MY LUCKY STAR (非常幸运) DVD (2013)

SYNOPSIS: Sophie is a girl who loves to fantasize, loves comics, loves action heroes but is struggling to meet ends meet. On a prize vacation to Singapore, the man of her dreams appears - David. When she tries to express her feelings, she ruins David's ongoing mission. David is actually a special agent hot on the tracks of a crime boss. Together they must find a way to recover a lost diamond and survive the adventure of a lifetime. Along the way, Sophie must disguise herself...as a carnival performer, vixen, dancer...she has to be convincing. Together with David, She makes all sorts of hilarious mistakes. Every time Sophie messes things up, David comes to the rescue. In the end, Sophie must face the biggest challenge alone. Using her wits and newfound talents, she succeeds. Sophie has changed from being a shy, introverted girl into a confident, gorgeous woman. But is David for real? What is the meaning of real adventure? What exactly is true love?

MOVIE REVIEW:

We cringed every time Zhang Ziyi acts all cutesy and bubbly. It might be because we are so used to her tough as nails, strong-willed onscreen personalities. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero and House of Flying Daggers just to name a few. Not forgetting her performance in The Grandmaster nets her a Golden Horse award as well.

But for her sophomore producing effort, Zhang returns to her role of Sophie, the fumbling, lovelorn cartoonist who dreamt of marrying her ideal man. We can’t imagine there is actually a market for this sort of teenybopper material but apparently there is. Thus we are treated once again to 109 minutes of pointless saccharin disguised as a secret agent caper.

Sophie, a part-time cartoonist and telesales agent in Beijing has won a vacation to our very own Singapore with four nights of stay at the luxury Marina Sands thrown in. Bumping into a very handsome David (Wang Lee Hom) who by the way is a James Bond-like agent, Sophie believes David is the man destined for her as he looks exactly as the character in her comics. David on the other hand is on a mission to retrieve a diamond, which is powerful enough to be converted into a mass destruction weapon. But with Sophie getting in David’s way all the time, will he manage to accomplish the mission and save the world?

American TV director Dennie Gordon (who also co-wrote the script) has successfully brought her Hollywood style of filming to the Chinese language feature. It’s a pity upon seeing the end results it’s neither funny nor romantic except it’s indeed glittering and globetrotting. There you go, here’s a plate of Hollywood.

Singer and actor Wang Lee Hom looks all dashing and dressed up for the occasion. Pairing opposite Zhang, the good-looking duo exudes plenty of charm but little chemistry despite the latter trying her best to bring out her comedic ability. End of the day, we still prefer the tough Ziyi Zhang than the zany one.

The production values for My Lucky Star ranges from mediocre to fabulous. The CG is campy while the wardrobe for the casts are candy to the eyes. We do love the cartoon illustrations for the record in fact far more than the actual movie. For a kitschy campy time, do check out international starlet Ziyi Zhang’s second attempt at rom-com. The rest of us can just stick to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The DVD title comes with serviceable audio and visual aspects.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee