A Handful of Love

Chinese Title: "Yut Ngook Leung Ka Sam Sing Yan" (roughly translates to One House, Two Families, Three Surnames)
# of Episodes: 20

Cast
Joe Ma Tak Chung
Jessica Hester Hsuan
Don Li Yat Long
Rachel Poon
Poon Dik
Yau Chi Wan
Tiffany Tse
Mimi Lo
Johnson Lee
Rebecca Chan Sau Ju

Plot Summary

I'm going to aim for the shortest plot summary ever. "Jiu jiu" ('uncle' in a Chinese dialect, played by Joe Ma) and "Jiu ma" ('aunt' in a Chinese dialect, played by Jessica Hsuan) play mommy and daddy to five orphaned kids left to Jiu jiu by his sister and her husband. The gender roles are reversed in this family, with Jess playing the working 'woman of the house' and with Joe playing the half-sissy stay-at-home 'dad' who cooks, cleans, and drives the kids to school. The kids all think that their mom is dead and that their dad is in Africa working for Doctors Without Borders. However, it is hidden from them that their dad already died four years ago. The secret is supposed to be kept until the oldest child (played by Don Li) turns 18. So all the kids get angry and try to run away after their figure out what their aunt/uncle hid from them, then they come back and all is happy. Woohoo.

The whole series revolves around minor family problems, and all boils down to the husband-wife problems between Jessica Hsuan and Joe Ma. Jess plays a director who wants to make it big in Hollywood, and Joe Ma plays the insensitive family man who wants Jess to stay home to take care of the kids. Jess also gets peeved at Joe all the time for lending money/shelter to his no-good, lazy best friend (wonderfully acted by the moldable Johnson Lee). In the end, Jess comes back and everyone's happy. Goody.

Comments

If you got through my compact plot summary without yawning, I really do congratulate you because this series is actually incredibly boring. As you can see from my cast list, I don't even remember the names of the characters and kept mixing the kids' names up. Anyway, with few affecting moments following the fifth episode or so when the kids discover their father died, this series attempts to advocate the importance of family yet failing miserably.

You know you suck as an actor when a bunch of kids with limited screen time wring more emotion out of the audience than you do. This is the case for both Joe Ma and Jessica Hsuan. Joe Ma is, in my opinion, not a great actor and never will be. He is boring, predictable, and so utterly dull I had to force myself to keep watching whenever he was on the screen. It isn't his character's fault, a good actor would make a family man interesting to watch (Paul Chun in "The Family Man", Bobby Au-Yeung in the first "Armed Reaction" for example) so I am convinced that it was just Average Joe (pun intended) who played a big part in making this potentially lighthearted but moving series a megaflop. And people wonder why there isn't a thread about him in the forums.

Then there's Jessica Hsuan. Redundant, predictable, and identical to every performance she's given for the past 10 years. Yes, she may be more mature and definitely more intelligent than your average ditzy Miss Hong Kong champ, but that doesn't make her a good actress. Fans: Don't come crying to me about how Jessica Hsuan is a great actress, she's so pretty, yadee yadda yadda. I don't buy it. A great actress is someone who takes on a multitude of roles and is convincing in them (Myolie Wu, now-ATV Esther Kwan, Korean Kim Hyo-Jin). Jess here is definitely not that. And really, she isn't that convincing in that one type of role she plays either. She walks the same, talks the same, even the expressions on her face in the same type of situation but different series are the same. How is that possible?! She is consistent, but that doesn't make her a good actress. In fact, I find her annoying now.

Fans: Also don't come crying to me about other actresses who do the same thing. Yes, Flora Chan plays the career woman to death, but at the very least she has attempted (though failed) different roles (her lesbian character Cat in "Files of Justice", "Hard Fate", "Triumph in the Skies"). Yes, Kenix Kwok plays the chic professional often, but she has also attempted ("At the Threshold of an Era", "Legal Entanglement"). Jessica has played the same woman in every series she's been in! What shocks me is that she is able to play this character no matter what the series type. Ancient, modern, family, drama, professional, she is the same person! The same power/career woman/educated/straightforward/stubborn/go-getter/no-nonsense woman. Let's look at every series I can think of with Jess in it to illustrate my point, because really, I'm tired of being bombarded with hate mail from fans.

A Case of Misadventure: educated, straightforward, stubborn.
Golden Faith: educated, stubborn, go-getter, no-nonsense.
Lady Fan: stubborn, go-getter, power woman.
Files of Justice: educated, stubborn, power woman.
Square Pegs: educated, stubborn, straightforward.
A Step into the Past: stubborn, straightforward, no-nonsense.
Detective Investigation Files IV: career-woman, educated, no-nonsense, stubborn.
Man's Best Friend: no-nonsense, straightforward, stubborn.

I rest my case.

Now onto the little ones. Tiffany Tse is adorable and I almost mistook her for Jenny Shing (who played Wong Hei's daughter in "Burning Flame II"). She is natural, very attentive, and made the 5-year-old 'mui mui' ("little sister") bright, perceptive, and incredibly cute. She is one of the reasons I adore child actors in general, they are usually much more talented than the adults.

Rachel Poon is seen here for the first time and there is nothing earth-shattering about her. She has a face with character (though not pretty per se) but her performance was much too stiff and wooden to be memorable. Poon Dik was pretty ok as the more impulsive, outspoken second brother whereas Yau Chi Wan was more boring as the third brother.

If Tiffany Tse gave a good performance, Don Li gave an equally good one. I gave him a damning evaluation for his first-time acting in Hearts of Fencing, but maybe I was too harsh in sticking a knife in his premature career. Here he gives what I felt was a very wholehearted performance. I'm guessing the director didn't give him too many instructions and just let him work freely because Don comes off as a very genuine, dedicated and responsible oldest brother of the family. Emotionally he was also surprisingly effective, and the performance in general seemed very sincere.

And now to the redeeming factors in terms of acting in this series. Mimi Lo underacted well and was appropriately demure, giving a very convincing portrayal as a teacher. Rebecca Chan was absolutely hilarious as Kook's aunt, she is one of my favourite veteran actresses who excels in all kinds of roles. Best performance hands-down? Johnson Lee, who played the lazy, unambitious, inexcusable best friend to Joe Ma's character to perfection. He is so good that he may have been the one saving grace for this series.

Final Consensus
Don't waste your time.