Movie Review: Just Married (2003)

Year Produced: 2003
Director: Shawn Levy
Producers: Robert Simonds, Lauren Shuler Donner
Writer: Sam Harper
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Running Time: 95 minutes
Language(S): English, Italian, German, French
Country of Origin: United States of America

Cast:
Ashton Kutcher as Tom Leezak
Brittany Murphy as Sarah McNerney then Sarah Leezak
Christian Kane as Peter Prentiss
David Moscow as Kyle
Monét Mazur as Lauren

The McNerneys
David Rasche as Mr. McNerney
Veronica Cartwright as Mrs. McNerney aka Pussy
Thad Luckinbill as Willie McNerney
David Agranov as Paul McNerney
Taran Killam as Dickie McNerney

The Leezaks
Raymond J. Barry as Mr. Leezak

Storyline/Plot/Synopsis:
The story starts with Tom and Sarah at the airport, fighting with each other all the way and Tom dropping Sarah at her home as a favor to her and crashing all the flower pots and statues in her house compound at the same time.
While Sarah ends up crying on the shoulder of her best friend, Lauren, Tom was back at home roughing it out with his best buddy, Kyle.

The story then flashes back to when Tom and Sarah first met; when Tom was playing football on the beach and Sarah was hit by the ball he threw in her direction while she was walking her dog. The two got acquainted with each other and soon started seeing each other, despite Sarah's wealthy family's objections to their relationship when Sarah brought Tom back to meet her parents.

Though it started on a bad impression, the family could not stop Sarah from marrying Tom in a traditional church ceremony, to which Sarah was happy to finally be with Tom.



However, Tom hid a secret from Sarah and vice versa; as Tom accidentally killed her dog while he was in her room and Sarah, at the same time, was trying to keep the incident of her sleeping with Peter once from Tom, who hates the sight of Peter.


On their wedding night, they saved their first night for the honeymoon as both were extremely exhausted after the wedding ceremony, but Sarah tried to drag Tom to the restroom on the plane to have sex. However, their attempts to join the mile high club failed and they even hurt the air stewardess who was constantly telling them to return to their seats due to the air turbulence when their door swung open into her face. Upon landing at the airport, Tom was upset to learn that they were given a small rental car; a lot smaller than what he originally requested for during his reservation.

While they were driving to their destination, Tom was complaining and when Sarah tells him to make a sharp turn at the very last minute, they both got down from the car, arguing but soon reconciled as they realized that they sounded like an old married couple.

Reaching their hotel, they were pleased with the excellent French hospitality and amazed with the beautiful suite they were given. However, Tom was a little annoyed when the concierge informed them of a bottle of wine given to them by Peter, congratulating them on their marriage, as Peter had been trying to pursue Sarah for years. In their suite, Tom found another gift from Kyle; which was a Thunderstick A-200; a sex toy which he was excited with and tried to plug it into the wall socket to charge immediately. Unheeding Sarah's objections, he forced the plug into the socket but it was not matching the European socket standards and thus caused power blackout in the hotel and the entire village. The hotel manager was furious with the couple as the establishment was started by his great grandparents and had never run into problems like these. Tom was furious with his attitude and the two exchanged words of anger whereby the manager kicked both Tom and Sarah out of the hotel.

Sarah was upset at not being able to enjoy the beautiful hotel and the two ended up staying inside their car for the night as their car lost control and derailed off the side of the road. Their car was covered with snow the next morning and the two got out and hitchiked a ride from a truck driver and ending up at Venice where they checked into a less than impressive pensione there.

However, they tried to make the best of the situation and attempted to make love but were freaked out by the cockcroaches and then, the two crashed the wall into another couple's room and it was then that they decided to move out of the pensione.


Despite Tom's objections, Sarah sought the help of her father to book them a luxurious hotel but her father reminded Tom to repay him the money as soon as possible.

Their honeymoon seems to be back on track when they set off for their sightseeing tour the next day; but it seemed that Tom was not interested in most of the architectures of attractive spots which Sarah enjoyed and agreeing to separate for their own interests in activities, the couple split into Sarah continuing her tour around major tourist spots and Tom hanging out at an American themed bar watching sports updates. Sarah returns to the hotel early and was surprised to find that Peter was also staying in the same hotel. Tom was furious to find out about Peter's presence and the two wound up in a heated argument in which Tom revealed that he accidentally killed her dog while Sarah also mentioned that she had slept with Peter once.
Shocked with the revelation from both sides, they both stormed out of the room and went on their separate ways again; with Tom ending up at the bar and Sarah on her sightseeing again; where she bumped into Peter.


