It
is hard for a comic book artist to navigate a Sex in the City world, especially a hopeless romantic like
Sophie. At least her work provides her
an outlet for her frustrations, but not a steady income. However, Sophie will finally meet her real
life international man of mystery in My
Lucky Star (trailer
here), Dennie
Gordon’s stand-alone sequel to Sophie’s Revenge, which opens this Friday in New York.
Sophie
is a talented artist, but the world’s worst travel agent. Her day job boss tells her so, frequently. When she wins the “My Lucky Star” sweepstakes’
luxury vacation to Singapore, her man-eating friends convince her to take the
plunge. As soon as she arrives, the
clumsy knockout stumbles into the arms of David Yan, who happens to be the
spitting image of her comic book super spy.
He also happens to be in the same line of work—a fact Sophie is
painfully oblivious to.
Before
long, Sophie’s attempts to pursue Yan put her smack dab in the middle of a
caper involving a massive stolen diamond.
It happens to be perfect for refracting a WMD laser, which is why the
notorious Black Widow arms dealer is out to acquire it. Yes, she is also hot and Yan happens to have
some complicated history with her. The
indomitable Sophie will have to knuckle down if she is going to win the man of
her dreams and save the world (or at least Bermuda).
The
first domestic Chinese production helmed by an American woman (Gordon, best
known for Joe Dirt and her DGA Award
winning work on Tracey Takes On), Lucky incontrovertibly establishes Zhang
Ziyi looks cute in a gondolier’s costume.
You might have suspected as much, but here’s the proof. In fact, she has more wardrobe changes than
Anne Hathaway hosting the Oscars. That
is really what this film is all about: fab clothes, the picturesque opulence of
Singapore and Macao, and a spot of vicarious romance.
Sophie’s Revenge was a monster hit
in China, so producer Zhang’s title character is back to feed the appetite she
helped create (but viewers need not be familiar with the first film to follow
the second). However, for American
audiences, it is rather ironic to see her playing a lovelorn klutz so soon
after her exquisitely tragic, massively butt-kicking turn in Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster. She is clearly versatile—and quite appealing
in both very different films.
Wang
Leehom, the American-born Taiwanese pop idol, is a game straight man, looking
credible enough in his action sequences.
Ruby Lin and Chen Yao also return from Revenge, adding attitude and sex appeal as Sophie’s BFFs. However, Terri Kwan sort of steals the show
as the Black Widow.
