Delta-HT

As the title says, Big Shot's Funeral is not a contemporary movie. I second the reviewer who mention that this is akin to an independent film. It may not seem like there's a proper storyline nor a proper ending, but it's entertaining enough during the whole movie, and I can very easily forgive its shortcomings.

What I loved about this movie was its east-meets-west kind of interaction between Tyler (Donald Sutherland) who speaks very little Chinese, and YoYo (You Ge) who speaks very little English. Language is no barrier for these two, and they get along with each other very well. I'm also glad that Sutherland didn't act as a grumpy director, as he could've very easily been one. He's quite lovable, and so is You Ge. The only friction that exists in the movie is between YoYo and Lucy (Rosamund Kwan), and even that's resolved at the end of the movie. By the way, I never knew Rosamund Kwan could speak good American English before watching this movie!

Apart from the east-meets-west theme, the other major theme of the movie is the increasing capitalism, consumerism and westernisation of China, even though it's a communist country!

As usual, don't expect big slapstick laughs, just expect witty dialogue (if you understand enough Chinese) and quite a few weird scenes that'll make you raise your eyebrows. Keep that expectation a bit low, and have some patience with it. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. :)

First, I'd like to mention this in defence of the movie. I found the whole science-fiction idea of blue-blooded aliens interesting but the movie was let down by it's poor execution. It could've been much much much much better than this.

Scriptwriting is horribly bad, and the fact that Western actors hired to represent government officials does not even help the movie a single bit. This movie flops like a fish out of the water despite its star-studded cast. If you would like to watch a quality flick that has a quirky storyline, I'd recommend the paranormal thriller Double Vision which was released in the same year.

I'd still recommend this movie for its train wreck factor, just don't put your hopes up high before you watch it. The humour in the movie can be painful to listen, and the sci-fi effects hardly raised an eyebrow. Although one exception was the very short battle scene involving some alien monsters. I was hoping to see more of that.

In short, there's no need for me to berate over the fact that The Wesley's Mysterious File (sic) is a lousy sci-fi movie. I'm still left scratching my head wondering why was there such a huge typo in the English movie title.