Tom, on the other hand, was at the bar when he met a girl who flirted with him. Realizing that she wants sex, Tom tried to get out of the conversation by excusing himself to the toilet where he ends up climbing out of the window to escape back to the hotel. However, when he found out that Sarah was with Peter in the hotel, he stormed off in anger and bumped into the girl at the bar again. Trying to get away from her, he tried to offer sending her back to her hotel but unknowingly revealed his own hotel where the girl also claimed she was staying there. She followed him to his hotel room where she started taking off her clothes and got on top of him, while Tom was wriggling his best to get away from her and finally yelled that he was on his honeymoon with his wife, and she finally left.

Peter and Sarah went for a drink together and when he dropped her off at the hotel, he kissed her and was witnessed by Tom from their balcony. However, what Tom did not see was that Sarah slapped Peter and tells him that she is on her honeymoon. When Sarah reaches the room, Tom initiated an argument and accused Sarah of cheating on him with Peter, while Sarah was furious to discover a red bra in the room.


As the two was in their shouting match, Sarah threw an ashtray at Tom, injuring him on his forehead, and Peter barged into their argument, pulling Sarah to run away with him and fuelling Tom's anger to which he picked up a poker to threaten Peter, who ran off and had the hotel's staff to lodge a police report, and the couple ended up spending the night in jail. Peter bailed them out but the couple were too furious with each other and cut their honeymoon short, boarding the plane back to LA.
On their way back, the two continued their acts of vengeance against each other; especially Sarah who told the airport officials that Tom had drugs stuffed in his anus and ending up in him being searched.

When they reached LA; which was the beginning of the movie, the two separated ways but soon realized that they still loved each other very much and were both heartbroken with how they turned out. Tom was advised by his father, and after hearing his father's story, drove to Sarah's house to make amends with her, although the family and the maid refused entry to him.
However, Tom threatened to ram the gate with his car and then proceeded to declare his love for Sarah at the security circuit camera attached at the front gate which touched Sarah, and even her family as her father urged her to go after him and the couple reconciled with an embrace and kiss.

Christy's Review:
Simple and sweet storyline, and hilarious with the twist of events occurring on the disastrous honeymoon. Brittany Murphy was just so sweet as the young and promising bride while Ashton Kutcher was equally a adorable, making them such a lovely couple to watch and it was sad to see them parting, really. It was a very light-hearted movie filled with lots of drama, but eventually love conquered all, making this yet another heart-melting romantic comedy to be enjoyed by everyone.

Likes about the movie:
Scenes between Brittany and Ashton; their chemistry is amazing!


Dislikes about the movie:
Besides the bickering scenes, there should also be more romantic scenes to portray more of their fiery romance for each other although it is not lacking that much in the movie either.

Verdict:
Watch, for the sweet and lovely scenes between Brittany and Ashton which makes them such a desirable newly wed and is bound to make any newlywed or even longtime married folks enjoy the entertaining jokes from the disasters on their honeymoon.

Rating: 3/5

Movie Review:My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

Year Produced: 2002

Director: Joel Zwick
Producers: Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson
Writer: Nia Vardalos
Studio: Playtone, Gold Circle Films, MPH Entertainment, HBO Pictures
Distributors: IFC Films, Hollywood Pictures
Language: English
Country of Origin: Canada, United States

Cast:
Nia Vardalos as Fotoula Portokalos/Toula
John Corbett as Ian Miller
Lainie Kazan as Maria Portokalos
Michael Constantine as Kostas Portokalos/Gus
Ian Gomez as Mike
Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula
Stavroula Logothettis as Athena Portokalos
Louis Mandylor as Nick Portokalos
Gia Carides as Cousin Nikki
Joey Fatone as Cousin Angelo
Bruce Gray as Rodney Miller
Fiona Reid as Harriet Miller
Arielle Sugarman as Paris Miller
Jayne Eastwood as Mrs. White

Supporting:
Christina Eleusiniotis as Toula Portokalos at Age 6
Marita Zouravlioff as Toula Portokalos at Age 12
Kaylee Vieira as Schoolgirl
John Kalangis as Greek Teacher

Synopsis/Plot/Storyline:
Fotoula/Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos) is a Greek; and she knows the fact very well, being reminded by her big and loud family's existence in her life since young. In school, she was constantly ridiculed for her weird lunch boxes and all she wished for was to be accepted by the normal kids in her school. In her teen years, she grudgingly drags her feet to Greek classes while her peers enjoy other activities and her house stood out like a sore thumb in a typical American neighborhood.


