Whether
you live in Pittsburgh or Shanghai, Italy still represents the land of romance.
Evidently, in 1994, Venice was the place to be, but now Milan is the in
romantic getaway. There are other differences, but this Chinese remake of the Norman
Jewison romantic comedy is pretty faithful to its inspiration. Once again, a
smitten man will fight against fate and his own name to win the woman he falls
for in Zhang Hao’s Only You (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
On
two separate occasions, fortune tellers predicted Fang Yuan would marry a man
named Song Kunming. Such a specific prophecy would be great if she knew anyone
named Song Kunming, but she doesn’t. After years of waiting for him to show up,
she finally decides to settle for Xie
Wei, a boring dentist. However, tens days before their wedding, she
happens to take a phone message from Xei Wei’s old school chum, Song Kunming,
who is en route to Milan.
With
her BFF in tow, Fang Yuan impulsively rushes off to Italy (conveniently having
a couple soon-to-expire visas burning a hole in her pocket), to track down her
man of destiny. On their first night, they follow the trail from their hotel to
a man claiming to be Song Kunming. He is perfect her in every way, except he
eventually admits he is not really Song Kunming. Attempting a Hail Mary, he offers
to help her find the real Song, in hopes of besting him for her affections.
You
hardly need to have seen the original Marisa Tomei-Robert Downey, Jr. vehicle
to know how it will all end. Admittedly, Only
You seems like a rather odd remake candidate, but it is apparently the sort
of film that has grown in popular affection during its video and DVD life, following
its ho-hum initial box-office. Of course, there are also probably a lot of us
out there who can come to China Lion’s Only
You unburdened with indelible images of Downey, Jr. in a gondola.
There
is no question the scenery is just as lovely this time around and the cast is
even more attractive. There is a little bit of shtick, but it is decidedly mild
compared to rom-com norms. Granted, nobody does a lot of heavy lifting here,
but Tang Wei pouts quite effectively as Fang Yuan (if you want to see her in a
deeper, darker romantic drama, check out the elegant Late Autumn). Liao Fan tries to keep his cool as best he can as
someone not named Song Kunming, but Su Yan kind of steals the show as the tough
but sensitive (and sultry) best friend.
