Reviewed by: icacutee Date: 04/19/2003 I didn't expect much from the movie, considering I am not a fan of any of the stars in this movie. I was right. This movie was crap. Maybe the dancing was cool, and I liked Ronald Cheng, but other than that, the movie was terrible. I don't like Edison Chen, but maybe if there was a bit more of him, it would help. Andy Lau was just gay and ageing. Anit Mui was boring, and Sandra Ng was just lame. Don't bother to see it.

Reviewed by: Stardust Date: 07/10/2002 Summary: Ummm....What Just Happened? Did anyone ask "what just happened?" as soon as the movie was over? In a nutshell, the movie was boring. Andy Lau was very unlikeable, I did not pity Sandra Ng for being mistreated by Andy, and Anita Mui was as cold as stone. I'm not a fan of Edison Chen, but I was hoping that he would have more scenes to pull me away from watching these 3 go on with their story. The ending seemed out of place. Were they so desperate to wrap up the movie that they were willing to just get everyone together in one shot and make it seem like happily ever after? Overall, a huge disappointment. Rating: 2/10 Reviewer Score: 2

Reviewed by: Goby Date: 04/23/2002 Summary: not that bad, not that good either It wasn't a total disappointment, as I had low expectations to begin with :D Sandra Ng was actually the highlight in the movie, with a very dynamic and humourous performance. She's come a long way from her characters in the past. There were actually some very funny moments during the dance lesson scenes, and I found the lesser known actors/actresses actually added spice to the movie!

Reviewed by: snookie_1 Date: 03/30/2002 Summary: ehhh... i saw this movie b/c my sister recommended it to me...she didn't say anything about the plot or the characters but instead said that the dance scenes are great and make u wanna take up dancing...so i gave it a try...and ...well...not what i expected...sandra ng was a bit over the top, anita mui looked totally uncomfortable and andy lau looks great in those dancing shoes=)...it's kind of a weird movie and the dance scene at the bbq was just way too much...but did i mention the dance scenes were nice??=)...anyway...recommended but u might be kinda bored cuz it does get kinda tedious near the middle...5/10 u also get to see andy lau imitate leslie cheung, long wig, dress and all...i was also a bit confused abt the whole andy talking bad things about sandra at the end when they were dancing...hmm...any1 kno, plz explain...thx=) --ni si jue hau, ni je dao ma?? (u are the best,do u kno that??) that's what andy keeps saying to every1 in the movie just thought that it was funny... Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 03/21/2002 Summary: Pretty good WEll i did see this movie with little volume on the video so i had to turn it up!! Anyway i do agree with the other reviewers in some respects. I don't know ball romm dancing nor do i understand chinese so the singing parts of the film didn't give me that much enjoyment. The cruelity at the end was a bit much and the movie doesn't have much a story. But i guess this movie replies on characters, mainly Andy Lau and Sandra Ng. My mum found Sanrda's chracter hard to watch and Andy Lau plays the good hearted bastard well. For some reason i liked this. I had no expectations for it. But i see the rating is IIB which is impossible, i think it's a I rating. I think it's worth seeing to make up your own mind, but don't expect a great plot...... 7/10

Reviewed by: reelcool Date: 03/20/2002 Summary: INSULTING All but one of the reviews to "Dance of a Dream", trashed the film, but one critic, who confessed he was "drinking", and being "lenient", but still thought it to be "threadbare". This film was made on a very low budget, which can explain the lack of "locations", but there are many films made with less money, and are much better. Hope the producers (The 2 Andy Lau's) focus more on trying to make a good movie instead of just trying to make a quick profit and neglecting their audience - that's insulting.

Reviewed by: RLM Date: 03/11/2002 Summary: It's a waste Sheer, utterly undefiable and unexplainable (despite other reviewers attempts to do so) crap and a waste of your time despite the well-known names in the film. This film has no meaning. You've been warned - if you waste your money there is no one else to blame.

