Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? No.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? OK.
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 114 minutes (~2 hours)
“Lost in Hong Kong” is a comedy about a family man who faces a mid-life crisis, and goes on a quest to find his first love. It stars Xu Zheng (Xu Lai), Bao Bei’er (Cai Lala), Zhao Wei (Cai Bo), Du Juan (Yang Yi), Sam Lee (Tai Pok Ho), Eric Kot (senior police officer), with a cameo by Richard Ng.
“Lost in Hong Kong” draws its inspiration from many different sources, which is evident from the first scene. While it does have a strong message, the movie as a whole fails to have a unifying thread. The genre it falls in is clear though, but the actual takeaway from the film leaves much to be desired.
Highlights
Xu Lai and Yang Yi’s love story
Despite a terrible prologue, their love story develops beautifully over the course of the movie. The lengths that Xu Lai is willing to go to for her shows the depths of his feelings. And this is what marks Xu Lai as a protagonist to be admired, because he is capable of such emotion. Fortunately, it’s because of this very capacity for love, that he finds his heart’s desire and finds peace by the movie’s conclusion.
Meaningful themes
Notwithstanding a truly terrible start, the film still manages to deliver a solid message on the importance of dreams and reality. It’s a story for anyone who feels lost in life and unable to let go, and has you feeling good once you leave the cinema. The main character’s journey is applicable to all ages, not just those facing a mid-life crisis. And the lesson he learns is also what the audience learns, and hence building a greater connection between both viewer and character.
Letdowns
A flat prologue
Although you can see that they’re attempting to replicated a “Up” style love story with the opening, it completely falls flat. The first two minutes are so corny that you’re expecting that this is a dream sequence and the whole scene will turn into some sort of huge joke with a slapstick punchline. Unfortunately, by the time you realize that the opening is a serious love story, it’s too late. You’re no longer sympathetic to the protagonist because you were brought to believe that the prologue was one big joke, and this becomes a problem when this is the motivation for the film to happen in the first place.
Cai Lala is utterly worthless and detestable
There is absolutely no redeeming factor for Cai Lala. He’s bratty, indulgent, selfish, clueless and too entirely full of himself to notice how much he is antagonising the main character. If we are to root for the protagonist, then we must hate this character because he stands in the way of everything Xu Lai wants. The entire conflict of the film could be resolved in five minutes if he was not around. During the multiple times that his life is endangered, you truly wish that it would be his last scene in the film. Alas, that is not the case, seeing as he’s one of the major characters, despite being totally useless. Few characters can infuriate as much as Cai Lala.
Lack of variety in humour
The emphasis on physical humour is an unfortunate one, because of the dislikeability of the Cai Lala. As a result, the numerous disasters that befall him aren’t hilarious, but feel more like forced attempts to garner a laugh. Surprisingly, the other, more sophisticated jokes actually work quite well. If the movie had provided a greater balance of funnies, it might well have become one of the better comedies of the year.
“Lost in Hong Kong” has strong messages but exasperating characters. Though it tries to pay homage to the various movies and genres that it draws inspiration from, these elements fail to come together in a coherent fashion, resulting in movie that’s just OK.
“Lost in Hong Kong” opens in cinemas 1 October, 2015 (Thursday).
This review was also published on Yahoo.
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