Give Love

Tagline: Giving love doesn't translate to the audience receiving the love…

Review by Neo: Joe Ma is what you call a director that never seems to fulfil his potential. Among his best directorial efforts, there are two notable ones, Funeral March (2001) and Love Undercover (2002). So Joe Ma last decent production is nearly 8 years ago, doesn't that rings a bell or two. While his latest, Give Love, is not on par in terms of stupidity and film quality as the now notorious, Love Undercover 3, but that isn't saying much at all. In fact, the root of the problems lies in the unbelievable casting of Wilson Chen and Gigi Leung. Not unlike the failures of Alan Mak's Lady Cop Papa Crook, the duo of Eason Chan and Sammi Cheng both seems to be in another movie all together. Ultimately, the film ends better than it starts, but one tiny good moment that occurs within seconds away from the credits rolling does not make a complete film. In fact, the quote from the Japanese short story by Haruki Murakami, about seeing your 100% perfect girl, was so beautiful that it made the film seems even more out of place and out of depth.

The story goes like this: Gigi Leung meets Wilson Chen at the airport and the next time Chen sees her, is at his own house. The reason being is that Gigi have just married Chen's brother in the Mainland. Older brother cheats on Gigi and they decided to divorce. So the normal romantic comedy routine question resumes here: Will Chen gets the girl? Gigi Leung performs exactly as required in her role, nothing special and nothing disastrously bad, but isn't this the same Leung as La Lingerie, Wonder Women, Driving Miss Wealthy, or even going all the back to La Brassiere. Leung have been doing romantic comedies for too long, and apart from some decent turns in romantic dramas like Turn Left and Turn Right and Sky of Love, Leung is starved of a role that can help fulfil her potential. It is a shame to witness, someone who resembles my sister in her looks, to never win any awards, with her age fast launching towards 40. As for Wilson Chen, he must have forgotten that he is acting in a romantic comedy, as the two stars have zero chemistry and almost non-existent screen presence. Don't get me wrong, Wilson Chen is a decent performer with a credible potential in acting, just take a glimpse of his Japanese works along the lines of my favourite Sugar and Spice and also Waiting in the Dark.

Basically, reviews like these are a complete waste of my time and your time. Why I am writing this is really beyond me. With my CA exam in a couple of day's time, maybe writing this will allow me to get my mind away. Still, despite my loneliness of studying for a whole week and a half and within all that I somehow managed to witness this flick. In a supposedly romantic comedy, it really wasn't funny. Wilson Chen rarely seems engaging and Gigi Leung seems to be so into crying and screaming that it just aren't funny. So what's wrong with Give Love, there is nothing wrong, it is just that director Joe Ma needs to move on from this genre and head straight back into his Funeral March mode. After all, what's the point of giving all the love in the world, when there are no recipients on the other end? Then again, I may be all wrong, because, as far as box office is concern, it was a huge hit in China; so perhaps, Mainland people really do have a different taste … (Neo 2009)

I rate it 3/10

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