Reviewed by: mocha Date: 03/05/2002 Summary: A boring home video Imagine this, one day you found an 8mm video tape in a trash dump, you took it home and out of curiosity you played it, and it turned out to be someone's home video showing a group of people whom you don't know throwing a party and having some good clean fun amongst themselves. In a nutshell thats all this movie is. The party was good, but to the viewer it is irrelevent and boring. The reason why someone might want to pay money to watch it is that this group of people happen to have a couple of Canto-Pop singer/stars among them. I must admit, I seldom watch Hong Kong movies of any sort, but being a ballroom dancer I was curious about this particular movie. In it Andy Lau portrayed a sleazy ballroom dance instructor who cared little about his students and always tried to sweet talk them into taking expensive private lessons. The movie tried to explain that deep down Andy was really a kind hearted person and he did all that conning in order to save up enough for his major goals in life, which were to participate in a dance competition in Blackpool and to open a new dance studio. Inexplicably his ideal location for the new studio was an office block in Central (he was looking at the IFC building while mumbling his dreams to fellow instructor Gordon Lam Ka Tung). OK, nevermind his weird choice of location for the new studio, but the whole thing just didn't make sense, his existing live-in studio was a massive and stylish colonial mansion located (apparently) on the Peak. He would have to be a billionaire to own such a place, or at least be running a phenonmenally successful dance tuition business (schools, videos, books, the lot) to be able to afford the rent. If anything, Andy had already made it and those goals could hardly be goals. In reality, as anyone who had taken ballroom dance lessons in Hong Kong would know, the live-in studio of a sleazy unsuccessful dance instructor is typically a 600 square feet flat in a seedy apartment block somewhere in Mongkok. But this kind of location is a bit shabby for shooting party scenes, and the centre piece of the movie is a party scene. Oh well, reality and Hong Kong movies don't mix anyway, so screw reality. The worst part of the movie was the ending which was another nonsensicle farce that left me scratching my head. Sandra Ng's dream was to have an exhibition dance with Andy, and at the end of the movie, he played a cruel joke on her, by granting her this dance provided that she wore a revealing red dress. While she was putting on the dress he made sure she overheard him discussing with Anita Mui that the dress would allow him to verify whether she (Sandra) had hairy armpits. Is this supposed to be a reminder to the viewer that Andy is afterall a nasty person capable of delivering cruel insults by exploiting the vulnerability of his admirer? If seeing your favourite Canto-Pop stars partying is all you expect from this movie, go for it, otherwise, give it a miss.

Reviewed by: danton Date: 03/05/2002 This movie is an example of how to turn nothing into something! The fact that the filmmakers were able to stretch 5 minutes worth of plot to full feature length still amazes me. How did they do that? Well, there's quite a few dance sequences, of course. But also some musical production numbers that add nothing to the story and weren't that exciting either. Other than that, there's a whole lot of people walking around, exchanging meaningless dialog; nothing meaningful ever happens, no tension or conflicts, just the pointless, underdeveloped seeds of what may have been an interesting story had they cared to flesh out the script a bit more. As it stands, we have a pretty basic story of a guy torn between two women and the choices they represent. The guy happens to be Andy Lau, a dance instructor who dreams of something bigger (what exactly never becomes quite clear). Andy is initially shown as a con artist selling prospects a dream (of what exactly?) in order to sign them up for dance lessons. His two new clients are polar opposites: Sandra Ng plays the impoverished admirer who can barely afford the lessons, but simply can't resist the temptation of ballroom dancing in the arms of Andy. She walks around for most of the movie with a sheepish grin that is meant to signify this character's passion and innocence but simply becomes annoying after a while. It almost reaches the point where I wanted to slap her and shout: Wake up! Smell the coffee! Unfortunately, she never does... Her counterpart is a rich businesswoman played by Anita Mui. She initially manages to create some interest by being less than nice, but that doesn't hold up too long. Unable to resist Andy's charm and Sandra's smile, she quickly joins the happy-go lucky attitude of the movie, at which point the plot simply comes to a grinding halt. Sure, we still need to sit through Andy's painful process of having to choose one woman over the other, but at this point the movie gives the audience neither reason nor motivation to root for one or the other. They're all just too damn nice... I can't comment on the dance numbers. The actors looked competent, but I'm not a big fan of ballroom dancing, so I mostly fastforwarded through these portions (i.e. I fastforwarded through most of the movie). Other than that, there's some nice-looking cinematography courtesy of Andrew Lau, who has made an artform of producing nice-looking yet hollow movies out of underdeveloped scripts. Andy and Anita sing a few songs, and then there's some more dancing. Not recommended, unless you're either a fan of ballroom dancing or a big big fan of Andy Lau and just need to watch every movie he's ever made...