Toula remains unmarried at the age of 30 and works in her family's restaurant, Dancing Zorba; while her sisters were married earlier, as practised by the typical Greeks. She stood out from the other Greeks despite her father's constant nagging about her unmarried status; which was abnormal for her age in the Greek culture. However, Toula wanted more things in her life besides being married for the sake of fulfilling the demands of her culture and more than that, she wanted to find true love that swept her off her feet when it happens. Besides romance, Toula also wanted to achieve more things in her life and to establish her own career.

Her age and physical appearance made Toula developed a rather low self esteem when dealing with others; especially with men and when she laid her eyes on a handsome man who dined in her restaurant (John Corbett), she ended up making a fool of herself and hiding from him due to her previous experiences with social awkwardness although the man found her antics enchanting.
Bored with her typical daily work at the restaurant, Toula sought the help of her mother to persuade her father to allow her to enrol for computer classes; and her supportive mother manipulated her father into believing that he was the one who came up with the idea.

When Toula expressed her interest in working in a travel agency run by her aunt, her mother again wrestled her father's mind into believing that he suggested the idea and Toula was delighted to have finally found a new place in her life as she fitted comfortably into her job.


At the same time, Toula decided a change was inevitable and started to spruce up her own appearance to give herself a fresh outlook. Dropping her old-fashioned spectacles for contact lenses and dressing up in a more modern style, Toula soon became a more confident person.
When the handsome man walked past her travel agency and tried to get to know her, Toula was pleased with him being interested in her. They soon started dating; and Toula found out that the handsome man was Ian Miller, a school teacher and their little romance soon blossomed into something more serious than just a fling.

Toula was apprehensive in telling her family about Ian; especially her father as Ian is not Greek and tried to hide their relationship from them.

However, her father, Gus, soon found out and he was clearly displeased with the fact that Ian was not Greek and tried to stop Toula from seeing Ian; which failed. Ian then proposed to Toula who delightfully accepted, and as they embark on their journey to plan the wedding, that was when the series of unfortunate events follows.

When Toula and Ian arranged for their parents to meet at Toula's place in what was said to be a private event, Toula, along with Ian's parents were horrified by the large gathering with what seemed to be the entire of the Portokalos family! Ian's parents; Rodney (Bruce Gray) and Harriet (Fiona Reid) was overwhelmed by the culture shock unfolding in front of them but they tried to adapt to the large amounts of food and drinks and also the rowdy environment and even ended up getting drunk after accepting drink after drink. Toula's father, Gus, on the other hand, also was shocked to discover the fact that Ian was vegetarian!


As the wedding planning continued, Toula was surprised by the antics pulled by her big and interfering family in her plans, which included her mother deciding and ordering the invitations with Ian's parents name misspelled. Then the second shock comes when Toula's cousin Nikki (Gia Carides) orders all tacky blue bridesmaid dresses on her own, intending to surprise Toula with what they believed to be beautiful.


Her wedding day soon arrived, and Toula was still not spared from the drama as she wakes up to find a big zit on her face and the whole family tries to help her hide it.

The wedding ceremony took place in the Greek Orthodox Church; which Gus wanted and Ian agreed to (he was also baptized to please Gus), followed by the noisy and happening reception.
When Gus gave his speech and announced that he had bought Toula and Ian a new house; handing them the keys during the reception, Toula was touched and hugged her father.

It was shown several years later that Toula and Ian have a daughter, Paris, whom they raise in Greek style and as they left the house with their daughter, Toula's old house and her parents were just next doors; indicating that Gus had bought them the house beside them.
Toula was happy with the fact, and had learnt to accept her own birth rights and family; that though they were rowdy and tend to be humiliating, they will always be a part of her and that they are a family.

Christy's Review:

A movie entailing all the juicy details of wedding planning; including that of families' intervention and the overall ups and downs of a journey towards the wedding day. Any bride who had planned their own wedding would definitely be able to share in the sentiments of the frustrations and dilemma of being torn between her own family and also fulfilling her own dreams of being a bride. The movie, besides showing that part about the bride's struggles, was also about accepting one's identity and family.
I find this a heart-warming drama, and focuses on all the right aspects of the general perception of a wedding; besides the romance and comedy on two different people waiting to behin their lives together. It is a story of acceptance, of understanding and bridging the differences.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is not just a romantic comedy alone; but it is a compelling story about how a bride-to-be struggles to deal with her own family and discovering her identity before joining two families together. Marriage here, is depicted in a realistic light that it is not about two people alone but it is a union of the families attached to the two individuals; and like it or not, they come in a package.
True, there are times when we are frustrated by people who love us the most, but they are still those who are dearest to us and that is a fact that can never be changed at all in our lifetime.
This is not a story about wedding nor romance, nor the hilarious antics; it is about love, and acceptance, and for that, this movie in my opinion, is highly entertaining and successful.

