MovieChat Forums > Shanghai Kiss (2007) Discussion > Some decent parts, but mainly contrived ...

Some decent parts, but mainly contrived nonsense

posted 17 years ago by dolemite4201
16 replies | jump to latest

I can't believe the glowing reviews I'm seeing for this movie. I'd give it a 4/10 at best. It has a nice look and feel, and some funny parts, but all the dialogue and story and characters are just not believable at all. The Hayden Panettirie character is not realistic in any way whatsoever and her whole relationship with Liam is just plain dumb. It seems to only exist solely for the wet dreams of young Asian males who think some blonde knockout will suddenly fall for them. Why would her parents let some guy drive her to school every day? It's lame and forced, as are all the characters in this movie.

I think David Ren is a promising director, but hopefully he will get to work with some better source material next time.

[–] smoovasbutter 17 years ago

"""It seems to only exist solely for the wet dreams of young Asian males who think some blonde knockout will suddenly fall for them.""""

I'm asian and cute white girls hit on me all the time.

[–] pinkladynj 17 years ago

Not sure where the OP is coming from.

I'm female and I loved the movie.

[–] kakiharathekiller04 17 years ago

Loved it too.

[–] bullsrfive 17 years ago

I'm a male Chinese-American and i really enjoyed it a lot although I do think that a young blonde stunner like Hayden totally falling for a guy that looks like Ken Leung on the bus is a little unrealistic. What is she doing on the bus anyways if she lives in Beverly Hills? In real life she'd probably have her own car.

[–] smoovasbutter 17 years ago

I think she's on the bus because she has her little sketchbook and she's looking for subjects to draw.

And its not that far fetched, I'm asian too and I get hit on all the time by these white girls who don't take no for an answer haha.

[–] bullsrfive 17 years ago

Do you think you're good looking? The unrealistic part isn't just that a young blond falls in love with a 28-30 year old Asian guy on the bus, its also because the guy is not good looking. I don't think Ken Leung is good looking at all at first sight, especially not with his hair like that. How many young beautiful girls do you think would be attracted to Ken Leung at first sight?

[–] DiangeloWolfer 17 years ago

I think he's a pretty good looking dude. That, and some white girls just have a thing for Asian guys.

[–] pinkladynj 17 years ago

I think Ken Leung is gorgeous.

[–] honeypeach 17 years ago

i think ken leung is good looking. and i liked the movie.

[–] flix-9 17 years ago

OP got it right. ITT: drinking the kool-aid.

[–] bboy_vmax 17 years ago

Ken is actually 37!!!!!!

[–] bombardon3 17 years ago

A mixed race relationship wouldn't be at all out of place in Los Angeles or most of the state of California for that matter. As for her being more attractive than him, I'm sure there's been plenty of time when you saw a couple and wondered why they were together. Fred Flintstone wasn't the last poor slob that got lucky. So I don't really know why it would be out of the realm of believability that these two would get together. OP has a point about the willingness of her parents to let this guy take her to and from school, but I assume she just didn't tell them or just said she was getting a ride from a friend and they assumed it was someone her own age.

[–] jake14853 17 years ago

I can appreciate your observations but how many films have you seen featuring so-so looking WHITE MALES hooking up with gorgeous white/latin/Asian/black females?

That's practically the industry standard - Hollywood movie producers understand that white men who don't look like Brad Pitt or are as charismatic as Sean Connery (which is 99.99% of white males) would like to live vicariously through cinema (What is 'entertainment' anyway? It's about escape!), so they make those so-called unrealistic depictions a regular thing in cinema. And by that extension, the casting in SHANGHAI KISS also makes the cut.

If anything, I'd call out the sexist double standards where an unattractive man supposedly has his pick of the litter in terms of gorgeous nubile women. But then again power and success IS an aphrodisiac and many women openly admit it so perhaps the relationship between Liam and the young girl isn't so far out of left field (remember that it can be not only about absolute status/power, but also PERCEPTIONS of power and success: to a highschool girl almost any decent looking guy over 21 looks like a proverbial 'god').

[–] punditz 17 years ago

The reason this movie has received so many glaring reviews and the apparent above 7 rating is the majority of Asians who could connect with the theme of the story so intensely that they put aside flaws like poor direction and rather crappy screenplay.
The Non Asians obviously found the flaws too noticeable to accept the premises of the story in general.

"I no longer know who I am, and I feel like the ghost of a total stranger."

[–] drjsway 17 years ago

That's a bold statement with no basis. All demographics have embraced the movie.

If you actually looked at the ratings breakdown, you'll realize that the demographic that rated the movie highest was Females under 18 (average of 8.4) and women in general liked it better.

Males - 7.1
Females - 7.5

The lowest was Males 35-44. They gave it an average on 6.5, which is still decent, considering that older males are usually bored by coming of age stories.

Then, click on the external reviews, most of which are glowing and none of them are from Asians.

[–] punditz 17 years ago

In that case, those reviews are from condescending Non Asians.
Even if they aren't "just-being-nice", it makes no sense to appreciate this movie beyond a certain level.
If I keep aside the inter-racial angle, this movie is trash.
It could have been a breakthrough film, if and only handled by a better director.
I stand my ground.This movie was very badly made and it does not deserve this rating.
I am not judging the movie on racial grounds, but simply taking up facts like direction, screenplay et all, and these can be bad for any movie for that matter.
Moreover, I am an Asian too, and at some points I did empathize with Liam but was disappointed with this movie overall.

"To each his own"