My Computer Can
Speak (2004)
Many of you will probably not
hear of this movie, but it is a latest movie starring Nick Cheung that is being
released in China at the beginning of May. The movie is surprisingly shot
entirely in China and feature an all China cast except for Nick Cheung. Upon
hearing Cheung being the latest to gain the attention of stylish director,
Johnny To, it is refreshing to see Cheung in one of his least annoying role and
in fact an almost entirely serious acting performance in My Computer Can Speak.
The though of the title will definitely put people into thinking that this is a
comedy, but in fact is a romantic drama.
My Computer Can Speak is movie
that move in the category that it is reasonably well directed with an attractive
and pretty leading lady in Wai Cao (卫莱)
and a story that moves into the familiar territory that kind off occurs nothing
new other than different actors. The story is basically Nick Cheung trying to
woo Wai Cao but their first meeting ended them up as enemies and Cao seems to be
always sad and write to a guy name Wu Ming (No Name) every night. Then one day
Nick’s computer can speak and is some kind of a supercomputer that assists Nick
in wooing Cao… and so on….
The story is not
at all that interesting and in fact the first quarter of the film is extremely
boring. However, the director turn the pace of the next 3/4 into a much more
involving and emotional picture and turn the boring 1st half into an
effective romantic drama. The film seems to also drawn a number of ideas mixing
together from various Korean drama. The result is not actually a bad one at all.
The performance of
Wai Cao, a relatively unknown actress is pretty and does portray her role
adequately with over the top acting. Perhaps the only seen that opens up her
more comical side is the seen where she pretends to be a superman which seems to
be acting like Ah Sa in My Wife is 18. Overall her performance is good and shows
some underlying potential. Nick Cheung’s performance is also notable as he
totally put aside his wanna be Stephen Chow’s image to put on a very serious and
mature performance. The only real problem is that Cheung seems to be better of
as a supporting actor than the lead, as he is not strikingly handsome nor a very
good actor. Putting that aside, Nick is indeed very charismatic and does have
some form of screen presence.
Overall My
Computer Can Speak is a movie that draws ideas from various sources but
ultimately it is actually quite a good movie experience. Both leads share great
chemistry together and it is always heart warming to see the two slowly as one.
Yes there are some minor plot holes especially near the end, but it is somewhat
overshadowed by the beauty scenery and suitable soundtrack. If there is one
problem in this movie must be the first quarter as it is not only uninteresting,
but in fact it is actually boring, lucky the movie did pick up from that point
to create a slightly above average romantic drama.
I rate it 7/10.
| Product Title |
: |
My Computer Can Speak |
| Artist Name(s) |
: |
Nick Cheung | Wai Cao | |
| Language |
: |
Mandarin |
| Duration |
: |
88 minutes |
Reviewed by Neo (Andrew) - May 2004
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