Likes about the movie:
The antics of the Portokalos family; which comes across as a highly eccentric family but one filled with love and warmth.

Dislikes about the movie:
Nothing much, as the movie is just entertaining for the two hours! Okay, maybe the Portokalos was a little too noisy for my liking sometimes too :p

Verdict:
Highly recommended for brides-to-be, and especially if you are one facing the crisis of your family driving you crazy. Of course, this is a movie for families and all ages too, as it teaches much apart from romance and laughs.

Rating: 4/5

Movie Review: Anger Management (2003)

Year Produced: 2003
Director: Peter Segal
Executive Producer: Adam Sandler
Producer(s): Allen Covert, Jack Giarraputo, Tim Herlihy
Writer: David S. Dorfman
Studio: Studio Revolution Studios, Happy Madison
Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Cast:
Adam Sandler - Dave Buznik
Jack Nicholson - Dr. Buddy Rydell
Marisa Tomei - Linda
Luis Guzman - Lou
Allen Covert - Andrew
Lynne Thigpen - Judge Brenda Daniels
Krista Allen - Stacy
January Jones - Gina
Kurt Fuller - Frank Head
John Turturro - Chuck
Woody Harrelson - Galaxia/Gary
Kevin Nealon - Sam

Synopsis/Plot/Storyline:
In the year 1978, Dave Buznik was about to kiss the girl of his dreams for the first time, following a game of truth or dare with the girl, Sarah, when he had his pants pulled down by a local public in front of public. Dave was openly humiliated and laughed at by the crowd, and this incident left a long term effect on Dave's life, emotions and relationship.

In the present; 25 years later, Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) is a grown up man who is working in New York City for a abusive boss, Frank, who always takes credits for his work. Dave has a loving girlfriend, Linda (Marisa Tomei) whom he confides in, but Linda worries about Dave being constantly bullied and wishes that he will stand up for himself once in a while.

At the same time, Linda's best guy friend and admirer, Andrew (Allen Covert), was constantly and openly showing his affections for Linda and yet Dave did not react, as he did not want to cause a scene.

Dave was then sent on an assignment and he boarded a plane where he found his seat already taken by somebody else. Although Dave was rather annoyed, he tried to hide it well by reasoning with the guy but the guy just refused to change his seat and even told Dave to sit elsewhere. It was then that another guy at the back of the plane beckoned to Dave and he took that seat.
During his flight, he was trying to catch up on his sleep but to no avail as he was constantly disturbed by the guy, named Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson), who kept telling him that the movie he was watching was really hilarious and urged him to put on his headset and watch the same movie together. Dave gave in when he realized that he is not getting his sleep, he requested for his headset from the air stewardess. However, he felt a little impatient when he noticed that the flight attendants were chatting but yet did not bother to bring him his headset. When the flight attendant walked past him again, he brushed against her but was mistaken as trying to assault her, and the air marshal appears, trying to take control of the situation.

However, Dave was being tried in court for assaulting and inflicting injury on the flight attendant, and he was sentenced to 20-hours anger management therapy session. When Dave turned up for his session, he was surprised to see that the therapist was actually the guy who sat next to him on the plane; Dr. Buddy Rydell. He asked Buddy to help him out by signing him off for the sessions when he will only attend one session. Buddy, however, refused but tried to coax him into the first session to see how he will go from there.
Dave meets bizarre and violent characters in the therapy patients such as Lou (Luis Guzman), Nate (Jonathan Loughran), Chuck (John Turturro), and a pair of sexy yet eccentric porn star girls, Stacy (Krista Allen) and Gina (January Jones).

Buddy pushed Dave to share about himself, to the extent that Dave finally shouted in the class.
At the end of the class, Buddy decides that Dave needs to continue his sessions, and even assigns him a partner; Chuck, who was a a violent guy and scares Dave, much to his displeasure.

Dave and Chuck went out for a drink at a bar, where Chuck, starts a fight with a man sitting at the bar counter and Dave, trying to calm down everyone ends up accidentally hitting the waitress with the walking stick he took away from a blind man. He ends up in a court again and meets the same judge again; Judge Brenda Daniels (Lynne Thigpen) who clearly not pleased with his recurring offence and orders him to intensive therapy treatment or face jail, after Buddy negotiates with her.

Buddy then moves in to stay with Dave, claiming that he needs the intensive therapy/treatment and to accomplish that, Buddy will need to understand his daily behaviors and habits.

Buddy shares his bed, and even orders Dave about, annoying him to no end but Dave was still maintaining his cool.

