DRY WOOD FIERCE FIRE (PG) 2002
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SYNOPSIS:
Warning!
Contains
spoilers...
Synopsis from MOV3.COM: Alice is a Ladies magazine reporter with Chinese herbal medicine knowledge. Ricky is Gentlemen magazine's chief editor who is popular with the ladies. She falls for him at first sight, but Michelle is the only one in his heart. Alice goes to the mountains for a story. Due to an accident she asks Ricky for help. While helping her Ricky suffers minor injuries instead. From then on Alice makes medicine for Ricky everyday and helps him decorate his new home. Later Ricky after finding out about her intentions deliberately avoids her and expresses that he would not fall for her. Alice sadly resigns. One day Ricky remembers Alice at his home that they decorated together......
Romantic comedy directed by Wilson Yip Wai Shun
Starring Miriam Yeung Chin Wa, Louis Koo Tin Lok
OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
www.mov3.com/trailer/dry_wood_fierce_fire/
(Chinese text)
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HEROIC-CINEMA REVIEW:
This is a story set in a galaxy far, far away... just kidding but
Dry Wood Fierce Fire does share certain similarities with the aforementioned epic. Thankfully just a small amount - there's a love story arc in both.
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In this case, it's Alice, your typical small time journalist with chinese-herbalist and martial arts baggage
(Miriam Yeung) pining for her editor Ryan (Louis Koo), the romantic comedy's archetypal specimen of manhood. Tall, dark and handsome …with low blood pressure.
(Those who have seen it will know what I mean!).
She is the typical tomboy with all the good qualities that he just can't comprehend, instead falling at first sight for Michelle
(Flora Chan), the magazine's publisher.
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Romantic comedies are a tough genre, I think, and the ones that work are usually the ones that are just slightly off-centre with enough familiarity to be successful like
Needing You.
Dry Wood Fierce Fire's pulse also beats along the kooky rhythm ala
Needing You but at times dips into the ye olde romantic genre side. Still it's a damn good effort, the hour and half just breezes by - I dare you not to enjoy this film.
There were laughs a plenty at the cinema when I saw it.
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Director Wilson Yip manages to squeeze as many gags as he can in the first hour. The jokes are even better because both actors are such willing participants at having the piss taken out of themselves. Even the second act, where the tender scenes come in it still
has enough bizarre jokes and cameos (Cheung Tat Ming as Uncle Fly) to lift it up from being too drippy.
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All of the performances are pretty solid. Miriam Yeung is another 'singer turned actress' Sammi
Cheung- in- waiting but this performance isn't her defining moment. At times I
couldn't quite tell if she was playing herself or Alice but she is sufficiently good-natured to make an impression. Louis Koo adds another tick to his romantic comedy role after
La Brassiere and a special mention of the actors who played Alice's parents - a real hoot.
In short - a merry fire!
Rating: 7 glowing embers out of ten
Reviewed by Ching Yee
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OTHER REVIEWS:
Paul Fox at CantonKid
Tim Youngs at Kowloonside
Kozo at LoveHKfilm
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
Pics are from Mov3.com
Synopsis translated by HKSAR
Top Ten Central
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