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

TVB: Ghetto Justice (怒火街頭) 2011

Year Produced: 2011
Created by: Terry Tong Kei Ming
Language: Cantonese
No. of episodes: 20


Opening theme: No Time to Regret by Hanjin Tan and M.C. Jin

Main Cast:
Kevin Cheng Ka Weng - L.A Law/Law Lik Ah
Myolie Wu - Kris Wong Si Fu
Alex Lam - George Mike Jr./ Mai Cho Chi
Sam Lee - Tin Ka Fu
Sharon Chan - Ho Lee Ching
Joyce Tang Lai Meng - Tai Ng Ting

Supporting Cast:
Mandy Wong - Silvia Cheung Chi Sum
Shek Sau - Spencer Cheung Pak Kei
Ching Hor Wai - Poon Siu King
Kwok Fung - Mai Bo (George's father)
Chun Wong - Ting Fook Yuen (Fu's father)
Ting Chu Wai - Tam Wing Chau (Fu's mother)

Storyline/Plot/Synopsis:
A story about the thin line between the law and ethics and whether the two can align with each other to uphold social justice.


Kris Wong Si Fu (Myolie Wu) is an aspiring barrister whose ultimate aim is to create a name for herself in the legal department; setting her idol, Spencer Cheung Pak Kei (Shek Sau) as her motivation, she sets to win as many cases as possible.

She met the unkept and slacker of Law Lik Ah (Kevin Cheng), whom she develops a bad first impression of and was in utter disdain at his sight. Battling him in court, she learns that Law is not as simple as he seems as he holds a rather profound influence over his witnesses and defendants in court.


Law was just as unimpressed with the unethical Kris who seemed to be more interested in the victory of the case than the interests of the causes of justice. However, Kris soon learns, through her various cases that the powerful affluent people are using their wealth to get away with their own heinous crimes thus changing her own direction and perception in law and upholding justice through the truth.

Collaborating with Law, she learns much more than just winning her cases and even befriends the rest of Law's friends, George Mike Jr. (Alex Lam) and Tin Ka Fu (Sam Lee); both of whom were sons of rich families but yet works alongside Law to help the financially incapable in fighting for their rights and for justice.
Law reopens his office which is started to serve the community in Sham Shui Po, and to help the people in need; much to Kris's admiration.

Though initially still fighting for her own ambitions, Kris soon learns that Law's background was more astounding than his appearance, or her perception of him as he was the long lost famous barrister, L.A Law, who was as popular and admired as her idol, Spencer Cheung in the past.

He had fought and won several cases, but had disappeared for years after his last case in which he felt guilty for causing the death of a witness whom he forced to suicide to free his client of the conviction. Unable to bear with his own guilt, Law could not bring himself to court anymore.

As Law and Kris spend more time with each other, they develop feelings for each other but Kris was too proud to admit her growing affections for him. At the same time, Kris bumps into her old friend, Ho Lee Ching (Sharon Chan) who turned up and then surprised Kris with the newfound fact that she is now a prostitute by profession.

Disappointed with Ching, Kris turns away from her old friend although she needs her in a sexual harassment case. However, Kris soon found out Ching's sad story which led to her being a part of prostitution following her rape by her own mother's debtors. Tin Ka Fu, falls for Ching, but was being rejected by him again and again, as she was ashamed of her own background while Fu persuaded his own discriminating parents to accept her.

When Fu and Ching could finally start their own French restaurant; which was Ching's lifelong dream, she stumbled upon Spencer's illegal doings and ended up being murdered.

Although they suspected Spencer, there was no proof to bring him to justice. Angered by that fact, Kris then made everyone, including her own mother as she offered to join Spencer's defense team to help defend him from law. Unknown to them, Kris was just acting indifferent to find the incriminating evidence to nail Spencer on his heinous crime and she finally succeeded in doing so; although unethically and unlawfully. Law realized Kris's intentions and changed her video, sending the evidence of him tapering with the evidence; causing him to be jailed and disbarred from practising law ever again in the future.

At the end of the drama, Kris visits Law in prison and even told her that she will wait for him to return to help her with her practice and decides to reopen Law's office on his behalf, to the delight of the Sham Shui Po's residents.

Christy's Review:
An interesting drama; which takes a different turn from the typical courtroom drama of the likes of Files of Justice and Survivors Law, and focusing instead on the interests of social justice of the lower class people. I find it a fresh portrayal on depicting the interests of ethics in affecting the decisions of justice and that law knows no boundaries in the ones practising and those who are accused behind the bars.

