PERFECT TWO (2012)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Director: Chu Yen-Ping
Cast: Vic Zhou, Ella Chen, Xiao xiao bin, Yang Mi, Vivan hsu, Ding Shasha, Chen Chusheng, Tao Zeru, Hsieh Yu-Chen
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: http://perfecttwo.pixnet.net/blog

Opening Day: 12 April 2012

Synopsis:   Bee used to be a motorcycle racing champion. Due to an accident, he has lost his fame and fortune. Bee was devastated by his wife’s run away from home and also addicted to alcohol and gambling. His neighbor, Maniu who has a crush on Bee, has empathy and sympathy for Bee’s suffering. She is voluntary making meals, doing laundry and daily cleaning for him. Regardless Bee is always treating her as a buddy; Maniu has looking forward to the day Bee can pull himself together.

One day, unexpectedly, Bee’s missing wife, Jiawei has returned home with Binbin, a five-year-old boy, after six years disappeared. Jiawei claimed that Binbin is Bee’s biological child, hoped that Bee might be able to help taking care of him for a while.

Bee has full of joys and surprise by this unanticipated request from Jaiwei. Binbin with sweet and considerate personality like sunshine warms his frozen heart. Being a new dad, in the beginning, Bee’s world has been turned upside down but gradually the two has formed a bond between father and son. Happily living together has eased Bee’s despair and regains hope in his life.

Movie Review:

Lucky you, Chu Yen ping, to have Vic Zhou and Xiao Xiao Bin playing the protagonists in your latest feature film project. Considering how the Taiwanese director was responsible for disposable flicks like Kung Fu Dunk (2008) and The Treasure Hunter (2009), this family drama could have gone down the drain.

Fortunately for Chu, the lovable pairing of Zhou and Xiao Xiao Bin is one that no critic can bear to tear apart. Just look at the adorable eight year old’s floppy hairdo, chubby cheeks and dot sized nose. Did we mention how he cries like a tap? Throw in Zhou’s good for nothing father character who develops a relationship with the kid, and you get a formulaic setup of how two unlikely beings come together for a typical Taiwanese melodrama.

The story has Zhou’s dejected ex motorcycle racing champion wasting his life away in the countryside, before his son turns up at his doorstep unexpectedly one day. He is tasked to take care of the mischievous kid, and the 100 minute movie has the two bonding over peeing in the open, bathing together in the bathtub and leading a seemingly carefree life. Drama happens when his mother returns to bring him to the States – will the titular “perfect two” be torn apart?

Amidst this, there is a neighbour who has secretly loved the bum for the longest time, helping him with laundry and meals. There is also her plump younger sister who tries very hard to make people chuckle with her antics (it works on a few occasions, actually). A handful of unimportant supporting characters fill the screen time with inconsequential actions.

Sounds like a movie by Chu? You bet. There are unnecessary antics (unfunny ones too) which only bring down the movie’s potential to be a heartwarming drama. With these out of the picture, this could seriously have been a recommended family movie.

Undeniably, this is an exploitative production. Just look at how Xiao Xiao Bin charms viewers with his irresistible cuteness, and how he bursts into tears whenever his father threatens to leave him. Chu’s experience with dealing with kids in movies like 1994’s Shaolin Popeye (with Hao Shaowen and Shi Xiaolong) should have equipped him for this. Ding Shasha, another child sensation is the female version (a chubby one, nonetheless) who sings and dances to a funny adaptation of Malaysian singer Ah Niu’s famous tune “The Girl Opposite Looking at Me”.

Adult actors like Zhou and Ella Chen deliver decent performances, while familiar faces like Zhu Geliang, Vivian Hsu and Chen Chusheng pop up as cameos. There may not be much depth in the characters they play, but you wouldn’t mind because bars are set low to begin with.

The real attraction of this serviceable movie has to be the picturesque scenery which you wish you could be surrounded by. The vast grasslands and the blue waters form the paradise the characters live in, and if you aren’t too distracted by Chu’s signature antics, you may just be able to enjoy this breezy drama.

Movie Rating:

(There are some great moments in this Chu Yen Ping movie - we just wish he had cut down on the redundantly pointless antics)

Review by John Li