The Tuxedo (2022)

Mignon

Pour une fois, nous avons droit à un BL thaïlandais qui ne nous gave pas avec des longueurs inutiles. Et pour cause, il n'y a que 8 épisodes qui ne dépassent jamais 30 minutes, et d'ailleurs, si on coupe les génériques de début et de fin ainsi que les récap des épisodes précédents et du suivant, ça réduit encore la durée. On n'a donc pas le temps de s'ennuyer, ce qui est un premier point positif.

L'originalité du scénario est aussi un aspect que j'ai apprécié. Attention, quand je dis "originalité", ça n'indique pas une absence de clichés - parce que des situations convenues, à commencer par les bisous accidentels et très improbables qui durent plus de 10 secondes, il y en a à la pelle. Je fais allusion au fait que l'histoire se passe dans le milieu professionnel, avec des adultes dont l'un est tailleur et l'autre est l'héritier d'un homme qui a trahi le père du premier, et qui souffre en prime d'une phobie l'empêchant de sortir de chez lui. Des éléments intéressants qui, s'ils ne nous surprennent pas des masses, ont le mérite d'apporter un vent de fraîcheur dans le paysage des BL thaïs, prouvant que la Thaïlande est désormais bien décidée à nous offrir des scénarios diversifiés. Cela a droit à quelques encouragements, du moins à mon sens, quitte à redevenir sévère plus tard, quand le marché sera suffisamment inondé de scénarios hors-universitaires et qu'on aura vraiment de quoi comparer.

Je ne dirai pas que les deux acteurs sont particulièrement doués, par contre ils sont très à l'aise dans les scènes intimes, pas de bobine gênée, d'air débile ou d'hésitations ridicules. Là encore, une nette progression appréciable et comme l'ont déjà mentionné les précédentes critiques, les voir torse nu est un plaisir pour les yeux. Leur romance est mignonne, elle ne vole pas très haut mais ce n'est pas non plus ce qu'on lui demande.

Là où le drama a réussi à me surprendre, c'est sur l'angle de la rupture familiale. L'approbation des parents et la réconciliation sont souvent un thème important, d'ailleurs la famille est une des valeurs fondamentale de la Thaïlande. Ici, le père de Nawee est un parfait connard, et sa belle-mère et son frère légitime ne sont pas en reste. Alors je ne suis pas très sûre que la décision de Nawee de rompre avec sa famille toxique soit bien perçue en Thaïlande (d'habitude on trouve un procédé scénaristique pour que tout rentre dans l'ordre), mais pour un oeil occidental comme le mien, cette décision m'a semblée tout à fait appropriée et plutôt inhabituelle, dans le bon sens.

Sinon, je dirais que cette petite série reste plutôt convenue et assez vite oubliable, mais suffisamment agréable pour passer un moment sympa. Le court format ne m'a aucunement dérangée dans la mesure où cela permet de se concentrer sur l'essentiel. Il y a clairement un effort pour nous proposer un scénario différent et un peu plus adulte, en bref, ne crachons pas dessus.

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Le BL se taille une veste

Aaaargh ! cette série me partage en deux, je n'arrive pas à décider si je l'adore ou si je la déteste, c'est affreusement énervant ! Je ne peux pas rester bouche cousue et pour ne pas lui tailler un costard, je vais faire un comparatif des points positifs et négatifs pour, de fil en aiguille, essayer de trancher mon avis.

Commençons par le positif :

Les deux protagonistes ont une alchimie de fou ! Les scènes intimes sont filmées à la perfection et j'espère ardemment les revoir ensemble dans d'autres productions. Quand on les voit tous les deux dans une scène, on a l'impression que c'est le monde entier qui se penche de chaque côté pour les rapprocher, ils ne pouvaient que finir ensemble ces deux-là ! Et pourtant être directement à l'aise dans ce genre de scènes, c'est parfois coton !

Le jeu de Green ( Aiaoon ) est solide et il campe bien son personnage du début à la fin en plus d'être à chaque fois tiré à quatre épingles.

En parlant de nos protagonistes Chap ( Nawee ) est à tomber ! Dès qu'il se met torse nu, la température de la pièce prend plusieurs degrés et quand ils se regardent, Awwwww !

Ensuite, la musique, elle n'est pas inoubliable mais très belle et l'OST est admirablement chanté par Jeff Satur.

L'histoire de la phobie de Nawee est intéressante et on voit ses efforts pour passer au-dessus de celle-ci juste par amour, c'était très touchant.

La photo et les décors sont magnifiques à beaucoup de moments, la maison de Aiaoon m'a énormément plu.