Then Buddy followed Dave to work, and while driving in the car, he forced Dave to stop his car in the middle of the bridge and caused massive traffic jam, with most of the drivers driving past them, cursing.

Inside the car, Buddy taught Dave to sing a "I Feel Pretty' song. Buddy then instructs Dave to go to a street where they pick up a transvetite, Galaxia, and offers to pay him to just sit with Dave and talk to him. Dave was terrified and yelled at Galaxia to get out of the car. It was then that Buddy explained that he can progress in the next level in the program as he has learnt about righteous anger.


Dave then received a phone call from Boston about Buddy's mum who was undergoing surgery and lied to Buddy, who took it seriously. When Buddy learns that it was not that serious, he told Dave he will get him back for that. He insisted that Dave joins him on his road trip to Boston.

In Boston, Buddy taught Dave to seduce a girl (Heather Graham) using a lame pick up line and to Dave's surprise, she fell for it and even followed Dave home. When Dave refused to sleep with her, she burst into anger and kicked him out of the house, and Dave screamed at her in return outside the house.

As they were returning from Boston, Buddy instructed Dave to drive to a monastery where he is to confront his childhood bully, Arnie Shankman, who is now a Buddhist monk. Their confrontation ended up in a fight as Dave lost his temper and learns about righteous anger.

Then Dave was surprised when Linda told him that she was advised by Buddy to separate from him, and Dave confronted Buddy who told him that it was essential to make Linda realize how good Dave was after dating some lousy guys. Convinced, Dave also decided to play along by asking the two porn star girls, Stacy and Gina to help to pretend as his dates and he found out that Linda's new date was actually none other than Buddy himself. Furious, he confronted Buddy once again, but was coaxed into believing that Buddy would portray a bad guy image to make Linda realize the good guy in Dave.
However, Buddy soon told him that he and Linda had fallen for each other, and Dave then hit him in anger.

Dave ended up in court again, where he was ordered on restraint to stay away from Buddy and Linda. Upset, he follows them to the Yankees game after hearing that they will there that night, and finally mustering his courage, he runs to the middle of the field, and tried to use the microphone to confess his feelings and propose to Linda but was pulled away by the authorities.
However, the Mayor (Rudy Giulani) gives him a chance and orders him to finish what he was saying and then Dave proposed to Linda, who agrees but only if Dave kisses her in front of everyone there.

Then Linda showed Dave the score board which reads a congratulatory message from Buddy on their proposal.

Linda then reveals to Dave that the whole thing was orchestrated by her, after reading a book on anger management by Dr. Buddy Rydell. She sought his help to treat Dave, whom she thinks has been suppressing his feelings far too much and that he will need to learn to express himself.
Then a man came to the group, threatening that he was the owner of the car which crashed when Buddy reversed his car and he held them at gunpoint. Dave then stepped in front of Buddy, and shared what he had learnt from Buddy to calm the man down.
The man then pointed his gun at Dave's head and squirts water, and the group burst out laughing, with Buddy reminding Dave that he had mentioned he will get him back for his joke on Buddy's mother and everyone broke into singing "I Feel Pretty".


Christy's Review:
I do admit feeling that the whole movie centering on the topic of Anger Management did confuse me a little, and got me thinking, "Is this the right movie?"
Sure, there were moments of absurdity which cracks one up, but there are moments of frustration at the direction of the movie. It is like watching a car driving in a wayward direction; and then derailed completely. Yes, the movie gave me that feeling.

It was revealed in the end that Buddy Rydell was just there to annoy the hell out of Dave, because he was hired by Linda to help him to express his anger and not constantly suppress it, but then the methods used by Buddy and even he himself, was not really that true to the concept of anger management, was it?
Overall, it was true to its genre; a slapstick comedy, and nothing to really take seriously or else, one will just end up confused or frustrated.

Character Analysis:
Adam Sandler as Dave Buznik

Adam plays the anger-suppressed Dave quite well, and it is no surprise since this is Adam Sandler we are talking about. His expressions make one feels for him, and empathize with what he is feeling; which is mostly frustration. We can't blame him, when people like Buddy, Chuck and his boss constantly annoying the daylights out of him, and they kept pushing at that limit. I think any normal human being or even the most patient would be angered by those actions.
In my opinion, I didn't really think that Dave was a dangerous person at all; nor is he as violent as charged in court which is the main reason why I find the concept of the movie just ridiculous. Dave is a very likable character, and he is probably just like most of the people around the world, who just wants a little peace and he can deal with his own problems, but no, everyone around him just thinks he needs to learn to express his anger appropriately. Of course, that makes sense, but sometimes, when one learns to express anger, then they want them to learn to suppress their anger, yeah, then the movie Anger Management comes along.

