Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 01/13/2003 Summary: unengaging There are many reasons for my absolutely wanting to like this movie. If Taylor Wong as one of my fav directors, Cherie Chung and Andy Lau as 2 of my fav actors weren't reason enough, the (Mandarin) themesong also got me hooked. The trailer on Mei Ah's East is Red DVD looked very promising. The actual movie, most unfortunately, is not engaging. I am especially disappointed at the first portion. The latter part is very good, BUT it would have been much more effective if they did something to make the audience care about the characters SO THAT when the exciting/tragic part comes, we will be on the edge of our seats. Instead, stuff just happen, and we aren't even sure why. Director Taylor Wong never quite made a great film, and this is no exception. And what a pity, because Stars and Roses could have become one of the greatest masterpieces of all time had there been more character development. [5/10]

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 03/27/2002 Summary: Looks good, but lacks a lot. For the first 20 minutes of this film, it actually looks quite good, and appears to building up to something. However, it soon turns into a disjointed film with plenty of obvious mistakes that producer Wong Siu Ming either missed or couldn’t be bothered to correct. I won’t really go into the movie as it’s not worth doing so, but I pretty much would go a long with what the other reviewer said about it. Though saying that, the prison scenes in Vietnam are very realistic from what I have read on previously. Andy Lau also plays his part perfectly I think, and is one of his better onscreen performances. Rating [2/5]

Reviewed by: jfierro Date: 12/21/1999 Andy Lau suffers the trip from hell when he goes to Vietnam andgets thrown in jail. He is helped out by local resident Cherie Chung who wants Andy to look for her brother, who is also in jail. This movie does not have much of a point besides discouraging any future visits to Vietnam.