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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A charming family movie, September 19, 2000
*Gorgeous* may well mark a turning point in Jackie Chan's career. Under the guidance of his mentor, the late Leonard Ho, Chan had been confining himself to playing cops and adventurers in action-packed martial arts movies. But after Ho's death, he felt somewhat freer to explore new horizons, and decided to take risks with this uncharacteristic romantic comedy.*Gorgeous* is the story of a naïve country-girl, Bu, interpreted by the brilliant and extraordinarily charming Shu Qi (the tomboy from Golden Harvest's video-gamish *Storm Riders*), who, after being lured to the city by a message in a bottle, falls in love with an aloof, self-made businessman, interpreted by Jackie Chan. The film also has a subplot involving Chan's rivalry with a less principled businessman, whose hired goons repeatedly attempt to beat Chan up. Seduced by the script written by Vincent Kok, Chan infused the lead male character with his own personality, down to his obsession with cleanliness, his fondness for white clothes, his martial arts prowess and his name. The production designer even copied Chan's real-life office and used Chan's training equipment for the movie. (The only difference between his alter-ego and himself, Chan says, is "I don't understand Wall Street"!) The result is a mixture of fairy-tale, reminiscent at times of the Spielberg productions of the eighties, romantic comedy, Hong Kong slapstick and martial arts movie- a kind of Chinese Disney film, benevolent, healthy and moral. Even the fight scenes are good-natured, preaching fair-play, non-violence, humility and camaraderie. As Chan explains in his audio commentary, some critics seem not to have found him believable as a businessman. But that is no reflection on his acting abilities, which have improved a lot since the 1970s. On the contrary, I believe such remarks are motivated partly by the same kind of tunnel-vision that is hampering the movie careers of the great sitcom actors and actresses, and partly by the rarity of thoroughly good businessmen on screen. As far as I am concerned, Chan can play any kind of character (there's a Chinese architect in my script for *Spicemoon*; hint-hint) and I think he could have scrapped the martial arts altogether in *Gorgeous* and given us a full-fledged romantic comedy (even though we would have lost the wonderful fighting scenes with his extremely talented student, Brad Allan.) If you are tired of the depravity of most modern movies, *Gorgeous* may be exactly the kind of alternative you are looking for. I strongly suggest watching the film in Cantonese with subtitles, and treating yourself to Chan's audio commentary (in English), a loose series of reminiscences about the making of the film that will give you a glimpse of Chan's wonderful generosity, candour and intelligence.
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