I saw this yesterday at the 20th Pacific Rim Film Festival in Santa Cruz. I almost walked out after the first 20 minutes, but I decided to stay because 1) it was free, and 2) the director was going to speak afterwards (Frank Lin, like any director, has at least walked the walk, and I find anyone that actually achieves his/her dream of making a full-length feature worth listening to). To be fair, in contrast to my dislike of the film, the bulk of the audience seemed to enjoy it a lot, but then again it was a free showing and I'm sure the festive atmosphere made most attendees less critical than usual.
The reason this film doesn't work is simple: The script is horrible. Ten minutes into the film we know how it's going to end. The characters are annoying. Pat Morita is the most offensive Asian stereotype since Mickey Roonie in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." And wince-inducing dialog occurred every couple of minutes. One example, played straight, believe it or not: He says, "Are you embarrassed of me?" She says, "No! Yes! I don't know!" And the attempt at comedy was juvenile: A Chinese woman gets a blood transfusion from, unbeknownst to her, a Mexican donor, and the first thing she says when she recovers is "I want tacos!" And to elicit laughs, we're shown Three Stooges slapstick in the form of physical abuse within the protagonist's family, the most awkward example a scene where a woman knees her husband in the groin in an attempt to calm him down, despite the fact they're desperately trying to conceive a child.
In the post-screening discussion the director awkwardly explained why his independently released film bombed: It came out the same weekend as "Superbad." Sorry guy, but that's not the reason.
It deserves 3 stars for casting (which included the always fun to watch James Hong) and for the production values; most of the acting was OK, as was the editing, and the cinematography and the sound was of a high quality. Despite the fact that it was one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time, I'm happy that Lin is getting another crack at directing because he's shown he's got directorial talent if nothing else. Sadly, the script he wrote had "Student Film" written all over it.
The reason this film doesn't work is simple: The script is horrible. Ten minutes into the film we know how it's going to end. The characters are annoying. Pat Morita is the most offensive Asian stereotype since Mickey Roonie in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." And wince-inducing dialog occurred every couple of minutes. One example, played straight, believe it or not: He says, "Are you embarrassed of me?" She says, "No! Yes! I don't know!" And the attempt at comedy was juvenile: A Chinese woman gets a blood transfusion from, unbeknownst to her, a Mexican donor, and the first thing she says when she recovers is "I want tacos!" And to elicit laughs, we're shown Three Stooges slapstick in the form of physical abuse within the protagonist's family, the most awkward example a scene where a woman knees her husband in the groin in an attempt to calm him down, despite the fact they're desperately trying to conceive a child.
In the post-screening discussion the director awkwardly explained why his independently released film bombed: It came out the same weekend as "Superbad." Sorry guy, but that's not the reason.
It deserves 3 stars for casting (which included the always fun to watch James Hong) and for the production values; most of the acting was OK, as was the editing, and the cinematography and the sound was of a high quality. Despite the fact that it was one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time, I'm happy that Lin is getting another crack at directing because he's shown he's got directorial talent if nothing else. Sadly, the script he wrote had "Student Film" written all over it.
Tell Your Friends