Jack Nicholson as Buddy Rydell

No doubt, Jack is the veteran who added the drama to the movie, as he plays the annoying yet professional anger management therapist, Dr. Buddy Rydell. Alright, the interesting part is how this guy preaches about anger management to Dave and yet losing his temper or cool easily when things go wrong. It was just quite ironic. Yeah, it is all about learning to express your emotions when needed, and not resorting to violence, but the methods Buddy used turned out to be bizarre and annoying too, no offense. Jack is poised and cool in most of his scenes, playing the eccentric doctor to a believable level.

Marisa Tomei as Linda

Sweet and subtle, there is really nothing more to say about the character Linda as there was not much of an appearance. She is supposed to be the master mind behind the whole plot, but yet, she did not have much of an impact in the movie, except to show her sweet smile once in a while in those scenes she did appear.

Likes about the movie:
The scene where Dave stops his car in the middle of the bridge and was made to sing "I Feel Pretty" with the crazy Dr. Buddy Rydell.

Dislikes about the movie:
Why doesn't everyone just leave Dave alone, and just kept pushing him by doing all sorts of silly things? I just find it a little over the edge sometimes, in the movie.

Verdict:
Watch with an open mind, but don't delve too much into the logic as this is not about understanding the movie. This is a slapstick comedy, so nothing more.

Rating: 2.5/5

Movie Review: Needing You (孤男寡女) (2000)

Year Produced: 2000
Director/Producers: Johnnie To, Wai Ka Fai
Writers: Wai Ka Fai, Yau Nai Hoi (Original: Cindy Tang)

Cast:
Sammi Cheng - Kinki Kwok
Andy Lau - Andy Cheung
Gabriel Harrison - Dan
Fiona Leung - Fiona
Raymond Wong - Roger

Synopsis/Plot/Storyline:
Andy is a successful top sales manager in a computer company and as he struggles to the top and maintained his position, he had to fight off the management's politics. Despite his charming behavior in office and being an eligible bachelor, most of his co-workers perceive and label him a womanizer.


Kinki(Sammi) enters the company and joins Andy's department, where he is her manager. Kinki appeared as a somewhat muddled woman who releases her emotions into her bouts of fits of compulsive cleaning; cleaning almost everything that is before her.

Andy was initially irked by Kinki's weirdness, but slowly learns to appreciate her dedication to work and also her good nature, which is seemingly rare in the office full of politics at work. Andy also learns the truth behind Kinki's bizarre behavior; it was her boyfriend, Dan (Gabriel Harrison) who treated her like dirt and Kinki caught him cheating on her.

As he stood by her to help her get over the break up, Andy found himself caring for her and Kinki was pleased with the attention Andy had showered her as she had fallen for Andy.


Before they proceed further in their friendship, Andy's ex-flame, Fiona showed up and sensing their feelings for each other, Fiona was intent to stop the start of their romance as she wanted the womanizing Andy back to herself. She then convinced Andy to set up a blind date for Kinki; by introducing her to Internet mogul, Roger (Raymond Wong).
When Andy asked Kinki out, she was pleased and spent hours selecting what to wear but when she got into the car and Andy told her about the blind date he had set up, she got into one of her cleaning fits again.


Kinki went to the restaurant and seemed to hit it off immediately with Roger, much to Andy's displeasure and she took off on Roger's motorcycle which she seemed to be so interested in.
Andy was worried about Kinki the whole night, and messed up with Fiona who was trying to seduce him but the whole thing went awry when Andy ended up dialing Kinki's phone and also referring to Fiona as Kinki.

Andy then realized that he had fallen for Kinki and even took up motorbike riding lessons to win her heart again. Kinki was pleased to see that Andy was jealous of her relationship with Roger.
However, as her heart had been set, and predictably, she ended up with Andy.

Christy's Review:
Simple and generic, this needs no complicated formula to come up with the script as most of the Hong Kong movies, to me, seems to be written in the same style.
Nothing exceptionally romantic nor the type to make one's heart skip a beat, I just find it almost the same like all the others I have watched, although the chemistry between Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng was not too bad.
To note, the writer/director was even lazy to change the actors' names to their characters and just stuck to most of their own names; Andy and Fiona.

Likes about the Movie:
The theme song by Sammi Cheng.

Dislikes about the Movie:
No originality

My verdict:
Not too bad for a watch though, if you are into the idol movies and also a simple romantic comedy.

