bcrain

I know this is probably heresy to some of you who have seen this movie and were hoping for the ultimate Dragonball epic and were hacked off when you didn't get it, but I recommend it highly to anyone who has young boys. I took two nine year old boys, a 7 year old boy, and a 5 year old boy, and they had a great time. They talked about it non-stop for hours that evening. I went to see the movie because of the great Chow Yun-Fat, and I was able to somewhat enjoy the movie on its own terms. I wouldn't recommend thinking about it too much on the way home. I do admit that it's probably best that I didn't know much about Dragonball heading into the theater and thus I didn't have very high expectations going in. Therefore, in summary, I would personally give the movie about a 5 or 6 out of 10, but as entertainment for my boy and his friends, I give it an enthusiastic 10 out of 10.

Surprisingly, I found director Matt Chow's ITCHY HEART to be quite entertaining. In the film, Lau Ching-Wan plays a married man who runs into a former lover (played by Carina Lau) and a free-spirited young beauty (played by Cherrie Ying) while is wife is out of town with a girlfriend. Feeling a bad case of the seven year itch, he tentatively rekindles one relationship and embarks on another. The results are at times funny, at times sad, at times romantic, and at times silly. As is the case with most Hong Kong romantic comedies, the cast is the main determinant of whether or not you will find the film to be satisfying. As such, if you are fans of Lau Ching-Wan, Carina Lau, or Cherrie Ying, you will probably like this film. Andy On's character is too much of a doofus to really take seriously.

I, being a fan of the aforementioned Lau's, rated it a 7 out of 10.

Fans of Lau Ching-Wan and Cecilia Cheung will probably be quite happy with this film. Although the theme about coming to terms with your life after the sudden loss of a loved one is tough, the film balances out the high drama with some humor. The scene where Ching-Wan shows Cecilia how to maximize her earnings on the minibus route was a high-point. Overall, this is my favorite Lau Ching-Wan film of the last couple of years. After all the goofy comedy he's done recently, it was nice to see him in a more serious, natural role. Cecilia is good as well. Louis Koo's small role as the dead guy may disappoint those wanting to watch the film for him. Although he's quite good, he's just not in the film very long. This is a good compliment to C'EST LA VIE MON CHERI, the 1993 film that Lau and director Derek Yee worked on. As a word of advice, it's probably not best to view both films on the same night, as the emotions could be somewhat overwhelming.