Shanghai Calling

Fun, unpretentious and cute to watch, I already want a cell phone like that ... And Daniel Henney is beautiful .... s2 ... Very nice to watch...

An amazing movie beautifully directed and even more effectively presented by all the actors. The story is in itself groundbreaking and plus the way of representing the story added more to the movie. A great for one time watch. A worth watching one for sure. You will not be disappointed.

I think that there is only one similar film "outsourced" which was made a few years ago. So this story is very unique. It also has some semi- famous actors in it, but the story is not exciting. It is almost predictable.

And there are a few obvious problems in it. When it was shot in the streets of shanghai, it was so apparent that lots of people were watching while it was filmed. It instantly makes the audiences realizing that they are watching a fake film.

Second, the restaurant scene was so awkward, not funny at all. Because when he stood up, you can see that the rest of the tables were almost empty. Some of the jokes are just plain simple cliché and not funny.

There are plenty of expatriates living in Shanghai or other cities in China, I think that maybe one of them can write a real story. And the male protagonist doesn't even have any Chinese blood in him.

SHANGHAI CALLING may not light any fires of excitement in filmdom but it is a successful dual country effort to quash some misconceptions about China and the US and the news we hear daily. And if it were for that alone it would be worth an evening's outing, but graced by a really top notch cast of fresh actors not well known - yet - it becomes a tender little romp set in the spectacular beauty of Shanghai! The story is a predictable one:a young handsome Chinese American Lawyer (a very fine young actor hunk Daniel Henney) who was born in America and speaks no Chinese at all is sent by his major law firm in New York to gain access into the big business happening in Shanghai - home of the manufacturers who make everything used in this country it seems! Once in China he encounters Chinese customs of which he is ignorant, a language he does not understand, an ex-pat mayor of Americatown (Bill Paxton), a beautiful single mom (Eliza Coupe, another one to watch) who has moved to China to give her daughter a new life and is in charge of finding homes for new businessmen, a gorgeous assistant (Zhu Zhu)who falls for him, and a crazy ex-pat (Alan Ruck)who teaches English as a sideline to womanizing. When our young lawyer seems to fail at everything he intends to do he engages a fix-it guy humorously called Awesome Wang (Geng Le) and gradually our lawyer finds a new outlook on his cultural heritage, rights some wrongs, and falls in love.

Daniel Hsia directs and keeps the momentum going throughout film - even when relying on the ubiquitous chase scenes (here on bicycles). It is a fine introduction to coexistence between the new China and the somewhat backwards USA! Grady Harp

There are some laugh out loud jokes and meaningful insights about Asian American expat in China. The romance isn't terribly convincing. The legal manufacturing tussle is funny then fairly interesting but the resolution seems hasty. The cast is pretty good. Daniel Henney mumbles a bit but he is suited to the role even though he isn't full Asian. Okay watch if you don't expect a lot.