Hollywood Adventures:
A young man goes from China to Hollywood on short notice to find his
girlfriend. He ends up connected with two others in his quest, which gets much
more complicated than he envisioned.
Director: Timothy Kendall
Writers: Brice Beckham
(screenplay), Brice Beckham (story).
Stars: Wei Zhao, Xiaoming
Huang, Dawei Tong
Storyline:
A young man goes from China to Hollywood on short notice to find his
girlfriend. He ends up connected with two others in his quest, which gets much
more complicated than he envisioned.
User Reviews:
Surprisingly Fun and Funny!
This might be the model of things to come, where
co-productions between China and the USA become more common in the years ahead.
With no signs of slowing down, the China movie market is becoming a gold mine
with investments soaring and talents merging.
As someone who speaks both English and Mandarin, I
am surprised how tightly scripted the film was. The movie focused on the three
leads and their banter is mostly in Mandarin but their interactions with people
in LA were realistically done in doses of Mandarin and English. The plot is
reasonable enough, and the subtle aspects of the three characters' lives do
come into play with the plot as the film progresses. It is believable enough if
one pays attention to what is revealed about the characters. For example, it's
not hard to believe a car salesman can handle a car pretty well. The characters
are revealed bit by bit as the plot progresses and though some parts are
tongue-in-cheek, overall it still makes sense. Justin Lin's plot and pacing
sensibilities are evident here, which is no surprise considering how he managed
to take the Fast and Furious franchise into blockbuster status.
This film is just plain fun. Even if you don't
speak Mandarin, just by glancing at the subtitles and watching the characters,
it is easy to relate to their predicament. The film is light-hearted, and yet
carries an emotional underpinning because the lead character's reason for his
journey to the USA is to win back his girlfriend. There are numerous moments of
movie references and it has bits of meta-humor, where the the characters in
this film are referring to other characters as characters from other movies.
Those bits are funny and not overdone. I won't spoil any of it here; you'd have
to watch it to find out and it's really kind of funny.
This film really has action, comedy and romance
combined. I don't agree with any critics who say the film doesn't blend those
elements well together. Taken as a whole, the elements are accentuated in
various points throughout the plot, but overall held together nicely because we
recognize the sensibilities of what a movie is. And thus, in the ending
narration, the line between film and real life seem to cheekily blur with some
heartfelt emotion.
Highly recommended, especially if you get the
chance to watch it. Currently no word on distribution in the USA. It was #1 at
the box-office when it opened in China. With Justin Lin as producer and an
all-American crew supporting the 3 famous Chinese actors, this film comes
across with polish and panache.
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