Rating: 2.5/5

TVB: Wish and Switch (換樂無窮) (2012)

Year Produced: 2012
Producer: Lam Chi Wah
No. of episodes: 20

Cast:
Myolie Wu - Fan Suk Heung
Selena Li - Hailey/Hau Yurk Hoi
Johnson Lee - Koo Ka Yan
Vincent Wong - Wayne/Weng Yiu

Supporting Cast:
Lau Kong - Yes Sir/Koo Wing Si
Mimi Chu - Yes Madam/Fung Yau Yi
Angela Tong - Koo Ka Kam
Tina Shek - Yip Yuk Hing
Ram Chiang - Fan Tai Kit
Kiki Sheung - Lui Wong/ Mrs Weng
Patrick Dunn - Benjamin
Savio Tsang - Yip Yiu

Synopsis/Storyline/Plot:
Fan Suk Heung(Myolie Wu) is a housewife who lives her life running the chores in the household, caring for her timid husband, Koo Ka Yan (Johnson Lee), who works in a fast food restaurant; retired discipline master father-in-law, Yes Sir (Lau Kong) who runs the house like a military commander; her lazy younger brother; her elder brother, Tai Kit (Ram Chiang) who always gets into trouble as he holds street protests with his friends, and also her husband's niece, Yip Yuk Hing (Tina Shek) whose mum was away and she does not know who her dad is.


Initially she had her mother-in-law, Yes Madam (Mimi Chu) to help her out with the chores, but she filed for divorce when she could no longer take her controlling husband who was constantly ordering her about and she decided to live her own life.

Life turned more chaotic when Ka Yan's wandering sister, Ka Kam (Angela Tong) returns home pregnant and makes various demands.

Heung also has a day job at the fast food restaurant where her husband worked as a supervisor, and she was upset with Ka Yan constantly taking the blame for his friend cum restaurant manager's fault and at one point, even causing himself to be sacked.

Heung runs into her longtime best friend, Hailey (Selena Li), now Mrs Weng, wife to a wealthy businessman. During their first encounter, Heung was unable to get her attention and she was disappointed as she was trying to seek Hailey's help to get her husband's job again as the restaurant where they worked reports directly to Hailey's husband's company.

By chance, Heung found a website on a computer in the public library which allowed people to make a wish or trade for anything that they want in the world. Thinking that it was a hoax or just a phony website, Heung just played along by wishing that her husband would get her job back and in return, the website asked her for her favorite orange-flavored gum. When her orange-flavored gum disappeared from all the packets of sweets she bought, Heung started believing that the website was for real. However, she was unable to tell anyone about it as it was one of the condition in the website.


Heung finally reunites with Hailey, who explained that she did not heed her call the first time because Heung was shouting her high school nickname in public and if it was heard by the paparazzi, she would be ridiculed in the papers.
When Heung accidentally overhears her husband telling his friend about how he had saved up money to be able to support his 'mistress', she got really upset and told Hailey about it. Hailey told her that she needed to get her husband back from the other woman and Heung wished that Hailey could help her do it. As the two best friends lament on their lives, they ended up getting drunk in the library.

Hailey got a little shock when she accidentally touched a switch, and that electric current that went through her skin enabled Heung to tell her about the website.
In their drunken state, Heung and Hailey typed in their wish to exchange their identities and they pressed Enter.


When they woke up, they realized what they had done but feeling nothing different, the two of them decided to head home. They then discovered that they had indeed exchanged their identities, as although they still look the same, their names on their IDs were different and even people around them were unable them to recognize them.

Meeting up, they were eager to go back into their own lives and agreed to meet up at the library to switch back into themselves again but were dismayed when they found the library was closed for a month.


Left with no choice, the two had to fit into their roles after exchanging notes about their respective lifestyle. It was tough at first, with people around them commenting how different they have been. Hailey was having a hard time trying to adjust to having to do all the chores in the Koo household and fulfilling everyone's demands, and at the same time, avoiding Ka Yan's sexual advances. Heung, on the other hand, was having the time of her life as she was enjoying the luxuries in Hailey's penthouse and also having all the designer brands to don.
Hailey had Benjamin (Patrick Dunn), her private butler, over at the Koo's home to help her out with the household chores as she was not used to having to do so many things.

Hailey lost her temper at one point when she no longer wanted to do everything in the house for everyone, and how they were all taking advantage of her or Heung. However, she started to realize that Heung's husband, Ka Yan, was a truly caring and doting husband who loved Heung a lot.

Heung, on the other hand, discovered that Hailey's seemingly wonderful life was only on the surface as she dealt with her cold and distant husband, Wayne (Vincent Wong) who was constantly ordering her about, and her arrogant mother-in-law, Queen (Kiki Sheung).


