 |  |  | | | The beginning is a little weak, especially when the male characters are too self-conscious when they are together. But when the female characters appear, the story gets into high gear. Although chemistry is lacking among the men, sparks fly when they are with the women. The director successfully saved the film, breaking through from the limits of traditional formula. The plot may be light, but the ending is surprisingly appropriate. What is most impressive is Shu Qi's heartfelt, multi-faceted performance, scoring a lot of points for the film. | | LOG IN TO COMMENT ON THIS REVIEW! |
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| | | | | What is impulsive? To act according to impulse. To apply this to Love is Not a Game, But a Joke, it is especially important to keep its present theme. Living here is to validate the past, but the winding past suddenly becomes the present, in front of the bus station. Instantly, the desire to look to the future raises its head, and the person here at the hotel seems to have become something from the past. What is impulsive? To forget the future and not get hung up by the past. The harm is in seeing through the past and the future. If Love is not a Game But a Joke hasn't wronged the vision of a thousand miles, it has wronged that of five hundred! | | LOG IN TO COMMENT ON THIS REVIEW! |
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| | | | | A labored situation, three assembled love relationships. The problem is not its artificiality but the inadequate imagination of its filmmakers to sustain character development in this special situation. The story with Jan Lamb and Christine Ng is the most awkward (perfume? Chess? Racing buses?). On top of that, the beginnings of the relationships are already a huge mess, making all the arrangements at the end too forced to be taken lightly. | | LOG IN TO COMMENT ON THIS REVIEW! |
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| | | | | The film is a collage; the three individual love stories are not related to each other and the dramatic tension fails to develop. Just the premise that the three main characters coming back to Hong Kong to look for their dream lover is not a credible one. When the audience finds it difficult to get into the realm of a story, it loses its power to connect. However, director Yip's talent cannot be ignored, especially his ability in capturing the allure of the female character: Shu Qi's luminance, Christine Ng's sensuousness, even Teresa Lee's lively charm. The film is informed by a slight melancholy of the young generation, though it fails to breakthrough to a new dimension because of its thin story. | | LOG IN TO COMMENT ON THIS REVIEW! |
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