The premise is dodgy – older guy has arranged marriage with teenager – but I thought it might have some saving graces. I mean, the older guy is Ekin Cheng, and he was a teen idol himself as recently as Legend of Speed, and the teenager was Charlene Choi, who really excelled in her debut Funeral March.
Alas, sometimes movies have no saving graces.
The premise never really rises above the half-joke that it is; as teen bride Yoyo Ma (geddit?), Charlene decides to go all out for Ms. Perky 2002 Award, from the Run In A Circle And Jump Up And Down school of acting. Ekin gets dragged along by all the hysteria. I’ll laugh at just about any canto comedy, but only managed a few half-smiles at this one. The smiles stopped all together when there is an event that should perhaps bring on some maturity, but Yoyo is still entirely behaving like a perky eighteen year old going on thirteen the morning after. Creepy.
I’m done talking about it. Maybe I’m just clear outta the demographic. The evening I saw it the students down the front of the theatre laffed their asses off. Maybe you will. But I doubt it. I think Ekin says it all with his expression in the picture above:
“Argh!”