FAD: Looking for Mister Perfect

4 out of 5.

This week I look at "The perfect Man" with the 2003, Chinese movie, Looking for Mister Perfect.

Here is the trailer and two posters.

Initial Thoughts

They say "you can't judge a book by its cover" but sometimes you have to judge a movie by its trailer and poster, and I have to say both the trailer and posters to this movie are terrible. The trailer doesn't explain much of the movie and looks like something a high school student would create for a school media project. It has technique but not the execution. The beginning of the trailer of upbeat and full of action whilst the ending was all slow and mushy.  The first poster is okay but the second poster, however made me think of the 2013, action crime mystery Now You See Me. This is a little misleading for a movie called "Looking for Mister Perfect". But then again, it was not just the poster and trailer that was misleading.

What are you doing under the bus?!

The title of the movie made me think this movie will be about a romantic drama however it turned out to be a romantic comedy. Like the second poster, the opening credits made me also think that perhaps it will be a mystery action as it displayed a lot of dark blue, black and white colours with a guy in a white suit spinning around in a corridor. I'm not exactly sure why the producers and directors wanted to put empathise on making the movie seem like a mystery action when it clearly wasn't.  Even the first scene made it feel like an action movie, with the main character, Grace dressed up as a hot-to-trot girl out clubbing for an undercover cop mission act to catch a criminal.... that is until the director/head of the undercover act cannot exactly tell everyone when to act and undercover agents then end up getting run over by buses and trip over buckets. If this was in real life, I would be worried about why our police force is so clumsy. But nonetheless, it was entertaining to watch.

Storyline

The storyline was okay. The movie is about a young woman named Grace who takes time off her fast-paced cop work to join her friend, Joey to Malaysia for her modelling career and there she meets the man of her dreams. It is interesting how even though, Grace has two (nice but good for nothing) bachelors after her, she still dreams of the perfect guy coming to save her.  It made the audience love to hate her for being so picky. In the end, the two bachelors find new love which made me happy because they weren't not forgotten or left to the side like what happens in other dramas and mangas. In fact, I loved the diversity of different couples portrayed in this movie. You've got the flamboyant villain and his clumsy wife, the gay director and model, the childhood friends that end up getting married, love-at-first-sight couple and the sleazy producer and his clingy wife. Often, you do not see that many different couples portrayed in the one movie or drama.

Tap dancing while everyone else is dancing their cultural dance

The villain of the movie was very unusual and what my mother would call SWAG. Simon Yam played the villain, who often wears a hot pink outfit with seen clicking at his servants to do something or tap dancing. Towards the end though, he starts kicking and throwing fruit at Andy On Chi-Kit, who leads as Mister Perfect.

 

What even is the point of shooting the metal suitcase?!

Besides its light-hearted silliness, I love how this movie did portrayed some forms of realism like when Grace is brushing her teeth and it doesn't look all fabulous like movies from Hollywood, as well as when she "borrows" a water boat to chase No. #1. Although, a little sexist, It was interesting realising that if an old man were to borrow a water boat, the guy hiring the water boat would react annoyed but if a beautiful woman were to borrow a water boat, the guy would be overjoyed to see such a beautiful woman and start attempting to pick her up.

When Grace, the beautiful young woman needs to borrow the water boat

When #2, the old man needs to borrow the water boat

 The English was rather frequent and good. There was a part of the movie where the two bachelors start apologizing to Grace using the word "Sorry" until she tells them to stop.

At least I don't need to be fancy about brushing my teeth

Final thoughts

I think that the title of the movie should have been changed. It’s not "Looking for mister perfect" but it’s more like "finding the man of your dream". When Joey and Grace go to Malaysia, Grace is constantly running around the hotel, chasing after a guy in a white coat, the one from her dream. However, he turns out to not be exactly perfect because he lies to her for his job. That does not sounds very perfect to me.

Good movie to watch for its lighthearted, slapsticks. Although, I do not expect it to receive any awards. I wish I could tell you where you can watch this movie but I currently have it on DVD. What is your perfect man? Have your say in the comments.