BLOOMS OF HAPPINESS (�年.奇迹号) (2025)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Ryon Lee
Cast: Ah Niu, Hong Hui Fang, Vivienne Oon, Yuan Teng, Steve Yap, Meeki Ng, KK Wong, Henn, Sai Chuan, Elaine Wong, Aiden Wu, Olio Tan, E. Ramanamohan, Dennis Chew
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 6 February 2025

Synopsis: Gao Zhi Tian(46) is going through a divorce with his wife Luo Si Fen(43) and also experiencing significant estrangement from their grown-up children. As the Lunar New Year approaches, both insist on spending the holiday at their respective parents’ homes. Unwilling to sadden each other’s elderly parents, they decide to temporarily conceal their divorce plans and continue with the New Year celebration in an Airbnb on the mountain. However, Gao Zhi Tian and Luo Si Fen get into a heated conflict during the trip caused nobody anticipates that Gao Zhi Tian’s mother, Grandma Du, would faint and fall into a coma. A mysterious figure claiming to be Mr. Fox suddenly appears. He asserts that he possesses magical powers and can send Gao Zhi Tian back to the day of the New Year accident, offering him a chance to alter history. Under the guidance of Mr. Fox, Gao Zhi Tian and his family repeatedly travel back to the day of the accident, adhering to strict conditions to avoid disrupting the balance of the universe. They tirelessly brainstorm ways to alter history and prevent Grandma Du’s accident.

Movie Review:

Malaysia’s folksy pop singer turned actor turned filmmaker Ah Niu returns to star in yet another Chinese New Year offering after Huat Ah! Huat Ah! and Homecoming. Consider this is just one of the many CNY offerings from Malaysia that gets a theatrical release locally, this better be a good one to catch on the big screen or is it?

Gao Zhi Tian (Ah Niu) is a convenience store owner about to sign the divorce agreement paper with his much successful wife, live-streamer Luo Si Fen (Vivienne Oon). Since Chinese New Year is round the corner, they decide to gather one last time for their reunion dinner. Tian bringing her mother, Doo (Hong Huifang) while Fen bringing her father to an apartment on a hilltop for the gathering.

Expectedly things happened. Tian and Fen had a quarrel and Tian angrily stormed out midway with Doo chasing after him. Out of nowhere, a car knocked into Doo causing her to suffer from a brain concussion. But wait, this is a Chinese New Year title after all. Thus a Cat God appears to offer Tian eight chances to alter the past. The trick is not to let your past self meets your present self else the time travelling gimmick will reset itself. The device? No offence but it looks hilariously like an enlarged tampon stick.

Let’s be frank, Blooms of Happiness has a well-meaning message even if the entire movie is not exactly well-thought and mostly haphazard. To add on, lack of any serious laughs.

For the most part the comedy relies heavily on the time travelling gags. First, the Cat God appears randomly in any random form. The deity can appears as a homeless man, an Indian national, a buxom woman and a trans performer. The numerous time-travelling voyages which took up more than half the runtime unfortunately lack the wittiness and silliness to make things work. In fact, the jokes are often awkwardly crammed together and the supposedly punchlines hardly offer any chuckles. Mainly, the various lead characters just had a wild time running along corridors, around the bedrooms or concocting their next voyage in the store’s toilet.

The mistake here is simply packing too much into a story that doesn’t require so. There are talks of butterfly effects, obvious reference to Back to the Future and the danger of altering history. All in all which the super-thin plot never materialises. Instead, the comedy throws in a couple of syrupy moments and over-sentiments to wrap up the whole story of a mother’s love for her son.

Though Ah Niu offers no musical interludes this time round, he makes a decent effort as a failed husband and son. Vivienne Oo who is relatively new to the movie scene has a surprisingly breakout moment near the end where she pretends to be a woman in labour. Our dear Ajooma, Mediacorp actress Hong Huifang delivers a serviceable job in a role that hardly requires an ounce of her acting talent. Another local familiar face, DJ Dennis Chew oddly appears not as Aunty Lucy but horrifyingly as Neza and Goddess of Mercy.

Eventually, the movie chugs along serving more drama in the longer than necessary runtime and generates a truckload of cringe worthy dialogue, weak gags that worn out its welcome. If Blooms of Happiness has stick to it’s simplicity of delivering a heart-warming drama with a time travelling or deity twist then at least it’s more tolerable and engaging.

Movie Rating:

(The idea is good, the execution not bloomingly so)

Review by Linus Tee