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My Dream Girl- 2003
Starring: |
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Synopsis
A Ning (Vicky Zhao) the daughter
of an automobile tycoon, Cheung (Richard Ng) is living in a village in Mainland
China. Her father who has been building h9is business with little concern for
her, suddenly decides it is time to find her. When he does he is horrified to
find her working as a cement truck driver. Persuading her that he is indeed
her father, he brings her back to his sumptuous Shanghai home. Worried that
his daughter doesn't have what it takes to be a socialite, Cheung takes the
advice of his sidekick (Vincent Kok) to hire an image consultant from Hong Kong
to transform his daughter.
Jo
Lam ( Ekin Cheng) has been unemployed for nine months. his girlfriend, Winnie
( Bernice Liu) is supporting him. However, unknown to Joe she is secretly having
an affair with their neighbor Tim ( Mark Liu), however she refuses to break
up with Joe while he is unemployed. When the job is posted at the unemployment
office Joe's overconfident swindling ways allow him to land the job, despite
the fact that he has next to zero experience as an image consultant. Winnie
is thrilled and sees him off on his three month assignment to Shanghai, planning
to spend the time with Tim.
Arriving
in Shanghai Joe inadvertently meets his assignment at the bottom of the escalator.
Gallantly mopping her up after he has kicked a bucket of water over her, enamors
her to this suave looking man. When he is confronted with he challenge of transforming
A Ning into a a presentable family member for Cheung's upper-class society functions,
Joe begins a power play declaring that it is not possible and A Ning is beyond
help. Already smitten A Ning chases after Joe to try to persuade him to take
the assignment, proclaiming her belief in his honesty. Cheung's right hand man,
also from Hong Kong doesn't want to have anything bad said about people from
Hong Kong and so despite Joe's lack of credentials he persuades Cheung to triple
Joe's salary to keep him on.
Joe
happy to get the extra salary starts the process of transforming A Ning. His good
looks keep A Ning believing in him regardless of his schemes. Cheung's secretary
is not so sure, but is loyal to her boss and so pays for all the purchases. Joe
is a lousy image designer and makes A Ning look like a laughing stock with over
the top clothes and horrible hairstyles. Nevertheless A Ning is in love with Joe
and wants desperately to be his friend. In the lobby of a shopping mall, Joe meets
up with one of his ex girlfriends, who happens to be a real image designer. When
A Ning turns up in the middle of this encounter, Joe loses his temper and calls
her 'an ugly duckling'. Devastated A Ning runs. Joe realizing he has hurt her
goes in search of her.
Searching
for her Joe finds her sitting against a wall on the sidewalk. He apologizes
and in the ensuing conversation they both realize some fundamental truths. A
Ning accuses him of making her look horrible, and Joe promises her that he will
do his best for her. She also takes him to see her former life, Joe seeing the
friendship of her former acquaintances starts to look at his own amoral and
annoying ways.
Worried
about the lack of progress, Cheung sends for Joe and informs him that he throwing
a party and wants to introduce his daughter to Shanghai society. In a panic
Joe tries desperately to make A Ning's look suitable for the occasion. realizing
he is out of his depth, he swallows his pride and goes to his ex-girlfriend
to plead with her to help him. Still devastated at his rejection of her, she
is less than enthusiastic. Joe is truly sorry at the way he treated her and
agrees to do anything to make amends. Wanting to humiliate him, she asks him
to act as a monkey. Desperate for her help and also changed Joe complies, eliciting
her help to truly transform A Ning.
The
introduction of A Ning is successful, and she is pursued by Frankie, the son
of the British Ambassador and Cheung profusely thanks Joe. Knowing that he was
not responsible, Joe does some serious soul searching and finally decides to
resign and return to Hong Kong.
Arriving
back at the appartment he inadvertently barges in on Winnie and Tim's affair.
