REVIEW:
This is quite a different type of movie and character role for Jackie Chan. Make no bones about it, this movie is a romantic comedy, through and through. There are a few fight scenes, which I will elaborate on later - but they are not the focus of the film, nor do they directly concern the main plot (although they stem from the subplot of C.N.'s relationship with rival L.W.). It is a love story with a great sense of humor. The characters are lovable and memorable, the comedy is fun, and the movie progresses at a perfect pace. This film may take fans looking for a tradition Jackie movie off-guard, but if you are willing to look at something different from Jackie, you'll appreciate this lighthearted romance.

Again, this is not your typical Jackie movie. If you are looking for that, look elsewhere. One must approach this movie as what it is, a romantic comedy, without preconditions because Jackie's name is on the cover. As such, this film is quite a charming little piece of lighthearted romance and comedy, with just enough Jackie style thrown in to give it a unique take on the genre. The love story is simple and almost a fairy tale of a love story, as Bu finds the glass bottle and travels to find true love. It really is quite charming in its portrayal of Bu's search for love and C.N.'s growing feelings, as he starts to learn what is important. The age difference between Jackie and Hsu Chi is a bit disarming at first, but eventually the charm of the story makes the viewer forget that. We also get some interesting subplot thrown in involving C.N.'s business rival, with a bit of a love-hate relationship going on between the two. In fact, one of the most impressive things about the film is how many characters are multi-dimensional and we find that we don't even have a "bad guy" per-se, as even our troublemakers have their own feelings and motivations. So, while the plot of the film isn't exactly profound, it is light, yet multi-dimensional material that really entertains.

The comedy in the film is also quite entertaining. Bu's gay friend, while quite heavy on the stereotypes, provides some fun quibbles in his conversations with the love-striken Bu. Of course, Bu herself has a bubbly, small town personality that also gives her plenty of room to stand out in some situations. Jackie pulls out some of his traditional slapstick from time to time. Perhaps the best comedy, though, is Lo (Emil Chau) and his assistants. Between Lo's various faces and reactions, to the stupidity of his goofy henchmen, there are many laughs to be had. Finally, we even get a short, but highly amusing cameo from Stephen Chow (unless you are watching the butchered Columbia version).

To the surprise of some, Jackie pulls his role off with real charm. Most fans understand Jackie's universal charm throughout all his movies, and it is really nice to see how much that shines through in a very character based role. He plays a great serious businessman and does a great job of showing his feelings for Bu growing without words. He plays someone that has to act professional and not admit his feelings while still showing the viewer that he really does have feelings for her. Hsu Chi is a perfect match for the bubbly young woman role of Bu. She has the cute, innnocent look; the energy; and the overflowing personality for the part. Possibly the best role in the film is Emil Chau's character. The goofy expressions he makes and his reactions to everything are classic. For a guy playing Jackie rival - he still manages to get the viewer to care about him.

Now, while much less of a focus in this than other films, it would be wrong to not discuss the fights in the film. There are four fights. The first two of these are the now-common Jackie "multi-fights" where he has to take on a group of people at once, complete with the goofiness and enviroment usage we expect. The first takes place on a boat and involves one of the thugs falling repeatedly into the water and Jackie doing some great stuff with his jacket. The second focuses mostly on the use of baseball bats that the thugs have brought along and also has the twist of being mixed up with a fake fight that some of Albert's friends and Bu had arranged. The third and fourth are the more intricate, technical based one-on-one fights with Jackie's student Bradley James Allan (know as Alan in the film). These are easily some of the better one-on-one fights you'll see in a film. The choreography is amazing and it is filmed the way it should be, far out and at a wide angle so the viewer can see every punch, kind, block, and jump. Viewers will be skipping to the last fight on their DVDs time and time again. For a movie that doesn't focus so heavily on the fights, they still went all out and did them right.

Gorgeous is a great change of pace for Jackie and, overall, just a quality romantic comedy. It's lighthearted fare that shouldn't be taken for anything more profound than it is. Combined with a little bit of Jackie action, this romantic comedy sets itself apart. So, if you are looking for a light, but fun romantic comedy, you could do worse than this film. And, many praises to Jackie for taking on something different and doing it well.

