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It does seem that Sammi Cheng can do no wrong at the box office.
For the past couple of years, she has dominated the local movie
scene with her sweetly sick romantic antics, and made her the current
queen of film.
Her rise in popularity and why her films are so
well received can be attributed to a couple of points: Sammi is
generally a likeable gal and her film roles often reflect the feelings
and aspirations of the local females, albeit in a more fantastical
environment.
Just consider the roles she had taken on in her
previous films: a ditzy secretary (Needing You), a fat woman (Love
on a Diet), an unemployed ego-maniac (Fighting for Love), an ugly
yet strong woman (Wu Yen), and someone who was dumped (Summer Holiday).
Anyone you know?
Sammi certainly has an affinity with the local
gals, and she pretty much behaves and acts like them. And in her
latest film, she truly aspires to do what most Hong Kong women would
like to do: marry a rich man. Okay, this dream is not entirely confined
to Hong Kong, most women in the world would want to marry a rich
and handsome bloke, but it is only in Hong Kong that it is pursued
so obsessively.
Mi (Sammi) is the CEO of her family's business
- that is, she delivers profane gas to local customers. Her dream
is to marry a rich bloke, but the problem is that she doesn't know
any. She decides to buy a first-class plane ticket to Milan, hopefully
meeting some rich and dashing gullible men in the first-class cabin.
As luck has it, she meets Christmas (Richie Ren), who is rich, handsome,
and funny - an ideal potential husband.
When they arrive in Milan, their wallets get stolen,
but that doesn't seem to be a problem when love is in the air. And
they do gradually fall in love with each other. But will Christmas
want to be with her when he finds out she is a commoner? But there
is something mysterious about this Christmas - he just seems too
good to be true.
Okay, that's all I am going to tell you about
the plot because there is a rather big twist that you've got to
see for yourself. After that though, the film seems to run out of
ideas, and it's just plain sailing all the way to the end without
any exciting dramatic turns. It is a huge shame because the film
had so much potential. Vincent Kuk, one of the brightest and funniest
writers around, just doesn't seem to match his usual high standards,
and the film ends up rather flat.
Sammi Cheng and Richie Ren do put in great performances,
even better than in their previous film Summer Holiday, but the
material simply wasn't there to give them that extra leverage. The
scenes in Milan were picturesque, but lacked heart, and the whole
'marry a rich man' theme runs out of steam towards the end. In Mi's
own words "there isn't any magic", and that bolds true
for this film.
However, there were so nice touches here and there,
and the CGI effects were used quite convincingly without overwhelming
the feature. In my opinion, an old film starring Chow Yun Fat and
Anita Mui was much better in depicting the "marry a rich person"
theme. It was far more funnier, and the romance more realistic.
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