[Review] And I Hate You So... (HK)
10-03-01, 02:03 AM
#1
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
[Review] And I Hate You So... (HK)
Warning - may contain spoilers
And I Hate You So... (2000)
Aaron Kwok and Kelly Chan star in this semi-sappy romantic comedy about a cocky radio DJ squaring off against an uptight quirky column writer. There is little comedy beyond what is there to keep you interested. Kelly Chan looks quite dorky and not as pretty as I know she is. This is her follow up to her big action film - Tokyo Raiders in which she spent most of the time looking quite stunning. Here she looks rather homely. Aaron is also here following his big action film 2000A.D. and he looks the same. Does he ever look different? I think his acting has improved from film to film and in this you can almost hardly tell he's acting. Kelly Chan is somewhat of a zombie. I don't know if that's her style or what, but she seems to lack the ability to emote. Her best acting abilities allow her to look distracted or stare into space or lock eyes with some inanimate object in extreme concentration to convey to the audience that she's deep in introspective thought. Some people may like her, but the more I see of her - the less appealing she becomes. Especially in this film in which she dresses rather frumpy. It seems to be one outfit that she has in many different colors, but you have to pay attention or it will seem as though she never changes clothes. Eric Tsang provides comic relief - he's the roly poly guy from Gen-X cops and Jet Li's Hitman. He's wasted here as his part is pointless.
The story is familiar. It reminded me of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's You've Got Mail - I think this film was heavily influenced even though it has little in common story-wise. In And I Hate You So, Kelly finds a record (remember those, kids?) she had given her "first love" (these hk romance films are all about 'first love' - I often see that phrase in these types of films) in a pawn shop. Upset that her first love had given this keepsake away, she tried to buy it - unfortunately for her, Aaron Kwok's character had already staked a claim on it. From here on out, they just fight with each other. Deep down though, you know that it just means they love each other. Basically - I wasn't emotionally involved in the story of these two, I didn't feel any scene was particularly funny, and I didn't really care all that much about whether they were going to end up together or not. I thought there were some well concieved bits of romantic pith there, but not enough to get me to care. I didn't care for You've Got Mail either, but And I Hate You So was better. I liked Fighting For Love better than this one though both in acting performances and writing.
And I Hate You So had some nice production value and the DVD reflected this. Universe Laser put it out and there have been some mastering problems lately with Universe. My disc was defective (as were a few others I've bought) and this seems to be something that is happening to a few other people. If you purchase this DVD, make sure you know the store's return and exchange policy. Outside of the manufacturing problem with the disc, for the money - the disc is top notch. It has a great transfer and the sound is also quite good. There are trailers and footage from the film's premier. The subtitles are easy to read and removable and there aren't all that many grammatical errors. There is a 5.1 Cantonese track and a Mandarin track (but unless you speak Mandarin, it's pointless to listen to it).
Overall - I'd have to give the film a 6/10 (C-) (2 1/2 Stars/5). I didn't quite hate it and I didn't really like it. I thought it was "OK" and I'd probably sit through it again at some point. It was certainly well made and the only problems it had was some stiff acting and a bit of stale writing/subject matter. Worth seeing if you're hard-up for a romance, but don't expect to be overwhelmed with emotion and don't expect to laugh very much either (unless you think Aaron Kwok's hairdo is funny).
And I Hate You So... (2000)
Aaron Kwok and Kelly Chan star in this semi-sappy romantic comedy about a cocky radio DJ squaring off against an uptight quirky column writer. There is little comedy beyond what is there to keep you interested. Kelly Chan looks quite dorky and not as pretty as I know she is. This is her follow up to her big action film - Tokyo Raiders in which she spent most of the time looking quite stunning. Here she looks rather homely. Aaron is also here following his big action film 2000A.D. and he looks the same. Does he ever look different? I think his acting has improved from film to film and in this you can almost hardly tell he's acting. Kelly Chan is somewhat of a zombie. I don't know if that's her style or what, but she seems to lack the ability to emote. Her best acting abilities allow her to look distracted or stare into space or lock eyes with some inanimate object in extreme concentration to convey to the audience that she's deep in introspective thought. Some people may like her, but the more I see of her - the less appealing she becomes. Especially in this film in which she dresses rather frumpy. It seems to be one outfit that she has in many different colors, but you have to pay attention or it will seem as though she never changes clothes. Eric Tsang provides comic relief - he's the roly poly guy from Gen-X cops and Jet Li's Hitman. He's wasted here as his part is pointless.
The story is familiar. It reminded me of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's You've Got Mail - I think this film was heavily influenced even though it has little in common story-wise. In And I Hate You So, Kelly finds a record (remember those, kids?) she had given her "first love" (these hk romance films are all about 'first love' - I often see that phrase in these types of films) in a pawn shop. Upset that her first love had given this keepsake away, she tried to buy it - unfortunately for her, Aaron Kwok's character had already staked a claim on it. From here on out, they just fight with each other. Deep down though, you know that it just means they love each other. Basically - I wasn't emotionally involved in the story of these two, I didn't feel any scene was particularly funny, and I didn't really care all that much about whether they were going to end up together or not. I thought there were some well concieved bits of romantic pith there, but not enough to get me to care. I didn't care for You've Got Mail either, but And I Hate You So was better. I liked Fighting For Love better than this one though both in acting performances and writing.
And I Hate You So had some nice production value and the DVD reflected this. Universe Laser put it out and there have been some mastering problems lately with Universe. My disc was defective (as were a few others I've bought) and this seems to be something that is happening to a few other people. If you purchase this DVD, make sure you know the store's return and exchange policy. Outside of the manufacturing problem with the disc, for the money - the disc is top notch. It has a great transfer and the sound is also quite good. There are trailers and footage from the film's premier. The subtitles are easy to read and removable and there aren't all that many grammatical errors. There is a 5.1 Cantonese track and a Mandarin track (but unless you speak Mandarin, it's pointless to listen to it).
Overall - I'd have to give the film a 6/10 (C-) (2 1/2 Stars/5). I didn't quite hate it and I didn't really like it. I thought it was "OK" and I'd probably sit through it again at some point. It was certainly well made and the only problems it had was some stiff acting and a bit of stale writing/subject matter. Worth seeing if you're hard-up for a romance, but don't expect to be overwhelmed with emotion and don't expect to laugh very much either (unless you think Aaron Kwok's hairdo is funny).
10-04-01, 12:13 AM
#2
DVD Talk Special Edition
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Posts: 1,139
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I didn't particular care for this movie, probably because of Kelly Chen. If you wanted to compare Anna Magdalena with this one (since both lead characters were in both and they were obnoxious in both), I'd say that both were somewhat boring to me. The best part of this movie was the comeback performance by Teresa Mo (after about a 6 year abscence from the big screen. Was Hard Boiled her last movie?) and the Eric Tsang character.
10-04-01, 12:41 AM
#3
Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: in a 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio
Posts: 66
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I didn't care much for the movie the first time I saw it either. But I realize that the dialogue and the characters grew on me the second time around. The production design is beautiful and I liked the subplot with Teresa Mo and Eric Tsang. Kelly Chan did kind of get on my nerves sometimes, but I think it was what her role required. So my suggestion would be give it another try after a while and see if you'd like it any better then.
