Nüren Bu Huai
2008 / 120m - China
Comedy, Romance
3.0*/5.0*
All about Women poster

Watches

June 14, 2009

3.0*/5.0*

A decent Hong Kong rom-com. It's obvious this wasn't really Hark's strong suit though. The comedy is pretty solid (if you like the HK brand of funnies that is), but the romance/drama that starts to take over during the second half felt less accomplished. A film split into two different halves in other words, and one that shows Hark's limitations as a director without becoming a true failure.

All about Women tracks three young Beijing women and their dating problems. The first one has a proper job in a bank, but to her own surprise, she falls for a much older professor. The second one works in a hospital where she loves digging into patients' personal files, unknowing there is someone else checking her out. And the final girl loves Internet dating, only her prospective partner has no interest in the online world.

The film has proper cinematography and the first half is pretty funny. Then the mood switches and things start to go downhill. The cheesy Canto-pop doesn't help, the romance and drama element miss their target and the runtime begins to work against the film. It's still pretty decent filler I think, it's just that I expected a bit more from Hark.