Rice Girl

No one is safe from the bad writing, bad directing, and bad acting of Rice Girl, particularly not the pair of sibling-rivalry wannabes with famous last names, nor even the recognizable names like Morita and Haglund. It is not even "goodbad", in the John Waters or Ed Wood way. The entire wandering, reason-defying plot resembles a hazy version of Western culture that is defined by 1 part Looney Tunes, 1 part Benny Hill, and 4 parts Three Stooges, executed without the spontaneity, originality, or panache of any of them. The only character that barely makes it out of this debacle alive, despite over-the-top, jerky facial expressions and movements, is Eddie the guardian angel. From the bad accents to the poorly written and delivered dialogue to the strainfully overexaggerated reactions, every moment of this movie is painful.

This story of an Asian American actress (Cheryl Monk, who wrote and executive produced) trying to make it in Hollywood is played out through a series of vignettes that include an encounter with a Russian acting coach and a fairly hilarious scene in a Chinese seafood restaurant. Interwoven with this tale is a plot thread involving the undercover police officer (Ian Lithgow) and his efforts to redeem himself in the eyes of his superiors, including Martin Kove (The Karate Kid, Cagney & Lacey) after a narcotics bust goes hysterically awry.

Aided and abetted by a guardian Angel named Eddie, who transforms from a talking goldfish into a wisecracking spirit in the vein of Mr. Jordan from "Heaven Can Wait," Cheryl perseveres in her efforts to secure the plum role of "Hooker X" in the upcoming film to be directed by an auteur director played by the X-Files' Dean Haglund (The Lone Gunmen).

Standout performances in this film are delivered by the easygoing Ian Lithgow, who, at times, is reminiscent of radio personality and Comedy Central mainstay Adam Carolla, Jacqueline Jetter as Cheryl's tutor in the world of prostitution, and Cheryl Monk, who has a wonderfully madcap quality about her performance. Yes, it's a low budget production, but the plot is amusing, the pacing breezy, and apart from a typically over-the-top performance by Martin Sheen's brother, Joe Estevez, the acting is within acceptable limits for a farce without being too hammy. All in all, a very cute film.

The movie has a very good film quality not usually found in many indy productions... then again, this film obviously had some small budget. Being involved in the indy scene, though, it was nice to see something NOT filmed on a shaky digital camera and overexposed.

Not terribly well acted but definitely not the worst I've seen, the movie is a satire that pokes fun at Asian and Hollywood stereotypes, though not very convincingly. Instead of coming off as a satire, it comes off as simply over-the-top and cartoony, especially with the ANNOYING acting of the man who plays Eddy. This guy has a rubber face Jim Carrey would be envious of if it were not used to such poor effect.

Extras were in short supply here and the backdrops were very poor-man's-props, to the point that a donut shop looked like a tent. As I said, very indy, but the magic if indy film is using what you have on hand and making it look half-way plausible, so we'll overlook that. Characterization was shaky but not sure that was part of the 'satire' thing or not. The Christian overtones were unexpected but very welcome for their rarity. All in all, a cute film and worth checking out if you have some time to kill and appreciate independent cinema.

Man, movie is a little quirky but hilarious. I watched it 3 times in two days. It was a little hard to follow at first but I got it. Very funny. Very quirk. Cheryl Ling looks good and the movie is original. 3 stars out of 4

I was very entertained watching "Rice Girl"--I smiled or laughed all the way through. Cheryl Monk's facial expressions were precious--so much fun to watch. Fairly impressive cast for an Indy film with Pat Morita and Dean Haglund. Eddie's character was a clever use of anthropomorphism in switching between animal, human, AND guardian angel--quite cute.

My only concern: to enjoy this movie, one must appreciate the occasional sideline comedy "shorts" spread throughout the movie. It will probably be hard to find them all funny, but still clever nonetheless.