Passons au négatif :

Le jeu de certains acteurs est bien inégal, concernant celui de Chap, il s'est énormément amélioré sur la fin et là il était presque parfait.

La romance est géniale, je ne la remets pas en doute mais les scènes de bisous accidentels, pardon ! Déjà que c'est cliché en soi mais celui qui se passe dans la baignoire est physiquement impossible ( d'où tu tombes exactement dans cette position ?! )

Le comportement de Nawee ne m'a pas plu du tout : ce n'est pas parce que tu restes cloitré chez toi que tu dois te comporter comme une ordure avec tout le monde, je pense que la prod aurait du parler plus tôt de son père et de son frère qui auraient été, je pense, une meilleure "excuse" pour le caractère qu'il présente au début de la série.

Dans le registre des comportements idiots, Aiaoon n'est pas en reste quand on le voit agir avec sa petite amie, au secours !

Justement, parlons du père. S'il déteste autant son fils, pourquoi le laisse-t-il gérer sa société ? Désolé messieurs les scénaristes mais ça ne fonctionne pas là.

Enfin, et c'est le plus important, c'est quoi ce format ? Déjà que 15 minutes d'épisode c'est court mais sur seulement 8, on n'a pas le temps ! Ça ne fait pas un pli que ça impacte grandement sur l'effet que donne ma série au niveau global et pour le rythme, ne faisons pas dans la dentelle, ça le casse complètement quand le flux entre les scènes est coupé de telle façon.

Bon voilà, ça ne m'avance pas beaucoup et j'ai sûrement oublié des choses, mais je dirai finalement que compte tenu du budget et du travail en coulisses, la série a tout de même du mérite, son effort est louable, même si l'histoire est un peu cousue de fil blanc. Vu le peu de temps qu'elle dure, on peut donc la mettre pendant une soirée marathon de séries car elle est quand même très mignonne et agréable à regarder.

Maintenant, à vous de vous faire votre avis.

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4 Cs in a suit - Cringe Confusing Cute Casual

Almost dropped it because I thought it was another series taking toxicity too easily, but I was wrong. It´s just a bit cringe. :D

Glad I gave the dropping a second thought because even though there might be better LGBTQI+ Series out there, The Tuxedo still deserves some acknowledgement with the budget and behind the scenes work considered.

Production / Music 7.0 >> 6.5
This series has some awesome shots and moments, which, like the music, fit the overall mood and vibes of Tuxedo - that already makes me feel like it´s worth watching because they kind of make the rather casual plot more exciting. The music (+BGM) was well chosen and composed but still had a rather low impact on me/ was not that memorable.

Plot / Story 7.5 >> 6.5 >> 6.0
This is where it gets tricky and where the opinions divide the most. I agree that the story is kind of predictable and has a low pull-in effect on the viewer, however, the cliché overload and all the cringe scenes are still cute to me. Normally I´d heavily judge those stories if they were JUST based on certain clichés and I don´t think that this is the case here.

Acting/ Cast 8.5 >> 7.5
This is something that truly surprised me, Chap´s (Nawee) acting got so much better towards the end! His eyes started to become in charge of the mood-setting and even though he is not a perfect S tier actor, he still nailed the improvement, and I am here to acknowledge it, giving them the highest rating on this one. Green´s (Aiaoon) acting stayed solid and so did the rest of the cast.

Rewatch Value 6.0 >> 5.5 >> 4.5
I am glad for the effort of this series, but I am still a picky "rewatcher". HOWEVER, I´d still recommend it for a comfy series marathon during which you can cringe a lot. ((:

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This series is awful and pointless

Boy, the other reviewers are very kind.

The only positives to this are that both leads are very attractive and they are both very comfortable with kissing scenes.

The acting is not good, which is surprising, because Green is a fantastic actor - one of the best in BL - and Chap is... well, he looks extraordinarily good with his shirt off. The side actors are generally unmemorable - not terrible, but noticably acting.

The story is so stupid it's not really worth spending time on. It's not so much a plot as it is a string of cliched tropes. There's nothing so stupid that they can't do it twice. There are two accidental kisses, and two times someone falls into a body of water. In fact, in what seems to be an attempt for the Stupidest Series of All Time award, they even combine these - an accidental kiss caused by both characters falling into a bathtub. Accidentally. Somehow. The second immersion has a character fall into a pool - there are about 50 people there, and nobody does anything about it whatsoever except stand around and wait for the main character to notice, except this takes him more than 15 seconds and this is a BL, so the guy drowns. But is revived and is fine. I don't think he even really coughs - just spits out a mouthful of water and then carries on with his day.

