Xi huan ni

Naming this rom-com This is Not What I Expected is a misnomer because everything that will happen is expected. This is 1 litre screwball comedy, 2 tablespoons of "opposites attract" and 3 slices of food porn. But make no mistake, even though the odd couple seemed mismatched, they will come together like the desert miss the rain.

Lu Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is the CEO of the VN Group and he is scoping Rosebud Hotel in Shanghai for a acquisition. A food connoisseur, he is not impressed by the dishes the kitchen sends up. Sous-chef Gu Shengnan (Zhou Dongyu) is then tasked to try her hand to impress the eccentric man, but unbeknownst to both of them, they actually had a run-in earlier. Lu is impressed with the dish and proceeds to stay and try more delicacies made by her.

This rom-com is formulaic to a T but any movie buff will tell you that is not important. It is a foregone conclusion that the mismatched coupling will be a love-match made in heaven. The secret ingredient is to create hilarious situations to make them loathsome towards each other and yet give them redeeming qualities.

Lu Jin believes that the world is divided into three categories – the pork eaters, the pork butchers and the pigs. He is eccentric, rude and condescending – the world is beneath him in every scene, but OMG Takeshi Kaneshiro is so good looking and so dashing in his impeccably tailored suits. This coming from a guy, you know he is handsome from every angle and my knees got a little weak just swooning at him. Kaneshiro brings just the right amount of detestable contempt but you will excuse him because he is about to be schooled in the art of food tasting and love.

Gu Shengnan is his equal – opinionated and sure-footed. Excluding Lu's father, I think she is the only character in the whole movie (and probably all the cinema patrons) not sucked in by his good looks and powerful stature. There is a sequence where Lu challenges her to make a different egg dish which demonstrates how talented she is. Zhou Dongyu who won Best Actress at the recent Golden Horse for her excellent performance in Soul Mate is in scintillating form. She is a dork, but likable and feisty, like a delectable dish you can't have enough of. Her face feels like a sponge, soaking up everything life throws at her with the spunk of a child who knows no better.

A lot of the success of a good rom-com depends on the chemistry between the stars and the sparks here feel genuine. There is some good character development on both sides for us to buy into their budding relationship, and enough treacherous detours to make us root for them. The food porn is just extra garnishing for a love dish that is already great.

This is a great date movie but do go in with your tummy filled. It's time to check into Rosebud Hotel and do make a special request for room 1123. Oh my… my knees are becoming weak again.

Kind of like a food porn that is carried by its two charming leads. A very pleasant and silly film that makes you smile throughout its running time. Takeshi Kaneshiro and Dongyu Zhou own the film, Kaneshiro with his sharp looks and the lovable stubborn nature and Zhou with her cuteness and innocent quirks. While the luscious variety of food items makes your mouth water, the humour goes along with it to give a good time watching this beautiful albeit silly film.

I watched it again, I still like it very much, it is really well made. Food, color, and the character's character are also closely related to these two instincts, blending to tell stories. The food knowledge is very interesting. The so-called Hollywood sentence "watching a movie, learning a knowledge", even more rare is that the food participates in the plot, assisting the plot and characters. The type of Chinese chick movie, this one will definitely be in the forefront.

I hate food content in general, but this movie's cinematics was beautiful and really consumed your attention. It was very well done. I feel the actors were just right and both leads really held up and created a wonderful dynamic. There is an age gap between them but it isn't in any way part of the story or used in an inappropriate manner. I disagree with wanting a younger male lead, I think no one would convey so well with facial expressions as he did. It is one of those movies you just sit back and enjoyed the ride. Realistic enough to not bother you but it ain't about being realistic. It is about making you happy. Must say it worked. Even though this ain't my typical taste in genres.

I watched this on a flight (subtitles make following movies a lot better on flights) and I was pleasantly unsurprised. It's a cute rom-com and while it definitely doesn't really break new barriers or tell a new story but it does deliver and enjoyable easy to follow movie. Zhou Dongyu is so cute as hell in this role and her bubbliness ties the entire movie together.