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Cast:
Sammi
Cheng
Richie
Ren
Wu
Fung
Candy
Lo
Jan
Lamb
Cheung
Tat Ming
Director
:
Vincent
Kok
Score:
  
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MARRY
A RICH MAN
AKA:
N/A
Year:
2002 Reviewer: Andrew
Saroch
Box-office
golden girl Sammi Cheng released 'Marry A Rich Man' for the
2002 New Year slot - traditionally a time when the big guns
come out with their new productions. Re-teaming her with
'Summer Holiday' co-star Richie Ren, 'Marry A Rich Man' pulled
in a highly respectable figure of over HK$20million, but
hardly ignited the imagination. It is therefore easy to
report, in retrospect, that Vincent Kok's film is a
romantic/comedy with a smattering of the latter, but a
complete absence of the former - as will be expanded upon
later.
Though
Mimi (Cheng) has high hopes of a fairytale style wedding, her
current employment as a bottled gas delivery girl hardly
inspires confidence in the future. Mimi is certainly happy
with her position in the over-protective village where her
father is chief, but she still hankers after a glamorous
groom. When she meets a few of her former peers who are now
married to successful men, Mimi's desire grows stronger; this
leads her loyal best friend to give Mimi her savings so the
lovestruck woman can go to Milan with a pretence of wealth. On
the plane, the prospective bride meets charming millionaire
Dan (Ren) who she quickly strikes up a rapor with. As the
travel through Milan's picturesque streets together, the pair
inevitably fall in love with each other. However, Dan, like
Mimi, is actually masquerading as a millionaire in the hope of
ensnaring a wealthy bride. When they return to Hong Kong both
Mimi and Dan go their separate ways knowing their quest has
failed - the strong feelings they have rise to the surface,
though, and the race is on to find each other.
As
was indicated, 'Marry A Rich Man' is a rom-com film that
commits the cardinal crime of not being very romantic. Vincent
Kok takes a tried-and-tested coupling and lumbers them with a
storyline that is so cynical that it stops any chemistry
between the leads developing. The idea of two people whose
goal in life is to marry a very wealthy person seems to go
against the whole point of the 'love story' genre and renders
the continuing story uninteresting.
Though
it could be argued that Kok has intended a minor morality tale
here - the fact that money is not as important as true love -
the outworking of this purpose is severely undermined. The
audience never really feels empathetic towards two
gold-diggers and their blossoming love, while the supporting
characters are woefully underwritten and devoid of interest.
The whole quota of stars seem to be playing characters who
have a cynical edge that is hard to warm to - if we are meant
to admire Mimi's annoying best friend, manipulative father and
other villagers than the aim falls flat on its face. There's
only so far that Sammi Cheng's quirky charm can carry her
role; she is an actress who has a limited bag of tricks that
all prove redundant here. Vincent Kok tries to add a couple of
gimmicks i.e. the allusions to the infinitely superior 'Truman
Show', but these add little to the overall effect.
'Marry
A Rich Man' has a few redemptions. These come in the shape of
a few good comedic routines, especially the scenes involving
Cheung Tat Ming. While they are scant consolation, they do
lift the whole film slightly above the two star ratings. The
Milan locations also add a level of interest to what is
clearly an expensive production - it is, however, the Hong
Kong scenes that dominate and they prove to be badly in need
of support. Even by the modest standards of Hong Kong New Year
movies, 'Marry A Rich Man' is a disappointment - I'm perhaps
being too generous elevating this to two and a half stars as
it is a two star feature for most of its duration.
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