Also devasted by his suddent departure A Ning has followed him to Hong Kong and
choses this moment to arrive at the appartment. Although each tries to keep the
love interest hidden, the truth is finally revealed. Winnie tells Joe the truth,
upset and hurt Joe leaves the appartment.Outside A Ning is waiting for him, telling
him that she has fallen for him. Joe lies and tells her he has no feelings for
her. Also hurt A Ning throws the handkerchief she has carried since the day they
met at him and they each walk their separate ways.
Back
in Shanghai A Ning learns her father's business and Frankie continues to try
to win her heart even though she has given it to Joe. She continues to ask Joe
to return, but he ignores her pleas. Finally, however, he does return to Shanghai,
living in the same village as A Ning. Working his way upward he meets a old
friend from the job center in Hong Kong.
A
final time Frankie takes A Ning to dinner at a new restaurant professing his love
for her and asking her to forget Joe. She is about to take his hand when the owner
of the restaurant arrives to ask them if everything is OK. Hearing the voice A
Ning looks up into the face of Joe. Shocked she berates him for the way he has
treated her, running from the restaurant leaving her date and Joe looking after
her.
Joe
yells at Frankie to go after her, but Frankie realizing that now Joe is there
he has no chance refuses, telling Joe that he is the only one qualified to go
after her. Joe doesn't believe him but is finally persuaded. Looking for her
outside the restaurant, she beats on him, calling him for deserting her. Her
bag falls open and the lipstick that Joe had bought as her image consultant
falls out, astounded that she would still have it he realizes that they are
indeed fated to be together.
Review
My
dream Girl is a Cinderella, Pygmalian and Ugly Duckling story all rolled into
one. However it had the potential to be a better movie than it ultimately became.
No fault of the actors the movie suffers from a weak and over gooey script.
There are a lot of jokes at the expense of Hong Kong over the Mainland which
work in the Cantonese version but are lost in the Mandarin soundtrack.
Ekin
Cheng plays the amoral, swindling, but nevertheless likeable Joe Lam very well.
He seems comfortable in the role and is able to infuse the part with the pathos
necessary to lead to his change of heart. Ekin truly held this movie together
but his co-stars didn't come through, and were for the most part either annoying
or uninteresting. Ekin could only do so much with the script however, and many
of his relationships were not developed. There is no screen chemistry between
himself and Vicky Zhao or Bernice Liu, again not because of the actors but the
direction of Raymond Yip.
Vicky's
performance was mediocre to say the least. She tries too hard to be funny. The
movie seemed to be simply a vehicle for her to wear as many wigs and costumes
as possible. The role essentially was the dirty, unkempt girl as in Shaolin
Soccer. Ning's gradual metamorphosis from truck driver to elegant socialite
just isn't credible, that said the lessons in manners given to her by Joe seem
genuine.
That
Joe is played by Ekin Cheng who is dashingly good looking and suave not to mention
charming, how could anyone not be swept into his schemes. Certainly Vicky as
A Ning completely enables them. All of the other character's purposes seems
to be that also, from his girlfriend who won't leave him, to the the quirky
secretary and sidekick of Cheung. The other two relationships in the movie between
Bernice Liu and Mark Liu and Vincent Kok and Niki Chow are less than diversionary
and the audience has no stake in their development.
The
relationship between Ekin and his ex-girlfriend, is one of the stranger scenes
in the movie. Her attempt to humiliate Joe leaves the audience wondering why
she would insist on monkey impersonations to prove that his character is changed.
The result is embarrassing and oddly out of place. Perhaps it is that embarrassment
that enables Joe to quit his swindled job before he is actually fired. It seems
amazing that Cheung didn't fire him immediately, making one wonder how he could
be come a business tycoon if he hires individuals whose resumes are not checked.
My
Dream Girl will certainly be enjoyed by fans of both Ekin Cheng and Vicky Zhao.
However, it is unlikely that anyone else will find the movie credible. There
are just too many plot holes and a loud film score. Raymond Yip tries to extol
the virtues of trying your hardest and doing your best, together with many Cantonese
plays on words which don't work in Mandarin or the English subtitles.
The
movie is distributed by Universe Laser and is available on VCD and DVD it has
both a Mandarin and Cantonese track, with simplified Chinese and English subtitles.
Copyright © 2002