It's a typical enemies-to-lovers scenario, except they go so overboard with how awful Satee is that you hope he dies alone, and then the transition to love is so abrupt it feels like someone flipped a light switch.

One of the leads is an angry agoraphobe who needs to get to the tailor's shop. Besides his fear of leaving the house, he also hates the tailor, so the author has written herself into a corner. But she comes up with the ingenious solution of having the assistant lightly tap him on the back with a small hollow glass scupture, which knocks him out and they somehow drag his body to the Tailor. Problem solved.

I normally wouldn't nitpick the wardrobe choices, but the theme of this series is about a picky guy finding the best tailor for the best suit, so I would expect the clothing to reflect that. Everyone spends the entire series wearing dark, wool three-piece suits, which is more or less insane in Thailand. Nobody expires due to heat exhaustion - only being tapped on the back with a hollow glass scupture or being immersed in water for 15 seconds can do someone in.

But the clothing is all really poorly tailored! The trousers are too long, the jackets don't fit well, and the styling is terrible and unflattring. Also, the suit in question is not even a tuxedo, it's a boring ill-fitting blue business suit. The tailor does wear a tux to the main event - it is so horrible that it looks like something a guy might wear to a prom who waited till the last minute to rent his tux and so ended up with... whatever that was. The waistcoat was so over-sized that I wasn't sure if he was going to a party or volunteering for the defense of Mariupol.

The theme song is by Jeff Satur, and even that doesn't help. I'm surprised they paid an actual artist for something (or kidnapped his family and forced him to do this), but he only had to write two bars, which they play over an over again. It's a particularly blaring love ballad which becomes unintentionally funny because thy fire it up at a moment's notice whever something happens that is supposed to be romantic.

I'm shallow and I like attractive well-built men with their shirts off, but I have to say that Chap's body is so beautiful that it will catch you by surprise - and he knows how to use it - the way he stands and moves... That's why I gave the series a relatively high rewatch value. I have already watched his first shirtless scene several times and will be returning to it.

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cute, short, sharp

There is a lot of good things that can be said about getting to the point quickly, and not wasting the audience's time with details that distract the attention from the real story. This is an excellent example of a TV series that gets to point, makes the point, and does it in an elegantly and tastefully. In just 8 short episodes, viewers get to see a love story free of side shows and other distractions. And, if you don't catch everything the first time around, you can binge watch it again and still finish it in a short time.

The story is good enough and solid enough that - if the producers wish - they can do a sequel.

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a jerk and an idiot with good chemistry

Overall: We managed to get not just 1 but then a 2nd jerk main leads (well Aioon was maybe more of an idiot). They had good chemistry, but things just didn't make sense. Watched on Gagaoolala.

Content Warnings: physical violence, fight scene, threatening violence to employees, manipulation, mental health issue, bullying

What I Liked
- Aioon and Nawee had good chemistry (they looked comfortable in intimate scenes, I would like to see these actors together in another series)
- Jeff Satur is singing the OST
- pretty good production value (I liked that mirror reflection shot in the last episode)

Room For Improvement
- I really didn't like Nawee's behavior/character. Past trauma doesn't give you an excuse to be a total a**hole - if they had shown his dad/step brother being abusive in the past and then Nawee had character growth, I would have been better with that
- the cliche wannabe wife/girlfriend plot*
- *this just made me dislike Aioon for stringing her along for who knows how many years, so Aioon is a jerk too
- I don't understand why Aioon had such a sudden change of heart. Nawee treated him terribly and then one finger suck and he's in love???
- Aioon is also an idiot, who tries to cure anxiety/phobia like that? If it were that easy, then people wouldn't have anxiety/phobia.
- cliche drama at the end and then a rushed ending with a flashback montage
- that dad's character didn't make sense. Why would he have Nawee run the company only to then later switch it to his step brother? If the dad hates Nawee that much he would never have let him run it in the first place.
- I think they should have cut the adopted brother character and made Nawee's assistant and Aioon's brother be romantic or used that time to develop the Nawee/Aioon plot more
- the mullet (I didn't take points off for this, but I dislike mullets)

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If I have you...I fear nothing..