It is a rather fresh idea; and welcomed too, with the rise of social issues and crimes in the society and having normal people and their mentality, gave a different insight into the perspectives of law and in becoming a lawyer. It shows that being a lawyer does not mean that one needs to only dress smart and win cases to be defined as one of potential, but that a lawyer should also uphold ethics and justice at the same time to be able to understand the law.
One of the first courtroom drama with a new take and appeal to true justice.

Characters Analysis:
Myolie Wu as Kris Wong Si Fu

Nothing less than what I would expect of Myolie, as she is just so extremely at ease in her character and her expressions were typical of most of the characters she had portrayed in the past. Initially unscrupulous, Kris Wong was only interested in her own ambitions and could care less about the reality of justice but when she realized, to her disgust, that the rich were using their wealth to evade the consequences of law, she was torn between her own desires and the truth until she met the sleazy Law Lik Ah from whom she learns the true meaning of justice.
Although she was impressed with him, she was at the same time also dealing with her feelings of admiration or disrespect for him until he sacrificed himself for her towards the end. She had finally redeemed herself when she learnt to sacrifice her own career for justice in her best friend's case at the end. It was the turning point; the change of the selfish character Myolie portrayed from the beginning of the series, and for that, she has done a great job.
Myolie's hairstyle was a little weird in the series though.

Kevin Cheng as Law Lik Ah

Sleazy and looking unkept, Law was not as bad as he seems as he helps people in need for the sake of justice and also for a charitable cause. Kevin Cheng played his character naturally as the laid back guy who was actually hiding his own past behind his character. Hiding his pain and grief from the stories haunting him from the past, Law had to act cool and nonchalant in front of everyone and Kevin was just dashing to play this happy go lucky character of Law who was confident and yet ridden with guilt.

Alex Lam as George Mike Jr/Mai Cho Chi

It was refreshing to see this comical guy playing a serious role for once as he settles in his character as a nervous yet helpful son of an ex famous justice, Mai Bo. Alex Lam is a face one would tend to associate with comedy but his expressions and portrayal of a serious character here is simply astonishing, was extremely believable.
Best scenes was when he liked Tai Ng Ting, and yet hid his feelings for the married woman at the same time. A good job done by this actor.

Sam Lee as Tin Ka Fu

Treading on the same nature as Alex Lam, Sam Lee is often seen in comical and supporting roles in movies and this is probably one of the rare times seeing him in a serious and awfully just character that it was initially a little weird watching him in his role. However, his facial expressions was rather natural as shown on his face that it becomes more believable as the show progresses. A fresh and interesting take of a role played by Sam and hope to see more series with him in the future.

Sharon Chan as Ho Lee Ching

Another natural role for Sharon, who never failed to impress with her skills in portraying a difficult and stubborn lady in most of her typical roles. Her indignant facial expressions when facing difficult situations in the drama, just makes her believable in the roles she play. However, Sharon has been underrated in her acting most of the time, given her minor roles and I hope to see her in more major roles soon.

Shek Sau as Spencer Cheung Pak Kei

Although a veteran actor, I never really did like Shek Sau's acting as I find his expressions a little exaggerated at times and it is typical in all his roles over the years. Nothing astounding as he plays yet another despicable character in this drama; one who is just too proud of himself most of the time and will never concede defeat.

Couples' Chemistry:
Myolie Wu and Kevin Cheng as Kris Wong and Law Lik Ah

Nothing much from this bickering couple; and although they were both adorable at times, I just could not feel the sparks from this combination. Individually they are great actors, but when it comes to inserting romance between them, it did not seem to fit their impressions, in my opinion. Well, there is not much romantic scenes between them anyway, which was not too bad.

Sam Lee and Sharon Chan as Tin Ka Fu and Ho Lee Ching

Alright, this may be the most believable couple in the entire series; possibly due to their heights? Chemistry was obviously lacking in them as well, although I can see that both were trying to fit in very hard to play a couple but it just did not seem to bring out the feelings they were both said to have in the series.

Alex Lam and Joyce Tang as George Mike Jr and Tai Ng Ting

This is the least compatible couple, and it was a good thing that they did not develop much on their scenes as well. It was totally weird, and unbelievable and they are definitely the oddest couple in the whole series. It was evident that the relationship was one-sided although towards the end of the series, there was an indication that Ting may accept George eventually.
Well, I hope there will be a change in the sequel which was said to be coming up soon.

Likes about the series:
The touch towards society; especially the sensitivity towards the middle class society. Also, the differences shown between the higher class and middle class and how sometimes perception can be too generalized by the society.

Dislikes about the series:
Maybe the theme song, I just find it a little weird, but that's just me.
Also, the chemistry between all the couples portrayed did not seem very believable and was evidently lacking in their portrayal.

Verdict:
Good watch, definitely worth the 20 episodes and not draggy at all.

Rating: 4/5