SYNOPSIS:
The Yu family has a rule; unless the oldest child gets married, the younger siblings cannot or else misfortune will befall on them. In order to get married, Yu Bao has to get his sister Yu Chu, a writer who embraces singlehood hitched. Hence he hired a love therapist Dick to open Yu Chu's heart to love again.
Yu Chu's heart melted when she meets Dick. However, the demanding and stubborn Yu Chu encounters L who is a gentleman. With L, Yu Chu becomes meek and gentle. Who will Yu Chu eventually choose?
MOVIE REVIEW:
No, the Stephen Chow you know didn’t break into the scene with movies like Shaolin Soccer (2001) and Kung Fu Hustle (2004). And no, the Maggie Cheung you know didn’t make it big with arthouse films like In the Mood for Love (2000) and Hero (2002). A good 17 years ago in 1992, the two Hong Kong superstars appeared alongside each other in a Chinese Lunar New Year flick called All’s Well, Ends Well. Readers who are old (or nostalgic) enough will remember fondly the “Eiffel Tower” kiss made famous by Chow and Cheung in the movie.
Fast forward 17 years and the successful Hong Kong “he sui pian” (a genre which has families paying money to watch movies during Chinese Lunar New Year) is given a reboot. Gone are Chow and Cheung. But some of the stars from the original movie like Raymond Wong, Sandra Ng and Lee Heung Kam are back, and they are still quite a hoot to watch.
While the 1992 movie told the story of how three brothers grapple with their hilarious love lives, this unrelated version has a man asking a womanizer to court his eldest sister in hopes of fulfilling a family marriage tradition. Amusing and bewildering episodes ensue and before you know it, you would have laughed your way through 100 minutes of slapstick humour.
It is difficult not to make comparisons with the original Clifton Ko directed movie, but by using the same title (is there a grammatical error by using “End’s” here?), one cannot help but feel that the laughs here are somewhat second rate and watered down. Sure, movies like that are all about seeing stars acting silly, but an overdose of it may turn off some self important viewers. Sure, seeing stars like Wong, Ng and other famous Hong Kong stars like Louis Koo and Ronald Cheng liven up the screen will take away your Monday blues, but you also know it’s ultimately unsubstantial fluff that are numbing your senses. Sure, seeing cameos by Charlene Choi, Cheung Tat Ming and Donnie Yen will have you chuckling for a while, but you realize that these short appearances do not contribute much to the movie.
If your tolerance for comedies with passable standards and average jokes is high, then this forgettable “he sui pian” directed by Vincent Kok may just do the trick to kill time on a boring weekend. Just don’t expect us to talk about it 15 years down the road.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
This Code 3 DVD contains promo materials like a Teaser, a Trailer and a TVC. There are also five minutes of NG footage which are rather funny to watch. The 30 minutes of Making of isn’t anything to shout about because you’ll realize that they are made up of the same interviews edited differently. There is also a Photo Gallery included here.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The disc’s visual transfer is fine, and the movie is presented in Mandarin – a pity because most of the jokes would have been funnier if they were in the original Cantonese soundtrack. You’d only get to hear the stars talk in Cantonese in the Special Features section.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review by John Li
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