Xuan Ong, and others, don’t receive enough development to justify their inclusion, making the film feel episodic and better suited to a web series format.

The cast, to their credit, commit fully. Jun Vinh Teo plays Peng with twitchy sincerity, though the character’s quirks eventually wear thin. Noah Yap, as Ryan, emerges strongest, showing hints of depth and range beyond his Ah Boys to Men roots. He provides the film’s most consistent emotional anchor, even if the script undercuts his arc with ill-timed jokes.

There’s also Fauzi as Danial, a kooky anti-cult leader with his gaggle of aunty followers, Xuan as Jordana, a secret agent realising the error of her organisation’s ways, and Mark Kinoshita as Huat, a recurring goon and antagonist the leads scuffle with. Unfortunately, these secondary characters are rarely developed in terms of personality or backstory, and end up being used as fodder for jokes, and not very funny ones at that.

There are flashes where the comedy lands, from sight gags to visual absurdity, to moments of genuine surprise. A bright spacecraft touchdown and the spinning aunties hint at the kind of offbeat energy the film could have leaned into more. But these are scattered, and without a sustained commitment to absurdism, the humour often falls flat. A karaoke segment that comes out of left field for example, attempts to evoke laughs precisely because of how unexpected it is, but because there are simply not enough absurd moments that build up towards it, it comes off as awkward rather than successful cringe humour it aims for.

We Can Save The World!!! earns an A for effort, but it’s a case where clearer focus and stronger pacing could have made all the difference. It wavers between wanting to be a slick cinematic comedy and a knowingly campy B-movie, never fully committing to either. As a debut feature, it shows promise even if it stumbles, and one hopes future projects from Chai will sharpen the vision and tighten the storytelling. For now, it’s an uneven but encouraging step toward growing Singapore’s fledgling sci-fi canon.

We Can Save The World!!! is now playing in local cinemas.