SYNOPSIS:
With declining ratings and investor pressures, Li (Fan Bing Bing), the producer and host of the program, Home Run faces difficulty in locating the next show's talent. In the rush of things, a sudden thought pops inside her head and she knows exactly who can take on as her next star, a five-year-old Lu.
Lu is brought up by his single parent, father (Chapman To), and has always wanted to find the mother whom he doesn't know. This cocky and resourceful boy, Lu finds new and unexpected routes in a treacherous but often hilarious journey, tracked discreetly by a television crew. During this filming process, the growing audiences got hooked on and brought in skyrocketing ratings! This young boy's determination to find his mother touches the heart of the entire nation, including that of his estranged mother, who happens to be...
MOVIE REVIEW:
The year was 2003. This reviewer remembers the time when he was first tasked to interview a foreign celebrity during his internship at a local newspaper. The Hong Kong actor whom he was assigned to interview was Chapman To, who was in town to promote the Samson Chiu directed Golden Chicken 2, which he co-starred with comedienne Sandra Ng. Trying his best to appear professional, he began the interview rather jittery, before To’s amicable presence gave him a sense of assurance that allowed him to complete his assignment smoothly. The sincere and earnest personality seems to be part of To’s real and reel like. From then on, To’s works have become of much interest to this reviewer, and this Mainland Hong Kong co production starring himself and one of China’s top actress Fan Bingbing does not disappoint either.
To plays an honest good man who feels conflicted about love in this accessibly unique movie. He is also the single father of a young boy who becomes the centre of attraction of a television reality programme when the host (played by the very contemporary looking Fan) decides to exploit the child in a bid to boost the show’s declining ratings.
The first thing that will interest viewers is the premise of the said reality series. Entitled Home Run, the programme dumps children in the middle of the city and sees whether they can find their way home. Yes, you may have seen many other movies depicting how reality shows alter and maneuver events (some more unethical than the others), but this Fan Gang Liang directed movie approaches it from a humourous angle that will keep the audiences suitably entertained throughout its 93 minute runtime. More importantly, it anchors on To and Fan’s engaging performances to illustrate issues of privacy invasions can affect relationships undesirably. Granted that this is a commercial movie, the director (who also co wrote the screenplay) deals with this issue with some depth without appearing shallow and frivolous.
That is why, viewers can expect an almost melodramatic finale during the movie’s last 20 odd minutes, where the protagonists are brought on an overwrought journey to draw closures. And as many movie lovers will tell you, casting an adorable child (in this case, the very cute Zou Yanwen) in a film is winning half the battle. The boy who is put in spotlight in this movie is cheeky without being irritating, cute without being saccharine, and
these are traits we rarely see in cosmopolitan children these days.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains no extra features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The disc’s visual transfer is sharp, and the movie is presented in its original Mandarin dialogue.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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