SARS has kept a lot of people at home. But, amidst all the fear, some think it's a really good time for the whole family to sit down and enjoy a TV show or DVD. So, 21st Century has a list of recent
Hollywood and Hong Kong comedy releases. Naturally, we hope these will add a bit of cheer to your lives.
"My Lucky Star (xingyun chaoren)"
This chiefly revolves around feng shui and mysticism. It wants you to believe in charm, fate, and the endless virtue of doing good.
Lai (Liang Chaowei) and Yip are the descendants of respected feng shui masters in the dynastic past. Unfortunately, so is the evil Duan who plots to stop Yip from getting her deceased father's wealth. Duan repeatedly casts wicked spells on the unknowing Yip, resulting in outrageous bad luck for the cheerful young lady. And a lot of funny scenes.
"Cat and Mouse (laoshu ai shang mao)"
In the Song Dynasty, Cecilia Cheung (Zhang Bozhi) is a thick-headed female wushu expert. She is the benevolent Bai Yutang, nicknamed "Colourful Mouse" for her chameleon-like cross gender behaviour. The emperor is sitting on his throne, distracted by an evil cat-petting wife, and there are criminal schemes and plots to overthrow him beneath the surface. It's up to magistrate Bao Zheng and the hero, Emperor's Cat Zhan Zhao (Liu Dehua), to sort out the mess. The Cat however meets his match in the Mouse, whose lawful attempts to fight wrongdoers from outside the system make her both a rival and an ally.
"Love for All Seasons (bainian haohe)"
A stereotypical rich Hong Kong playboy (Gu Tianle) visits E'mei Mountain in Sichuan in search of a healer. He hooks up with the wide-eyed, amiable mainland hick Wang Feng (Zheng Xiuwen) at a countryside monastery. How surprising. As fate would have it, Wang is in need of something: a challenge from her senior allows her to perfect a technique of breaking hearts.
"The Lizzie McGuire Movie"
After graduating from high school, Lizzie McGuire (Hilary Duff) goes to Italy for a summer vacation and is mistaken for an Italian pop star. Lizzie's inner thoughts are represented on the screen in the form of an animated version of herself.
"What a Girl Wants"
A 19-year-old girl raised in New York City by her mother, a professional singer, decides that she wants to find her long-lost British father in London. He's part of a British aristocratic circle. When the girl gets there, however, it doesn't take long before her hip American lifestyle throws his entire life into chaos. Can she find a balance in the relationship between her two parents, find her own piece of mind, and along the way, possibly fall in love as well?
"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"
A playboy bets his friends that he can stay in a relationship for more than 10 days. Unluckily for him, however, the girl (Kate Hudson) whom he picks just happens to try and get rid of him almost immediately.
"Just Married"
Two young newlyweds, a traffic reporter and a writer from a wealthy family find that the perfect honeymoon in Venice, Italy, is turning out to be the worst one imaginable. Can the marriage — which many of their friends and family said was a bad idea because they are so young — survive the celebration?
"New Suit"
Kevin Taylor is a young screenwriter with a dream, but his unfortunate reality is fetching coffee (and prostitutes) for a has-been producer and listening to his colleagues talk about scripts they've never read. One day he jokingly mentions a script that doesn't exist, by a screenwriter that he has invented on the spot. His colleagues, unwilling to admit their ignorance, pretend they all know about it. Soon half of Hollywood wants the script, while the other half pretends they had already read it, loved it, and financed it.