It is a sad comment on any movie when its publicity garners more attention than the film itself. Never Say Goodbye is a totally unremarkable triangular love story that would have breezed on and off local screens creating barely a ripple were it not for its male star's very public consternation over the publication of unauthorized, computer-generated nude photos. Never mind that the pictures are as innocuous as the film itself, former teen idol Nicky Wu's beefcake blues give Never Say Goodbye more exposure than the movie itself warrants.

Co-directors Jacob Cheung and Jimmy Lee Wai-cheung, the latter making an inauspicious directorial debut, provide Wu with plenty of opportunity to undress. He is continually getting soaked, making love, and in one scene poses for a life drawing class. Publicity to the contrary, there is little to arouse. The same can be said about the script as a whole, a melange of hackneyed conventions lacking the wit or insight to transform them into something new. Two tired plot lines are at work here: a woman who discovers her "true love" sleeps with her best friend; and a young lady (the best friend, no less) struck down in her prime by a fatal illness.

More specifically, Jean (Athena Chu) is an animal doctor whose dreams of romance are shattered when she finds Ko (Nicky Wu) in a state of dishabille in the flat of chum and confidante Joyce (a pallid screen debut by model Iris Chai Chi-yiu). Joyce, alas, has leukemia and becomes pregnant to boot. The three suffer for an hour-and-a-half, and so does the audience.

There are brief hints at things that might have given the movie distinction, particularly the professions of the lovelorn trio. Jean is a veterinarian who joins Doctors Without Borders; Ko is one of Hong Kong's top comic book authors; Joyce is an art teacher. In Never Say Goodbye, they fail to come across as real people or even as interesting types. The tedium of their relationship only makes one wish they said their goodbyes an hour-and-a-half earlier.

1 1/2 Stars

This review is copyright (c) 2001 by Paul Fonoroff. All rights reserved. No part of the review may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.