I’m scared.
Not exactly the stock-standard opening would expect from a review of a romantic comedy. Of course, this fear has nothing to with Magic Kitchen itself – if anything Magic Kichen is actually quite an enjoyably romantic comedy with nary a scary moment.
No, what is a cause of concern is my complete inability to recall a Sammi Cheng film that I did not like at all. Without it, I’m not sure whether the warm fuzzies that tend to develop from her films are a consequence of her thespian talent (or canny choices in scripts) or something much more sordid.
Now that biases have been established, what is Magic Kitchen like anyway? While there exists a predilection to Sammi films, I’m still unconvinced that it holds true for Sammi herself. Every performance to that I have seen to date is nuanced in such a way that is distinctly Sammi. In light that all the roles this statement is based on are roles in romantic comedies (even her token role in Infernal Affairs was distinctly idiosyncratic) the question of her range becomes less of an issue when you consider the cornerstones of the genre are formula and predictability. What seems to distinguish one rom-com from another is the likeability of the lead (which I think I’ve established) and whether she suffers sufficiently and amusingly enough in her quest for love.
Of course the love interests play a part as well. In this case, Andy Lau and Jerry Yan play somewhat dissimilar roles and really do play off the dichotomy of desire and reality. Where Andy is charismatic, successful and a teenage crush, Jerry plays a much more brooding and devoted love interest. Even her circle of friends played by Maggie Q (whose dubbing is often somewhat suspect — but if you’re reading the subtitles, I’m sure you won’t notice) and Nicola Cheung are contrasting characters that reflect the differing approaches to love and sexuality. Really the movie is structured in such a way to balance differing viewpoints while not devotedly advocating one over another.
If anything is disappointing about the film, though, there is the cheesy moment of enlightened revelation toward the end. Being a romantic comedy, and a Chinese New Year at that, I can forgive it somewhat but the scene in question really seems forced to give the movie some closure. That being said, I realise that I’ve gone virtually through the review with minimal culinary references. Obviously the movie is laden with some tasty looking dishes but until we get Smell-O-Vision™ again, they don’t seem to hold the same presence as I’m sure they should. This is based on watching Magic Kitchen on a full stomach so opinions may vary by a famished audience.