Heung also found out that Hailey and Wayne's marriage was a paper marriage, and that she had an agreement with Wayne to stay in marriage for two years as stated in his father's will; after which, Wayne will fully inherit the property and the company.

However, through the time spent with Wayne, Heung found out that Wayne had fallen in love with Hailey who was actually Suk Heung in her identity. Hailey also tried to seek the answer, and Wayne told her in his drunken state that he had always loved Hailey since he first met her in New York but when he found out that she was just like the other girls and she was only interested in his wealth, he decided to only ask her for help to win his inheritance. He stayed distant and cold towards her to hide his true feelings for her.


Things got even more complicated when Heung suspected Hailey slept with Ka Yan one night, when Hailey was just too upset after her luxurious pet dog, Rocky died, after protecting her from a poisonous snake bite. Heung was furious with Hailey, and Hailey, upon learning from the vet that Rocky may have been fed some random food which weakened his immune system and thus insusceptible to illnesses. Hailey vowed revenge on Heung whom she knew had been feeding Rocky the wrong stuffs because she had no knowledge on dogs, and she threatened to steal Ka Yan away from Heung.

Heung then turned her charm on Ka Yan, and seduced him at work, and then Ka Yan finally fell for Heung, who was actually Hailey in identity to him.


When they could finally switch their identities back, their argument caused a short circuit in the computer, disabling them to proceed. They sent the computer for repair and somehow it ended in Heung's elder brother, Kit's hands. He found the website and realized that Hailey was indeed his real sister, Heung.


He then tried to wish for them to be back to their old selves.
At the same time, Heung and Hailey realized their mistakes and reconciled with each other, and learning of their husbands' messy conditions, wished they could return to their lives.

They wished on the website and they were finally restored to their former selves.


When Heung returns to her life, she was upset to learn that Ka Yan still harbours feelings for Hailey, which was all her own doing when she was in that identity. Hailey, on the other hand, resorts to brutally rejecting Ka Yan which hurt his feelings and made Ka Yan vowing to be rich and successful. When Ka Yan chanced upon the website as well, he made a wish to be all successful and powerful and he took opportunity of learning of Queen's illness to his advantage. He granted her the wish of becoming younger by 20 years again, as he traded his own youth to the website for his success. Queen was desperate to be well, and also to be healthy and she promoted Ka Yan after realizing that she had indeed become younger as promised, much to her own son's annoyance.


Wayne and Hailey worked together to win his way back into the company after being voted out by the board of directors earlier, following his mother's move to stop him from signing a project, and in the process, they both found love with each other.

Ka Yan became more obsessed and became evil as he strives for success although he no longer wants Hailey anymore. It came to a point when Heung could not take it anymore and she made the wish to have her husband back to his old good self, and the condition for the wish was Heung's own life. Hailey told Heung it was a stupid move and tried to prevent her from proceeding but Heung wanted her husband back and made Hailey promise to never tell him.

Ka Yan became good again, while Wayne returns from New York after attending a self-improvement course and asked Hailey to officially marry him, this time for real. Queen also learnt to appreciate her son, and got out of Ka Yan's previous demands and the family lived happily.
Heung died in an accident, which devastates the family, and Heung reveals the truth about her death to Ka Yan.

At the end of the drama, Ka Yan spotted someone who looked like Heung and he was seen at the computer, where he made wish at the website (although they were supposed to dispose it long ago, as demanded by Heung and Hailey), and he wished for Heung to be brought back to life.
It was shown that the trade was successful although the condition was not depicted.
He then bumped into the lady who looked like Heung, and she mentioned that she loved orange-flavored gum as well.

Christy's Review:
A light-hearted comedy drama, which besides being one for some humor, also focused on the importance of loved ones and that perfect appearances may not mean a perfect life.
It teaches about contentment and searching for one's self, and learning to accept things in life; whether it is success or failure.
It is of course not a very unpredictable plot, as like most TVB dramas, the plot is always predictable, but the drama is not a total flop as it was quite entertaining, particularly in the beginning of the series.

Likes about the series:
The lessons learnt, and also the lovely wardrobe of Hailey and Heung.

Dislikes about the series:
I felt there were a lot of unnecessary scenes in the series, not to mention the characters. For instance, Angela Tong's portrayal of Ka Yan's elder sister was totally annoying and not of much value in the entire series. Then there is Heung's younger brother, and also Angela Tong's daughter, I find them not really adding much substance to the series.

My verdict:
Not a bad watch, and Myolie Wu is as usual, just good and Selena Li has also improved in her expressions and acting in this drama.

Rating: 3.5/5