Semi-Soeter is the sequel (or should I call it a legacy sequel?) to the 2012 film Semi-Soet. Back then, “pretend couple to real couple” plots were all the rage, and Joshua Rous and his co-writers, Anel Alexander, James Gracie, and Sandra Vaughn, decided to capitalize on that trend. The narrative was about an employee of an advertising company faking her relationship with the very businessman that was about to take over the firm that she worked at in order to secure a deal with a wine company. Why? Because the winegrower explicitly stated that he wanted a person with a “stable romantic relationship” to market his product. It made no sense whatsoever, but since premises like these were being lapped up by everyone back then, it got a free pass. Looking back on it, you can sense the underlying agenda to champion heterosexual relationships because it was the “smart thing to do,” especially when it came to being accepted as a professional. After a decade, you’d expect that the writers have become more sensitive, right? Wrong. They’ve gotten worse.
Joshua Rous’ Semi-Soeter, which he has co-written with Sandra Vaughn, Anel Alexander, Zandre Coetzer, James Gracie, Corine du Toit, and Helene Truter, takes us back into the lives of Jaci, JP, Hertjie, and Karla. Hertjie and Karla are “happily married” with 5 kids; meanwhile, Jaci and JP are also “happily married” and glad that they can’t have kids, as it allows them to focus on their respective jobs at Mojo and Amalgamated Media. The downside of Jaci and JP’s workaholic nature is that they are constantly forced to deal with neurotic clients and sent on international trips, and that’s been putting some strain on their seemingly hassle-free relationship. JP has been selected to go to Dubai and stay there for quite a while, as that’ll not only help the company’s future prospects but also make his family’s luxurious lifestyle a bit more sustainable. Of course, JP doesn’t want to leave both Jaci and his home country behind. That’s why he’s rooting for Jaci to secure the marketing deal with a baby product-making company called YBAB. Upon reaching the venue, though, they learn that the CEO of YBAB, Marietjie, is favoring marketing firms whose representatives are parents, which puts Chadrie and Joubert (Jaci and JP’s competitors) at the top of her list. Karla and Hertjie make a spur-of-the-moment decision and hand over their newborn, Henry, to Jaci and JP. Now, to get into Marietjie’s good books, the couple has to pretend they are Henry’s parents, or go their separate ways at the end of the session. Jaci has an additional task, which is to hide the fact that she is actually pregnant.
I don’t know what to bring up first while talking about my issues with Semi-Soeter. Alright, the movie begins with this statement that, although parenting is hard, people should still go for it because… it’s fun? As per the writers, people should not stop at one; they should at least go for three. After that, the sky’s the limit. They conveniently gloss over the financial backing that you need in today’s economy to have 3-5 kids, because that’ll cast a shadow on the “fun” aspect of parenting. I have a vague idea of the lifestyles of people in the marketing field, and I can assure you that, even in the most prosperous countries, professionals in their 40s are not living it up like Hertjie and Karla. Maybe the CEOs are, but the rest sure aren’t. Then there’s the moral dilemma of having kids. Every single time we are introduced to a couple that has decided that they don’t want kids, it’s always the “innocent and sweet” guy who walks back on the decision, thereby making the woman “look bad” for staying true to the promise they made to each other. And there’s no compelling reason for the guy to alter his stance, by the way. It’s always something vague like “the body clock giving you signs.” What does that even mean? That’s not even the worst part, though; it’s the miracle pregnancy that comes out of nowhere and alters everyone’s brain chemistry, especially the writers’.
Much like the opaque reasoning behind JP’s sudden need to be a father, Jaci’s fear that JP is going to leave her if he knows that she is pregnant is completely irrational. And the fact that that’s just chalked up to “hormone-induced panic” really grinds my gears. Also, why does the pregnancy completely change Jaci’s mind? Why does she go from being against the notion of having kids to being all for having a baby? Why doesn’t she ever have a calm and composed chat with anyone, like most adults do or should do, about whether or not she should keep the baby or abort it? Oh yes, because they are so busy fooling Chadrie, Joubert, and Marietjie, and partaking in other crazy shenanigans. Throughout the course of Semi-Soeter, a mountain of evidence is collected that points to the fact that Jaci and JP are not fit to be parents. But as soon as Jaci sees that if she chooses professional success over being a full-time mother, then she’s going to end up as lonely and sad as Marietjie, she realizes that she absolutely needs to give birth to the children in her belly. It’s so stupid. And, yes, this movie is a comedy, and I would’ve treated all of this as a bunch of hilarious plot points if the underlying pro-life commentary wouldn’t have been so dangerous, dated, and regressive. Our world can’t sustain any more people. So, any movie that says, “Hey, people, have more kids,” I’m immediately shoving it into the trash compactor.
To be really honest, Semi-Soeter would’ve been enjoyable, realistic, and timely if it used its central gimmick, about being fake parents to woo the CEO of a company that makes products for babies, to further cement Jaci and JP’s decision to not be parents. After taking the audience on this tour through the YBAB convention, which underscores the fact that the act of making children is being championed so that they can be used like cogs in the capitalist machinery to make money, what’s the bloody point if you’re not critiquing it? And, yes, criticism can come through the lens of comedy; it’s called satire. But, I suppose Joshua Rous and his team aren’t aiming to educate anybody. They want people to keep making the same mistakes that society has made for generations and has brought humanity to the brink of extinction, as long as this endeavor is profiting filthy rich CEOs who don’t even know where they’re going to go with all that money. I have no ill feelings towards the cast, though. I think Anel Alexander, Nico Panagio, Louw Venter, Diaan Lawrenson, Neels van Jaarsveld, and all the kids who have played the role of Henry have given spirited performances. If you want to give this “highly anticipated” sequel a watch for them, please, be my guest. Otherwise, kindly read up on the state of the world we are living in and how immoral it is to bring innocent souls into this hellscape, and then make up your own mind about having babies.