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 03/05/2002 Summary: Bad as expected Dance of a Dream was as bad as I had expected. I pretty much forced myself to watch this just to see if I could be proved wrong, but it lived up to what I thought it would be. Another movie about nothing, set all over the place with no real story, no acting, and badly produced. Andy Lau seems to be so out of place, I have no idea why he agreed to do this movie in the first place. Anita Mui, though I don't particualy like, was much more suited to this than Andy, as was Sandra who was the only person to keep this film in any kind of shape. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. Most of the reviews I have read on this (including the ones here) put the film down anyway, so I see I'm certainly not the only one. Rating [2/5]

Reviewed by: Sasami Date: 03/05/2002 Summary: Where's the plot?! 3 high profile leads couldn't save me from scratching my head and wondering what the point of this movie was. Andy Lau stars as an ambitious dance instructor with dreams of professional stardom. Anita Mui is the epitome of the power-working woman, harsh and stiff (and a little bitter too, it seemed to me). Sandra Ng plays the most endearing of the three: a waitress by trade who dreams of gliding gracefully on the dance floor. While all three leads exhibited good rapport and charisma, and all the supporting leads were well-cast and well-acted, I found the plot sadly missing. Who *is* Andy's character? A sleazy man who will go to great lengths to achieve his dream? An indulgent teacher who genuinely cares about his students? I really couldn't figure out the thoughts behind many of his contrasting actions. And what was the deal with the musical numbers inserted in the middle?? The first two were okay; they fit within the party scene. The third one though was sadly out of place. Why did Anita suddenly turn from cold-hearted bitch to a dancing, singing woman all decked out in costume?! And even in the context of the movie, what was the deal with the choreographed dance routine?! The ending was puzzling at best. It seemed needlessly cruel to me, and it wrapped up too quickly into a neat little package. There are a couple of genuine moments in the movie, but too few for me to recommend this.

Reviewed by: MilesC Date: 03/05/2002 Summary: Surprisingly watchable. Andy Lau is the man. After years of paying his dues, he has finally arrived, in my mind, as one of Hong Kong's golden boys, offering perhaps the best synthesis of anyone currently working of star-power and talent. Sure, he can still make some bad movies and give some stiff performances, but by and large, Andy's recent runaway success is warranted. Partial proof: the fact that Dance of a Dream, the latest from uber-hack Andrew Lau, isn't a complete waste of time. And, if there were any logic in the universe, it would be: it's a story with virtually no conflict, shot in locations few enough to be counted on your fingers, and directed by a director whose abilities I have little respect for. And yet, the movie just flys by, thanks to the fact that Andy, Sandra and Anita appear to have just had fun in front of the camera with only the vaguest story or script. And, because Andy and Sandra seem like such cool people, (Anita's character is grumpy and doesn't light things up that much)it's somehow fun to watch. Honestly, I can't imagine watching such a threadbare film again, and I hope that next time Andy will make a movie that's genuinely good. But somehow, Dance of a Dream works as an off-the-cuff and undemanding time-killer. Note: I was probably lenient on this film because I was drinking when I watched it. If I had been my usual self I might not have been so kind.