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Review
by Kozo: |
Aloys Chen goes suavely comic in the China-Korea-Hong Kong production My Ex-Wife's Wedding, an urban romcom from director Lee Kung-Lok (My Mother is a Bellydancer). Chen stars as wedding planner Ma Yong, whose wedding to Yu Xiaohong (Yolanda Yuan of Like a Dream) survives despite the couple getting into a car crash en route to their ceremony. Unfortunately, some years later the passion does fade, with his self-centered tendencies and her large collection of shoes becoming bullet points on the list of irreconcilable differences. But even after a long separation, the two are very much a part of each other's lives. She drops by to pick up shoes while he gets nosy about her life. Clearly there's still a spark here. Will there be a second time around for these should-be-over exes?
My Ex-Wife's Wedding has a mixed pan-Asian pedigree, with mainland Chinese stars, Korean investment and a crew from all over Asia, including a Hong Kong screenwriter, director and also producer. The result is a film that loses most if not all of its cultural specificity; the characters hang out in luxurious shopping malls that one might find in any modern Asian city, and the relationship iconography is universal. Brand name boutiques? White wedding dresses? A large collection of shoes? There's no glitzy wedding banquet or gifting of red pockets here this film could easily have starred Katherine Heigl and whichever male hunk she's paired with this week. Wedding presents a clean, ultra-modern China made all the more dazzling by the sharp hi-def lensing and gleamingly bright finery.
Nice cars, nice clothes and nice jewelry Aloys Chen sports a monster-sized diamond earring on his left lobe make this terrific eye candy for those who ache for material luxury on the big screen. My Ex-Wife's Wedding is a product placement orgy, from jewelry brands and wedding services to sportswear, web portals and probably whichever tanning salon Chen uses to bronze his skin. Thankfully, the product placement absolutely makes sense, and even when it's incorporated verbally (like the mention of China web portal Baidu), the result is a witty gag. Wedding is told with quick-cutting, hyperactive storytelling that simply screams "this film is for the masses," but Lee Kung-Lok mixes his humor and heart decently. Also, the script stays consistent, sticking with its key storyline and not deviating into sitcom setups or extraneous misdirection. There are a couple of annoying commercial flourishes but that's par for a made-for-the-masses film like this.
The stars help a huge amount, all of them overacting but very much in the spirit of the film. Yolanda Yuan is not supermodel beautiful, but she's got personality and charm, making her a fine romantic heroine. As her dopey puppy-dog suitor, Lu Yi is a good straight man to the more animated leads. Of the three, however, its super-handsome Aloys Chen who makes the largest impact. His Ma Yong is a self-proclaimed "selfish asshole," but Chen makes him a lovable rogue whose insensitivity and selfishness mask recognizable feelings and motivations. The character is still very much an archetype, but when inhabited by the right actor like it is here one hardly notices. Likewise, the film itself covers little new ground, simply taking a popular genre, solid performers and mashing them together into an enjoyable and relentlessly commercial product for the masses. There's nothing wrong with that at all; the masses should be served too, and My Ex-Wife's Wedding gleefully has their back. Lives won't change, but audiences? Easily entertained.
(Kozo, reviewed at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, 2010) |
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