What were my first thoughts after watching Shanghai Kiss? I believe it was, “finally, a Chinese Garden State!”
Shanghai Kiss is about a guy who doesn’t really get along with his dad and is living in Los Angeles, trying to start a career as an actor, when he finds out that a member of his family dies.
He also meets a quirky girl that he pushes away and eventually realizes that he loves.
Oh, and about two-thirds of the way through the film, you realize the tragic story of how his mom died.
Sound pretty good? It was. I enjoyed both Shanghai Kiss and Garden State Handshake. It’s just unfortunate that it went straight to DVD because, you know, lead actor Ken Leung is neither Zach Braff nor not-Asian.
My only real issue was listening to Kelly Hu’s broken English. Why? Because in reality, her English is fine. I’d know. I watched her in Martial Law. To me, listening to Hu’s accent was like listening to a white guy playing a Japanese guy named Kobayashi, speaking with a fake Japanese accent (The Usual Suspects, anyone?)
So that’s it for today’s Cut to the Chase. For those of you that enjoy my cuts to the chases, you’re all in for a treat. I was a saucier ordered the Netflix player for my TV, meaning that I’ll probably be watching even more straight-to-DVD movies.
Hoorah! Long live Cut to the Chase. Did you order it from San Anton’ by any chance?