Sun giu yu gwai

The Attractive One is a well-paced, delightful, romantic comedy. It is light, deliberately goofy, but that doesn't prevent it from being a heartwarming story of oddballs falling in love and avoiding admitting it.

The Attractive One ("Sun giu yu gwai") is almost the Naked Gun 2 1/2 for the romantic comedy genre. It is a colorful story smoothly told. It is delightfully quirky in the way only Hong Kong can do well. The cast is obviously having fun making the movie and that comes through. It's a "safe" movie with no villain, violence or tear-jerking. For all its lightness, it has an underlying message that leaves the audience feeling good at the closing credits.

I'm not sure the English title matches the movie but it isn't so far off. There are a few places in the subtitled version I saw where some of the dialogue wasn't subtitled. The songs weren't translated and neither were any of the signs the camera panned over. Despite that oversight, I don't feel I missed anything pivotal.

It was time well spent.

Joey Yung(Yammie) stars as a former ugly duckling who grows up to be a wacky pet groomer and gets taken under the wing of a socially stunted but successful restaurant owner, Lau Ching Wan (Hugo). While Joey has shed her outward childish gawkiness, Lau is forever reminded of his shortcomings by a large facial birthmark. Apart, life has kept both shy and guarded but once an unlikely friendship strikes up between them, everything begins to change. Their sense of timing, however, may prove to be their undoing.

While the basic plot premise is as old as love itself-- the pangs of unrequited love, the sheer wackiness of Yammie and Hugo and their supporting cast of quirky friends-- particularly YY (the fascist police woman) and Butt (the pining artist)-- give what might have proved a tired old tale a refreshingly enjoyable spin.

Yung again displays that she has a potent and endearing screen presence-- particularly in her youthful flashbacks-- that makes you want to see more of her. Aided by a cast of well-seasoned comedic actors and an odd-beat script, this is one light and breezy HK comedy that bears repeat viewing.

Just wish there had been more of Yung's goofy schoolgirl.