MY WIFE IS 18 (2002-HK)
review by Seraph


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The cutest stuff toy around - Ah Sa
My wife is 18 is another HK Romance/Comedy movie which stars the uber cute, 'Taller' Twin, Charlene Choi and the 'Wannabe, boy who never grew up', Ekin Cheng. It is directed by James Yuen (Every dog has his date) who also had a hand in writing the excellent 'Lost in time'. Still. Don't go expecting the kind of emotional touch he displayed there. You just wont find it.

Cheng plays 'Cheung Sap Sam', a guy living in London studying for his M.phil. Choi plays 18 year old 'Yoyo Ma' (No not that one) a school kid from Hong Kong. Unluckily for them their grandparents want to match-make them and arrange for them to be married. Gasp!!! And so our unlikely couple meet. In London's Chinatown, no less. However unlikely the couple is, Cheung would like to please his Grandmother who wants him to marry before she dies. This leads to the two arranging a fake marriage. That is after Yoyo asks for a signed Beckham shirt in return for her co-operation. Yep. It's as silly as it sounds. Sadly Cheung's Grandmother passes away and he comes to HK to inform Yoyo. This leads to all sorts of funny (or not) confrontations and hidden agenda's.

Well, I guess I start with Charlene. Is she a great actress? Well, no. Is she a even a good actress? The answer again would have to be, no. At least not quite yet. See, I personally think she has a lot of potential. She's always been cute and mostly wins your affection in films. Still. she has yet to display any emotional range. So far she has one face. CUTE. And that'll only get her so far. She is however, a natural performer. Full of charm and energy. I just really hope she gets the chance to work with a decent director, in a well written film that doesn't require her to mug for the camera every two seconds. In this film you'll find nothing she does to be annoying. Nor anything that makes her stand out other than her natural charm. She's just...well...Charlene Choi.

On to Ekin. Ah Ekin. Gone are the days of 'Young and Dangerous'. He's now become accustomed to playing second fiddle to up and coming stars who are usually half his age. Again there is nothing he does wrong here. He just seems to be playing himself here. The whole point of a film like this is that the pair are supposed to be so mis-matched. The age difference should raise at least one or two questions or interesting scenes. It doesn't. Cheng's role is so childish. And he plays it as such. That he actually becomes almost equal to Charlene's character. They seem the same age and so the tension this story should create is lost.

It may seem so far as if I hated this film. I didn't. I laughed a little. Watched with a smile as Charlene makes Ekin mad by breaking a precious Jade bracelet handed down by his Grandmother and proceeds to make it into a very ugly neckless. Hell I think I even jumped out of my seat when the director parodies Wong Kar Wai's 'In the mood for love' by having Charlene (who is trying to impress Ekin's friends) turn up to a restaurant dressed as Maggie Cheung's character. It's just that the movie really doesn't go anywhere. And it doesn't address the questions raised by it's interesting premise. You already know how the movie ends up. It's really not hard to guess.

All in all, I'd say this movie is for all us TWINS fans out there. Just another chance to catch a glimpse of our precious Charlene. To everyone else it will probably be a silly and maybe even annoying little movie with no emotional resonance whatsoever.

I rate it 5/10

Neo Comments: In many ways this is a very important movie, no I am not talking about a important movie in HK cinema history, but an important movie that shaped the way Ah Sa acted in the next heaps of movies in a really cute cute and cute and cuddling way. Sure this movie as Seraph would say: for all TWINS FANS, but this is the that I began to like Ah Sa, but now after 2 years or maybe one, I am still a Twins Fans, but I am beginning to get tired and sick of seeing Ah SA trying to act like 10 year old girl just when her age is not decreasing. Yes I am a TWINS FANS and I am criticising Ah SA, so bash me all you want, but as I say before it is just a matter of time before people will grow out of liking this type of acting style, so AH SA - a word of advice - grow up!

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Product Title : My Wife is 18
Artist Name(s) : |Charlene Choi | Ekin Cheng
Language : Cantonese | Mandarin
Duration : 100 minutes
Reviewed by Seraph (Paul) - September 2004