Smiling Pasta

Main Cast
Xiao Shi - Cyndi Wang
He Jun - Nicholas Teo
Rita - Xiao Qiao
Ah Zhe - Gino

Synopsis

Chen Xiao Shi believes herself to be cursed when it comes to love, having been dumped 16 times. She is heartbroken when boyfriend number 17 breaks up with her too. He Jun is an idol singer who has just had his heart publicly broken by his longtime girlfriend, Rita, who left him for his younger brother, Ah Zhe. While evading a couple of reporters, He Jun bumps into Xiao Shi, who ends up falling on top of him and kissing him.

Pictures of their kiss are splashed all over the newspapers the next day. To avoid a scandal, He Jun’s manager/agent announces that Xiao Shi is actually He Jun’s fiancée. Xiao Shi agrees to the charade in order to not disappoint her family, who are expecting her to bring home boyfriend number 17. Thus begins the love story of Turtle Girl and Jinx (He Jun and Xiao Shi’s nicknames for each other).

Review

The main focus of this drama is of course the love story although it has a few worthy subplots, such as He Jun’s strained relationships with both his father and younger brother, Ah Zhe. It also comments on the disruptive behavior of the paparazzi and the creative truths they weave. Xiao Shi trips, falling into He Jun’s arms and the paparazzi reports that she fainted because she is pregnant. As such, it is unfortunate that the director and writers went a little overboard with the silly animations, physical comedy and unnecessary plot twists that ended up marring an otherwise decent drama. Some examples of silly include:

- The University students publicly protesting upon learning that Xiao Shi is He Jun’s fiancé because they don’t deem her worthy enough. I doubt even the most obsessive of fans would go to this extent.

- The whole University, including its Administrative Officer, and a highly respected Reporter becoming involved in He Jun’s juvenile bet with Xiao Shi, which ended with a ball kicking contest to determine a winner. Don’t the students have classes to attend?

- CK, the director of E-News, was confident that He Jun and Xiao Shi’s engagement is fake but changed his mind after hearing Xiao Shi publicly declare her feelings for He Jun, who then told her that he will forever protect her. If anything, I think this would indicate that their engagement was indeed faked. What couple gets engaged, then confess their feelings for each other later? Plus if CK was sure they were just acting the part of a couple, why did it not occur to him that possibly for his benefit, they were carrying on the act by confessing their feelings in order to protect their lie? A person of CK’s caliber and experience would not have accepted anything at face value especially after obsessively trying to expose their engagement as fake. This twist in the plot was too illogical for my liking.

Another thing I have a problem with is the way Xiao Shi is portrayed. Taiwanese idol dramas have a tendency to portray their heroines as extremely cute, naïve, simple-minded, but kind, optimistic and persevering. Xiao Shi is no exception. However, she is so dim-witted at times that it was frustrating to watch her. And Cyndi overdid the cute factor sometimes to the point of annoying me. She looks a little too old to play cute.

I felt that Xiao Qiao was miscast as Rita. Although her acting is competent, she neither had the attitude nor the right look for the role. And she had zero chemistry with Nicholas, making it difficult to believe that her Rita and He Jun actually dated.

However, for all its flaws, "Smiling Pasta" is incredibly charming, addictive and fun to watch, so much so I couldn’t help enjoying it. It has an entertaining love story and some decent subplots. It has a good soundtrack, my favorite song being Nicholas Teo’s “Tears from Polaris”. There is ample chemistry between Nicholas and Cyndi. I also liked the speed with which He Jun and Xiao Shi’s love story develops and the general pacing of the drama (although its length could have been shortened). Reasonably good effort by all actors, with the veterans hamming it up for laughs. Although it is not a stretch for Nicholas to portray an idol singer, he gives a credible performance, playing He Jun with lots of charm. His He Jun also displayed his vulnerability when interacting with his father. Nicholas definitely has potential to become a serious actor. Gino too gave a believable performance as the angry and rebellious, but good-hearted Ah Zhe.

Despite its silly moments, I was immensely entertained by "Smiling Pasta". As such, it merits a rating of between 3.5 and 4. However, considering that "Devil Beside You" (DBY), which I thought was even more silly (to the point of being ridiculous) and not as entertaining, has received ratings of between 4 to 4.5, "Smiling Pasta" ought to be rated a 5. But this would be misleading as it isn't perfect, although (in my humble opinion) it is superior to DBY. So I will rate "Smiling Pasta" a 4.5, with the proviso that on its own, it is at most a 4 but in comparison to DBY, it is at least a 4.5.