Shou yi ren

Well, the synopsis for "Shou Yi Ren" (aka "My Dear Liar") sounded interesting, and with it being an Asian movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I had to sit down and watch it.

Writer and director Ao Shen failed to concoct a script and storyline that fell into my liking here. I have to admit that I didn't really grasp the concept of the script as it unfolded on the screen. It felt random, cluttered and just lacking a cohesive and comprehendible red thread throughout the course of the nearly two hours that it ran for. And the fact that the character gallery was rather one-dimensional didn't really help to sell the movie either.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in "Shou Yi Ren", but I have to say that I wasn't overly impressed. Not because the acting performances were bad, but because the character gallery had about as much appeal as watching grass grow. Writer Ao Shen really dropped the ball here, and the Yue Miaomiao (played by Yan Liu) character was seriously one of the most dislikable characters I have seen on the screen in a long, long time.

"Shou Yi Ren" was not a movie that entertained me, and this is definitely not a movie that I would recommend to fans of the Asian cinema to waste 118 minutes on watching. Some of us suffered through this, so you don't have to. You're welcome.

My rating of "Shou Yi Ren" lands on a generous two out of ten stars, given the production value.

This is the one which combined with the evilest thinking and the most heart-touched spirit. I have to commit there are still some flaws in the film, but it is an undoubted good movie.

This movie essentially begins with a man by the name of "Zhong Zhenjian" (Zixian Zhang) learning that an investigation has just been started which will probably identify him as one of the people responsible for embezzling a huge sum of money from the financial institution where he works. That said, his only chance to avoid going to prison is to somehow replace the stolen money within a few days' time. The problem is, he doesn't have the money. So, in a state of complete panic, he tries to manipulate a friend named "Wu Hai" (Chengpeng Dong) into helping him with an insurance scam that would not only resolve his current situation, but also give Wu Hai the money he desperately needs for his sick child "Yoyo" (Shaobo Zhang). That being said, the plan calls for Wu Hai to marry a woman, get her name on an insurance document--and then turn around and kill her in a supposed accident. What they don't count on, however, is that the woman they choose to kill in the accident by the name of "Yue Miaomiao" (Yan Liu) presents her own set of unique problems which neither of them could have ever possibly imagined. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this movie started off rather slow and, just when it finally started to get interesting, fizzled out and ended with a thud. That being said, while I'm not really sure what the director (Ao Shen) was trying to achieve, what I do know is that this film wasn't nearly as entertaining as it should have been. To that effect, I honestly cannot rate it any higher than I have. Average.

The story of the little person is really easy to touch. The story is straight and flawless. But the critique of reality has been completely abandoned. In the film, in fact, both male characters are floating in the air, but the heroine slowly falls to the audience.

My Dear Liar is definitely not Da Peng's finest work, but it is still distinctively his. A not so funny comedy but a heartfelt love story that is elevated by the brilliant work by Liu Yan. Never would I thought that she is able to deliver such a tantalizing performance, morphing herself into a character that is so believable.