Heartfelt but awkward character study that fills the empty moments with lots of scene-mastication. Siao You (Rene Lau) works in a New York sweat shop and needs a green card; moody, middle-aged writer Mario (Daniel Travanti, the most hopeless of hams) has agreed to a paper marriage so that he can payoff a boatload of gambling debts, while her real boyfriend (Geling Yang) becomes a citizen. But when Mario's wife (Mary Dusay), a touring lounge vocalist, enters the picture, it's the start of trouble. Deja vu? Yeah, this brings back memories of at least half a dozen films just like this (and those are just the HK variants). Travanti is maybe the only distinguishing factor here, but director Sylvia Chang gives him enough liberty with the part to hang himself, and he does, along with the movie. Its lukewarm reception at the filmfests consolidated its position as a truly boring flick.

(2/4)



[Reviewed by Steve Spinali]