Wo ai Xiang Gang: xi shang jia xi (2012) Reviews

• Frenetic, Not Boring But Not Great

  crossbow01062012-09-16

  This film is reminiscent of 80's Hong Kong comedies, some of which felt like they were filmed at double speed. There some very familiar faces, especially actor/producer Eric Tsang and lead actor Feng Shui Fan, both of whom acted in the comedies I was referring to. The story is of a father (feng Shui) and his children, Mei (Theresa Mo) a lawyer married to Eric's unambitious character, a daughter who works as the manager of a market who looks somewhat androgynous but wants to create the illusion she is pregnant (Denise Ho) and a young son (6Wing, who is infatuated with a TV personality. Basically, Feng Shui is trying to keep the family together, they go through various "criseses". While it is a comedy that sometimes tries too hard, there is a little heart to it. Recommended, but it is not a great film, but it does run quickly and effortlessly through its ninety six minutes.

  More

• Over-the-top Hong Kong slapstick comedy

  kluseba2012-08-08

  You don't need to have seen the first movie of this hilarious comedy flicks that comes from Hong Kong, China. This movie is definitely quite entertaining, unique and over the top in many senses. The story is not really important in here. The viewer simply witnesses a shattered family and what their members experience in their everyday life. "I Love Hong Kong 2" introduces us to the old and stubborn television weatherman Kwok Ching who always bitterly criticizes his family members. We get to know his fat and mostly lazy brother who happens to be quite clumsy but simply put very faithful, honest and sympathetic. There are also two daughters. The first one is always surrounded by her chatting, silly and superficial girlfriends and has some problems with her clumsy husband that tries to win her back by making her some crazy surprises, by trying to become a true sex bomb and by taking care of the naive orphan girl they have financially supported and that now comes to visit them in the city. The second daughter is a quite severe young woman that is working as a chef in a chaotic department store and who has a quite chaotic love and hate relationship with one of her employees. There also is a clumsy young son who has fallen in love with a beautiful reporter on television and who tries everything to impress her and therefor makes himself a lot of potential enemies. The movie follows all these different characters and what they are going through. In the end, they all get united again in love and peace face to a fake catastrophe. The best thing about this movie is that there is not one wasted single of boredom to find. The vivacious flick has a fast paced slapstick humour and leads us from one situation comedy to the next. The movie is mostly about the twisted paths of love, no matter if we see complicated love stories or the difficult relations from father to son or daughter. Thanks to the movie's somewhat childish but extremely charming humour the whole thing never gets too sentimental and reserves quite some laughs. The flick also contains a lot of bits and pieces of what I would describe as a humour that is typical for the Hollywood and Eastern Asian cinema in general. If you like this locally flavoured humorous genre, you may see that this movie doesn't disappoint and can even be cited as a highlight of the last years. The story setting about a wrong rumour of the end of the world that is published through a corrupted news channel is quite redundant and one of the most silly elements of this film. The suddenly quite philosophical and profound ending of the movie that underlines the importance of the family and its values also feels somewhat put-on and doesn't fit to the rest. The makers of this flick should have let this film be an incredible comedy flick without compromises instead of adding these ordinary elements we have all seen many times before in Western cinema. Apart of the thin story line and the flawed final scenes, this movie though is an over-the-top entertainment. Fans of Asian comedy movies should not miss it. It's quite similar to the first part though and you must only check out both movies if you really adored the style of the previous flick. If you didn't have the chance to watch the first part, you can go for this one without regrets as they are quite equally great and it only depends on very specific personal tastes to tell which one may be the better choice.

  More