6 friends living in the 6th floor rear flat, on a regular basis, play truth or dare for the fun of it all. After the game turns somewhat sour one night, each of them is challenged to perform a personal dare within a year. That dare has to further yourself in life and if you fail, you'll eat shit...literally.

At the centre of the film we of course find the truth or dare game. A game that reveals, strengthens and even weakens. Life is also about that and it's also life for the youths inhabiting the 6th floor rear flat as face they the challenge of pursuing dreams. Do they all wish to be or do something decisive with their lives NOW? Aren't their ambitions higher than than this? The questions begs to be asked because the ambitions put into the bottles are of very different natures. As you can guess, inserting yourself into the mind process of these characters can be tough, especially if you're older but director Barbara Wong provides a really worthy examination about the trials and tribulations of life ambitions. An accessible one that is.

Dividing her time between drama and comedy, it's the latter that makes Truth Or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat uneven initially. There's a whimsical nature to the narrative that is quite funny but it's staying for an unexpected long time, being favored instead of revelation of structure and thus it becomes a little bit of a chore to sit through. There's a slight detraction also in the excessive mugging of Candy Lo's character and ultimately in the end, she sadly makes for the less interesting of the people we encounter. What Barbara Wong absolutely does right by the time she does get on the track of structure is taking 6 characters and actually finding time to develop them. She doesn't spend a huge amount of time with each but gives us the needed distinct aspects to their arcs that works for the 100 minutes that we're spending with them.

While some of the characters such as the nutty Jean (Patrick Tang) and the mentioned Candy are less interesting because their apparent ambition doesn't mean much to us, Barbara and co-writers Lawrence Cheng and Cheung Faan injects real stories into the lives of the other people such as Karena (Karena Lam) and Wing (Lawrence Chou), the two with the greater dreams and greater difficulties. Barbara draws upon her documentary background in the way that she looks closer and brings a sense of reality in style and direction of actors which makes for very appealing and affecting viewing. Style is amped at times, again in regards to the whimsy nature to Candy and some of it's fun but doesn't rank as memorable. Barbara clearly does the best when rooted in reality and the majority of Truth Or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat gives us that, with funny results and sometimes touching results. But you know what? None of this is really new, life changing or revolutionary but as they say, when done with care, old themes and messages, in this case the ultimate being responsibility, can very much be made to work.

Aided by slick but in tune cinematography by the ever so reliable Arthur Wong (also co-producer), Barbara does well with the actors on display also. We have some bigger names here like July Rhapsody's Karena Lam and Candy Lo (Men Suddenly In Black) but they blend into a very natural acting atmosphere where these young people clearly work off their youthful chemistry to achieve believability in performances. Faring the best clearly is Karena Lam as the writer finding her inspiration and love with the editor she's never met. One that she's so dependent on, she can't even write without his advice and her struggles to find strength without being in love with him is a touching segment of the film. Lawrence Chou of The Eye, in a role he seems to fit better, surprises as a young musician who finds a bond with the old neighbor of the flat, Susie (Hau Woon-Ling in a supporting turn worthy of a nomination at least). Barbara Wong herself appears in a cameo as Karena's agent as does Richie Ren, as a cop.

The film may start with a vomiting scene and the premise is gross but you won't find any frat boys humping pies here. Barbara Wong achieves nice things here in her examination of pursuing of dreams in much different ways and Hong Kong cinema again demonstrates the strengths it has in simple, affecting drama. Barbara went on to begin directing the recent Protege De La Rose Noire but apparently left the project unfinished. That's not a film we want her to jump on already! In my opinion, some director's, for as long as they can anyway, should work in small films. That working method won't generate box office surely but by god, it's more worth the movie fan's time. If that counts...