Sawaddee Wan Jan(s) Review: Bumpy Time-Loop Film
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The opening scene of the 2025 Thai time-loop comedy ‘Sawaddee Wan Jan(s)‘ (Happy Mondays) is super fun: the protagonist wakes up, confidently heading to college, then waits to catch his crush after she slips on the stairs, only to realize it freaking hurts, as they both collapse to the ground and he screams like a scream-queen in pain, then jumps to his death so that he can start the day again. He has been stuck in the same Monday for days.
Directed by Chakorn Chaiprecha, ‘Sawaddee Wan Jan(s)‘ stars Oab Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang as lead protagonist Earth, an aimless student in the eighth year of his college, who seizes the chance to win over his crush Saimai (PP Punpreedee Khumprom Rodsaward), when he realizes he keeps waking up on April 1st repeatedly. Unfortunately, the Monday also happens to be an exam day, and Saimai is too anxious about her grades to even glance at Earth, so it’s not going to be an easy challenge to win her over in one day. Add to Earth’s woes, Saimai seems to be more interested in Tae (Poon Mitpakdee), a cute popular singer who studies in the same class.
The first half of ‘Sawaddee Wan Jan(s)‘ is comedic, however the plot starts to have continuity issues after the one-hour mark and dumps its time-loop premise. For instance, Saimai shows no romantic interest in Earth, however, after he repeats a couple of Mondays, the writers show Saimai to have a soft spot for him. That twist really didn’t align with the plot, and then there were a couple of other things that happen too quickly and are clearly inserted in the script for drastic drama. After watching ‘Palm Springs‘, a witty, well-paced time-loop comedy with Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, my standards for the genre have gone way up.
While the romance is thin in Sawaddee Wan Jan(s), the laughs also dry up in the second half of the film. The focus shifts from Earth trying to win Saimai over, to Earth ‘fixing’ all his mistakes and turning over a new leaf. Suddenly it’s all about him being a ‘bad friend’, ‘bad son’, and a ‘bad human being’ in general. Victor Chatchawit Techarukpong plays Earth’s roommate Rak, who bears some unexpected brunt of Earth’s impulsive actions.
Apart from the uneccassry shift in tone and themes, ‘Sawaddee Wan Jan(s)‘ also featured some jarring cuts and awkward scene transitions that made it seem like the creators simply didn’t have the patience to re-shoot scenes that lacked continuity. Although, otherwise the cinematography is simple and engaging enough to keep audience around until the end. Most of the cast is charming in their parts too, but it’s only Oab Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang’s Earth who gets a solid character arc in the tale.
Sawaddee Wan Jan(s) had a lot of potential as a comedy, but the creators scramble to pack in too much emotional drama in the 2-hour runtime, robbing it of its humorous edge.
Rating: 5.5 on 10. Watch it on Netflix.
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