REVIEW:
This movie is more like an American movie than a Hong Kong one. While it still manages to keep itself above the average American comedy, it reminds me of something like Rush Hour. A good and short way to describe the movie would be cute. It’s a very light hearted romantic story with a bit of fighting, but don’t expect anything violent or some animal styles that you’re accustomed too.

The story follows Bu as a Taiwanese girl who goes to Hong Kong in search of the sender of the message in the bottle she picked up from the sea. Shortly after meeting the man she discovers that he would have been much happier had it been a man getting the message, you see what I mean. Tony Leung plays this funny character and he does a fine job of it. He doesn’t play a big role in the movie, but I quite like him as an actor. Shu Qi doesn’t do a bad job of presenting herself as an innocent, but intelligent girl looking for love. She definitely adds to the cuteness factor. Jackie Chan on the other hand plays a role that you probably won’t find very original. Sure, he doesn’t break things by accident, or get beat up by everyone, but he can’t really escape his comedic roles and in this movie it’s unfortunately mediocre. Bradley James Allan and Emil Chow on the other hand provided something worth seeing. Jackie Chan and Bradley have two great 1-1 fights that include quite a bit of wiring at times, but it’s still a treat to watch. Emil Chow plays Chan’s rival, and his best scene must be when he introduces Alan to Jackie Chan before their first fight, quite a humorous moment. You will also notice a few cameo’s by actors like Sam Lee, Vincent Kok and Stephen Chow!

But even the bad guys in the movie aren’t bad. Take Lo for instance, he’s very concerned about Chan and always makes sure he’s okay after letting some guys loose on him. And Alan plays a honorable fighter who just wants a fair fight with Jackie, to see who’s the best fighter. One scene that I quite enjoyed was when Albert had some of his gay friends stage a fight with Bu in order to get Chan’s attention. It’s not the fight that’s funny, but the way they try to be tough. Further one we also have training scenes, but don’t expect any old masters teaching Chan a thing or two.

If you are a die-hard Chan-fan then I guess you should see it just for the hell of it. Everyone will probably still enjoy a few scenes. I also know the original release is 20 minutes longer than the American release, but can you imagine 2 hours of Dumb and Dumber?! Not that the movies are similar, but you understand what I’m saying.

A naive country girl named Bu (Hsu Chi) finds a message in a bottle from a man named Albert (Leung), who is looking for his lost love. Bu travels to Hong Kong to find Albert, only to discover his lost love is another man. Albert takes pity on Bu and allows her to tag along on his fashion shoots. During one of these, Bu runs into a determined businessman named C.N. (Chan) who is more concerned with his rival (Chow) than romance, and Bu sets about to change all of that.

Gorgeous is something new from Jackie Chan. It's his first romantic comedy. Originally, he was just supposed to be a producer, but then -- despite some hesitation -- decided to star in the film. I think he should have followed his gut instinct and just stuck behind the scenes. Gorgeous works as neither a romantic comedy or a Jackie Chan film (to wit, his particular blend of action and comedy). The romance in the film simply doesn't work. The whole bit with older men and young women is overused on both sides of the ocean, and the fact that Hsu Chi and Chan show almost no chemistry together doesn't help out matters any. (Chan supposedly didn't want to work with the former Cat III actress, fearing it might taint his "family man" image; ironically, after the film came out, Chan was involved in a scandal where he eventually admitted to having an affair.) As for the comedy, it depends too much on broad stereotypes (such as Tony Leung's flamboyantly gay character) and silly pratfalls to be effective. The fights (most of which feature Chan's gweilo protégé Brad Allan) are decent, but they're too short and lacking the quickness and fluidity of Chan's best work.

This is an interesting experiment that ultimately fails, mostly because of Chan's lackluster performance. If Chan wants to shift his emphasis from martial arts/action to this, he should do his fans (and himself) a favor and step behind the camera. To be fair though, the film does have its' share of fans -- mostly those infatuated with Hsu Chi. Myself, I find her not that great-looking as to forgive Gorgeous' many shortcomings, but you still may want to give this movie a try.

