Love Is Not All Around (2007)
Reviewed by: Brian Thibodeau on 2008-04-20
Summary: Self-satisfied fluff
Self-satisfied fluff about self-involved young people in love . . . or maybe not! Bouncy fashion plate Stephy Tang happily interferes in the frayed relationships of her friends, runs a speed dating swindle with another pal, and sorts out her feelings for old flame Alex Fong, who she played on her way to a supposedly better catch before suffering a string of bad luck, and new flame Hins Cheung, the youngest looking doctor in Hong Kong and—coincidentally, I’m sure—a whiz at melancholy melodies on the piano. Director-writer Patrick Kong is so taken with the narrative trickery in his screenplay that his characters end up being motivated by false assumptions and mixed signals instead of common sense. While these are legitimate storytelling devices, usually requiring flashbacks to clue us in to the “real” story taking place, Kong employs all of them so frequently that no other filmmaker need bother with them for the next five years. Besides, the Koreans have been doing it better for a while now. Essentially, this is another feature-length infomercial for the talent roster of Gold Label recording boss Paco Wong, but it can’t compare to his last one, LOVE @ FIRST NOTE. Pretty people in pretty clothing stalking their lovers to a pretty good cantopop soundtrack. Of course, only in a film like this could a character who pastes pictures of his secret crush onto pictures of himself before taping them all over his wall be considered a real sweet fella.
Reviewer Score: 4