CHASE OUR LOVE - Shallow Humour, Dazzling Fashion

CHASE OUR LOVE (romantic comedy)
Cast: Kenny Bee, Wong You Nam, Alex Fong, Patrick Tam, William So, Edmond Leung, Rain Li and Stephy Tang
Director: Zi Yang
Screenwriter: Unnamed
Time: 90 mins
Rating: * 1/2 (out of 4)

PUT A RING ON IT? The single ladies club of CHASE OUR LOVE

PREAMBLE: If I were to rate this movie by the number of times I cringed in reaction to the utterly amateurish lines and situations as well as the acting of its cast, Chase Our Love would have broken a record of sorts. I can see where the film-makers are going with this one: lure the cinema-goers with some of Hong Kong and mainland China's hottest actresses and hope that they overlook the storyline.


WHAT'S IT ABOUT? The premise deals with a bevy of hot-looking single ladies playing 'love games' with a group of self-absorbed and introverted geeks. The idea is to get as many men to propose to the women as possible. The movie focuses on three of these geeks: There's this rich introverted guy (Kenny Bee, above right) who is so allergic to women that he faints on contact with any of them. However when he discovers that he is 'immuned' to a pretty fashion designer, he starts to fall in love with her, despite the fact that she has a terminal disease.

Another involves a manga artist (Wong You Nam) whose encounter with a new girl rekindles his attraction for an old flame, not knowing her real personality. And the third is about a selfish yuppie (Patrick Tam) who will not and cannot admit his feelings for a woman he admires.


HITS AND MISSES: On a thematic level, this movie is a satire on the 'otaku' (or nerds) generation who are so absorbed with Internet chats and Facebook that they do not know how to deal with real-life interactions with the opposite sex. Director Zi Yang reckons that he can best portray this by turning it into a combat-type video game with 'agents' and 'spies' and CGI characters. Of course, this is childish - and that is how the comedy remains.

There are a few laughs here and there but most of the sniggers are at how bad the jokes turn out to be. Fans of Kenny Bee (of The Wynners fame) will be glad to know that he sings a couple of songs here, and fashion-watchers may be dazzled by the stylish outfits worn by the cast.

THE LOWDOWN: For a romantic comedy, there is very little romance and only infantile humour.