Synopsis

Sup-Som Cheung (Ekin Cheng) has been working on his psychology dissertation for 8 years and is still unable to pass. He has chosen women as his topic, yet although he is now 30 years old, he knows little about women. His long time girlfriend also dumps him. It turns out that Cheung is expected to enter into a an arranged marriage to please his senile grandmother who raised him. His advisor suggests that even if he doesn't pass, he might still have fun.

Yoyo Ma ( Charlene Choi) is the daughter of the other family interested in arranging the marriage. She has just turned 18 and so is summoned to England to marry Cheung. When Cheung sees Yoyo he is not really interested in her, but he marries her to please their families. Once married they agree to divorce at the end of one year and they write and sign an agreement on the back of the marriage certificate.

Yoyo returns to Hong Kong while Cheung remains in England. When his grandmother dies she leaves him two Jade bracelets for her daughter in law. Cheung returns to Hong Kong to bring the Jade for Yoyo. Yoyo inadvertently breaks one of the bracelets, which really upsets Cheung.

He is about to leave to find somewhere to stay when Yoyo suggests he stays there and pays her the rent. She agrees to help Cheung with his research for a price. Yoyo also has a boyfriend who has loved her for many years but she is uninterested in him. In addition she has her eye on a Kelvin who plays basket ball in the park. Yoyo persuades Sup Som to help her get rid of one boyfriend and secure the other.

Yoyo attends a catholic girls school. She has told no one about her marriage to Cheung. Visiting her house her best friend becomes aware of the situation but agrees to keep it a secret. Needing money Sup Som applies to be the psychology teacher at her school and secures the job. There is one other male teacher in the school and a newly hired young Gym teacher, Miss Lee (Bernice Liu). Miss Lee becomes very interested in Cheung, especially after he inadvertently sees her in the shower and also saves her from being bitten by a snake

Sup Som takes care of her until she is well. Now Yoyo wants to be with him. When he goes out to dinner with his friends he tells her she can't come with him because they are older and it is not appropriate. Yoyo dresses up and does her hair to try to look older and turns up at the restaurant totally embarrassing Cheung.



Returning home Cheung is angry with her, reminding her that she is just a teenager. Desperate to be wanted Yoyo forces herself on Cheung and eventually they make love. The next morning Cheung receives a phone call from Miss Lee reminding him of an appointment they had with a fortuneteller. Despite her love for Sup Som, Yoyo pushes him to be with Miss Lee, even giving her the mended jade bracelet.

Cheung is confused by her actions and she tells him that he is too old and she is not interested. Upset Cheung goes out with the other male teacher form the school for a drink, finding out in the process that he is gay. He advises Cheung to be true to his heart and pick the one that he truly loves.

At school the meddlesome headmistress announces the relationship between Cheung and Miss Lee. Sop Som cannot let this go any further and he tells of his marriage to Yoyo apologizing to Miss Lee. At the same time Yoyo's former boyfriend turns up declaring undying love for her. Yoyo publicly tears up the marriage certificate and rejects both of them.

Cheung leaves Yoyo a message on her computer and the other jade bracelet and returns to England. When Yoyo returns and finds his message she knows that she does indeed love him. Racing to the airport she tries to get a flight to England without luck.

At the University Cheung's examiners are not impressed with his latest research accusing him of making it up. At that moment Yoyo arrives and sets the record straight. She has repaired the marriage certificate and erased the divorce clause, telling Sup Som that she wants to be his wife. Cheung happily accepts her and they leave as he tells the examiners that he no longer cares whether he passes or not. Of course he does pass and immediately begins planning his next research on having a baby.

Review

James Yuen's romantic comedy is a truly light weight movie. It's plot lines are undeveloped and at times totally unbelievable. It is definitely a new pop culture film to showcase both Charlene Choi and the other young EEG stars. That said it is fun and enjoyable a fairly well executed farce complete with a hidden marriage and a love triangle. Many of the subplots are just not sufficiently developed, and many of the jokes are very familiar and so often are not as amusing as intended.

Ekin Cheng as Thirteen Cheung plays his role completely straight, and does the best he can with the mediocre script. It is refreshing to see him in a role that is not the normal cool lady killer. Ekin allows the audience to truly like Cheung and care whether his relationships will work out. The circumstance that lead up to the arranged marriage are pretty silly, and both Cheung and Yoyo know that this relationship can't last. However, Ekin plays the love scenes well as Yoyo desperately tries to prove to herself and him that she is an attractive woman.

Charlene is truly annoying as Yoyo. She overacts terribly but being as young as she is, the character is believable, probably because it is not far from the truth. Unfortunately, she is unable to show emotion in her face for more than a split second. Fortunately she had an experienced actor in Ekin Cheng and he was able to help her produce the chemistry that is needed to make the film work. Charlene is going to have to work very hard if she is going to make it as an actress. She has a long way to go.

There are moments of true comedy. The scenes in the supermarket as the three groups evade one another in true farcical style, all finally running into one another and concocting a story to explain their position.

Also the fact that there is only one male bathroom in a school is fairly ludicrous, however the panicked Cheung sneaking into the female bathroom only to be compromised is one of the funnier moments in the movie.

The movie is produced by Universe Laser and is available on VCD and DVD. It has both a Cantonese and a Mandarin soundtrack. There are removeable English and Chinese subtitles. In addition the DVD includes a Making Of segment containing interviews with both Ekin Cheng and Charlene Choi. There is also a ten minute segment of deleted scenes which ended up on the cutting room floor.

Copyright © 2002

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