LOVE CORRECTION (2000-HK)
review by Neo


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A potentially good premise, hammered by cheap production values.
Nick Cheung, has always been an actor that is overused as a comical relief or a Stephen Chow - wannabe, but what Neo feels, is that he is far better as a dramatic actor than a comical one. While his performances in comedy has been annoying than fun, but his dramatic turns has been a highlight in many movies and TVB serials he starred. While Love Correction gives his some attempts at drama, this is very much a film that Neo would call, a potential premise that is greatly hammered by bad direction from Marco Mak and further shitted by the cheapness look of the production values.

The movie is basically about Emma (Athena Chu) is a 30 year-old office lady who finds a coin on the street and believes it must be a sign of good fortune. Big mistake. The coin is, in fact, a harbinger of bad luck, and Emma gets it full-on. She loses her job, gets caught in a compromising position with geeky IT guy Anson (Nick Cheung), and even appears to destroy her engagement to her boss. Desperate, she turns to an old wives tale which promises to undo the bad luck. It works, and Emma is whisked back in time to right before the bad luck started. Armed with the knowledge of what went wrong, Emma is determined not to ruin her life. But was her life that good to begin with?

Sure, Athena Chu is beautiful and pretty at the same time, but perhaps, as lead she does not have the presence of someone like Cecilia Cheung, while I truly believe that Athena has real acting abilities, which she has failed to show me so far, but this movie does gives her a rare opportunites to do something either than being a flower glass.

While I am lauding this movie in the whole review, the theme and plot line of the movie is not as bad as it seems. The theme is obvious and is shown in manners that are by no means subtle, expressing the fact of appearance vs reality, however, this theme has been dealt with by so many films before it, that it seems almost irreverent to express it again. However, an aspect that the film shows by giving and showing Athena another chance to repeat her last few days again is seemingly fun to watch while expressing that life can not be planned out, even if you seemingly know what will happen next, tomorrow will always remain uncertain no matter what happen. Sure, the first 50 minutes is boring, but the second half attempts to redeems the movie with likable performances from Athena and Nick and a pretty fun second half makes this movie just average. This movie can be great, but as I have expressed before that it is hammered by cheap production values and at times bad direction makes Love Correction a film that leaves a bad and cheap feeling to the audience rather than a pleasing romantic one. While there are pretty of other themes that I can find in this movie about the randomness of love, but somehow, I rather not continue writing as the movie doesn't deserve more than I have already written.

I rate it 5/10

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Genre: Romantic
Director: Marco Mak
Cast: Nick Cheung, Athena Chu, Tat Lau
Reviewed by Andrew (Neo), May 2005