I first want to say that I was waiting for this drama to come out cause of Green and Chap's chemistry outside of the show. I love how they are with eachother and in turn that made me feel the chemistry between them in the show. Was it the best drama ever? No but it also wasn't awful like other things i've seen that have full hour length episodes. Honestly with longer episodes they really could've fleshed out the story better and we could've gotten more about Nawee and his family. I think if they had scraped the whole turtle thing with the brothers and used that time to develop Aioun and Nawee's story it would've been better. I actually thought that if there was going to be a side story, that it would've been with Oab and Sichol, who turned out to be my fave characters. Either way, it was a nice watch about an isolated man conquering his fear with the help of someone unexpected and it was sweet to watch. I hope Chap and Green get another chance at a series. Another thing I liked about the drama is the Ost, Jeff's voice never disappoints, I sat through the intro everytime.

Would I rewatch this drama again? Sure, if I miss GreenChap and want something light to watch i'd concider it.

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Short But Packed With Feeling

I know this show isn't perfect, but it made my heart flutter when I watched it.

I could really feel how much the two leads loved each other. It would have been better if they had more time to develop the characters before they fell in love.

The end was super sweet and romantic, again too short. It's the kind of bl I will rewatch just to get that nice, happy feeling.

The actors were good and had terrific chemistry, and the love scenes were awesome. There were no annoying characters that I had to forward thru and that was a plus. Also, it's good to get away from the standard of high school and college bl.

If I had one complaint it was there should have been more to the story - like a side couple development and a sort of revenge on the family that took so much away from both of them, would have liked to see more of their future together.

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Cute & Adorable MLs

To be honest, I almost didn't watch The Tuxedo because of the numerous negative reviews. I am glad I ignored them and went for it. It was one of the best decisions I made. I thoroughly enjoyed the series despite the storyline and some imperfections. Hey, which drama or movie is perfect? My only complain is 8 episodes was by far too short for the series. There were so many ways to enhance the story further.

What I love most was the chemistry between Nawee and Aioun. The looks and emotions between them were so realistic that you cannot help but get goosebumps. Chap and Green did a fanatic job portraying the characters. I also loved their web series, Chapter of Green. If you have not watch it, go for it!

I also like the height difference between Chap and Green. Green looked tall as a stand alone but gosh, when you put them together, Chap towers over him and jeez, they fit perfectly! Hope ChapGreen ship will sail strong and they will get more series together.

I would have given a 10 if they had put in a few more episodes of Nawee and Aioun coming together to work against Nawee's father or include some scenes or plots with Chanjao coming between the 2MLs to make it spicier. It would be awesome if they have a Season 2.

Ohhh...those suits! And those in the suits! Yummy!

The scene where Aioun pricked his finger and Nawee immediately sucked on it...Aioun's confused look...the looks between them...Aioun clutching his chest. Oh my heart!

My fav part of the series? Aioun going over to Nawee's place in episode 7 and my oh my...those kisses!!! Not gonna spoil it. Watch it for yourself!

The OST is great! I just couldn't get it out of my head for days.

Don't think too much of the storyline or plot, just enjoy the series as it is.

Give The Tuxedo a try...you will not regret it!

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tsundere seme, enemies to lovers, rich/poor

Stars Chap (from Y-Destiny & Lovely Writer) opposite Green (2 Moons 2 & Lovely Writer minor rolls) directed by Mike (Golden Blood) about a sweet skilled tailor and a self-centred, fragile rich kid.

I hated the seme, he beat up a subordinate! That’s irredeemable. It’d be great if this were JUST soft, because when it was soft it was LOVELY. But the softness was super rare. Watching this was like eating a meal of just spices. I’m like: the spice profile is good, but it’s not ON anything. Look, I’m always here for some high heat and good chemistry but even I think that this one was ridiculous.

GMMTV be like: watch us squander glorious chemistry on terrible scripts. Tuxedo: hold my beer.

This show MADE NO SENSE. It had no plot or story. I don’t know what I’m watching, neither does it, but I really hope we see these boys agin in something better and more worthy of them.

NOT RECOMMENDED

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Ended too soon

The episodes are too short, the series is too short, the ending feels even shorter. Overall, The Tuxedo is a promising new type of BL story that branches away from the usual university type, bit it was unfortunately ruined by the poor budget.

It's really a shame that there's a lot about the background that could have been explored, but left untackled. We didn't get to see much about Aioun's supposed issue with Nawee's father. The ending really felt short. It literally ended with flashbacks and it was dissapointing having to wait an entire week just for it.

On the brighter side, ChapGreen chemistry won me over. Nawee's background is really interesting, and I wish we could have seen him get better and start moving on from his traumatic past at the end.

Chanjao, despite only appearing at the last twi episodes, is probably one of the best ex-girlfriend seen in a BL story. So refreshing.

Overall, I wish it was longer and more elaborate.

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