Love on a Diet
This romantic comedy directed by Jonnie To adapts the current popular theme in Hollywood movies such as "Shallow Hal". It stars Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng, who provides enough star power to attract viewers.
The movie is set in Japan (which I still don't know the point of it until now, WHY?) but rest assure as there is little Japanese involved. We have our diva Sammi Cheng playing the role of Mimi Mo, a girl from Hong Kong who falls in love with a budding Japanese musician, Kurokawa. They part reluctantly as he has to go overseas to study. Mimi stays back in Japan but finds the distant love too hard to cope with. She seeks comfort in eating and reaches a whooping weight of more than 300 pounds. During this time, her beloved Kurokawa returns to Japan and becomes very successful as a musician. Mimi, being too embarrassed of her current figure, does not approach him but instead follows him around Japan to attend all of his concerts. In addition, she is also heartbroken when he does not recognize her.
She is left with no money, no work and no place. Her landlord intends to set up a match so she can get the rent money back. In the restaurant, she meets Fatso played by Andy Lau, a kitchen utensil seller from Hong Kong whose figure resembles his name. She follows him and he takes pity on her. Kurokawa, being a very devoted lover, announces his love for Mimi and radio and recalls of their vow that they would meet again at a certain place. Mimi, with the help and encouragement from Fatso, decides to go on a diet to win back Kurokawa.
The movie does have its moments with the sight of Andy and Sammi donning the fat suits. The make-up is very convincing even though the suits limit their facial expression. The movie is an old recipe of romance and comedy that has proved to sell tickets well in theatres. You will surely be rolling on the floor laughing every time Kurokawa gets into his famous "wishful thinking poise" or you would feel like crying when Fatso sacrifices himself as the human punching-bag to earn money for Mimi's diet program. However, some audience might find fat jokes in the movie offensive.
The acting talent of the cast was certainly a bonus to this movie. After the success of "Needing You", Sammi and Andy reunite in this blockbuster. Sammi has improved vastly since the last time I suffered her wooden and stiff acting in TVB series "Mans best friend". Even though Andy took a break from his usual image of 'Prince Charming", he is still very adorable in this movie. Together, they deliver an endearing and heartwarming love story, even though the plot makes a bad turn at the end.
The movie starts out greatly (if you can make yourself very naive and believe in goodness of human being, like how Fatty would help Mimi unconditionally) but it strays off its main path mid-way through. I believe that it meant to deliver a message about how the inner beauty is more important than the appearance. Yet midway through the movie, the message became "fat is ugly and slim is the way to go" by showing how successful Mimi could be after she miraculously lost weight. By the way, our two main characters are not exactly fit to play such roles: our Heavenly King Andy Lau, who is still able to maintain his youthful figure after more than 10 years in show business and Sammi Cheng, who looks very much anorexic in real life. The sight of them donning the fat suits just seemed really ironic to me. Yet if you are looking for a lighthearted romantic comedy that does not involve much thinking, go for this one.