The film centers around Bu, a woman who discovers a lovenote in a bottle. Determined to meet Albert, the sender, she travels to Hong Kong. It turns out Albert (played by the great Tony Leung in a hilarious performance) is gay. But she runs into C.N. Chan (Jackie), a billionaire who can't seem to find the right woman. You know the rest. Oh yeah, and there's some kung-fu in there somewhere. But it's bad... real bad. To be fair, Jackie does spend less time hamming it up early on in the movie, and shows that he's actually a good actor. But the movie can't help but sink into cheese towards the end.

There's less props and comedy, less outtakes, and just less of what makes a Jackie Chan film a Jackie Chan film.

The main story concerns Bu, a girl living on a Taiwanese island who dreams of falling in love and spends all day watching the dolphins in the harbour. When she finds a message in a bottle from someone called Albert in Hong Kong she takes it as some kind of omen and sets off to find him. Unfortunately Albert doesn't meet all her requirements for an ideal man as he is in fact gay. All is not lost though as a chance meeting brings her into contact with NC (played by Jackie) and the two fall in love, fall out of love and then fall back in love again. And as far as the love story plot goes that's essentially all there is to it.

It's the characters that really carry this film. NC is a high powered business man with many acquantances but few friends. He lives alone in his luxury flat and his life is full of fast, but superficial, women. When Bu crashes into his life it is like a bolt from the blue. The two are complete opposites as she has no interest in things like fashion or wealth.

The sub-plot I mentioned earlier has NC being intimidated by a business rival (played by Emil Chow) which of course leads to a few good scraps. For the first part of the film Jackie's character is not up to full fitness and all though he comes out on top to start with he gets trounced when he comes up against the villian's champion, an foreign kick boxer (played by Jackie's student Brad Allen). There then follows a 'Rocky' style sequence where Jackie follows a strict work out regime and is then ready for the final showdown. There's a bit of an environmental message again with Jackie's company being involved with recycling while Emil Chow's produces styrofoam.

Neither plot in this movie is really that involved but its all been well put together and does actually work. The acting from everybody is good. Jackie is just, er, Jackie but that's fine and while this is a much different role for him (as a businessman) it feels as if this is closer to his real character. Shu Qi pouts her way through the whole film and is perfect for the role as the down to earth country girl slightly at odds with city life. One scene that sticks out particularly is when she first visits NC's flat and marvels at the size of it.

Tony Leung makes much of his role as the gloriously camp Albert and provides the film with many of its genuinely funny moments. Other worthwile performances come from Emil Chow as Jackie's business rival and Ken Lo as his right hand man. Sadly in this version the Chow Sing Chi cameo appearance, as a policeman with a troublesome tracker dog, has been cut out (why ?!!!).

The film has a very accomplished feel to it in terms of camera work and editing and generally just how it has been put together. One example is the wonderful tracking shot that follows Bu around NC's flat but there are plenty of other moments that make this movie special.

So, most importantly for a Jackie Chan film, what the fights like ? The first two are entertaining enough with one taking place on a boat, giving Jackie ample opportunity to demonstrate his acrobatics, and one involving the use of baseball bats and a motorbike. Both of these two early fight scenes are filled with Jackie's trademark comedy but when Brad Allen makes an appearance things get more serious.

For the first time in recent memory Jackie actually loses a fight and even at the end of the movie it is still unclear as to whether Jackie has actually won. Although Brad is the first to fall down Jackie still proclaims him the winner due to the difference in size and weight (Brad is much shorter than Jackie). I guess Jackie is making the point that winning isn't everything and that everybody loses at some point or other. The two bouts between Jackie and Brad are excellently entertaining and extremely fast. At times there is a hint of wirework that just helps to enhance the action.

Gorgeous has received mixed reviews but was very successful at the box office in Hong Kong. It may not have immediate appeal to a western audience but I think it will be looked back on as one of Jackie's better efforts.