Friday, August 3, 2007

And I Hate You So (Hong Kong 2000)


And I Hate You So (小親親) is...difficult to explain at first, because it's a romantic comedy, but in order to get the ball rolling you can't just introduce the main characters and explain the difficulties they have with one another. It starts with Luna Ng (Kelly Chen) who is having a hard time writing her popular social article for one of the major newspapers. Now, I'm assuming it's a major paper since so many people are seen reading it throughout the movie and the column lands her an audition as host of a brand new talk show. She finds her way into a struggling antique store run by Cat (Teresa Mo) who's looking for love. Luna finds a record that she had given her first love as a show of her devotion, but apparently this guy ended up selling the record to Cat, which of course infuriates Luna. She decides she's going to buy back the record from Cat and find her first love so she can give him an ear full. Now here's the catalyst for the story! Cheung Yung (Aaron Kwok) has already placed the record on hold so that he can pick it up for his nightly radio show, and since his show plays jazz and oldies, the record fits the bill perfectly. Cheung doesn't want to give Luna the record, which ticks her off even more, and to make matters worse, he decides to give Luna a lesson on purchasing gifts of the heart on the air. Insert dramatic music here!

Eventually, they figure out who the other person is and begin a feud by their two professions. Luna attacks Cheung in her column and Cheung attacks Luna on his radio show. As their battle continues on, Cheung becomes increasingly interested in Luna until he finds himself reading every article that she puts out. Cheung reads an nice story on umbrella's that Luna wrote, and afterwards the two make amends and even seem to set off some sparks. They decide to go out for lunch as friends, but they run into Luna's current boyfriend who happens to be out cheating on her with another woman. Luna feels like Cheung set her up to see this, and begins to hate him more than ever. Long story short, Luna hooks back up with her first love after he makes up some lame excuse about why he got rid of the record. The rest of the film is left for you to watch, but I will say that the main stars play off each other incredibly well, and Kelly Chen is just cute as hell. Also, the wardrobes used throughout the film are worth pointing out. It's not that everyone is dressed super nice, but they all have a similar look going on and it works. Eric Tsang has a cameo in the film playing a guy named Mo, but unfortunately it's an awkwardly placed love story with Teresa Mo's character Cat. Mo and Cat both own the same dog and are trying to date other people while dating each other. Confused? You should be. That's because they both have too much screen time throughout the movie and it's seems they're mostly used as filler to keep the clock running over the hour and thirty minute mark. Overall, And I Hate You So is a good looking movie, and everyone, side characters included, put in strong performances making for an entertaining movie. (CBDustin)


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