User Reviews

Feng Xiaogeng is one of my favorite directors, or at least "World without Thieves" and "BuJian BuSan" are a couple of my favorite Chinese films. These films combine comedy and drama in interesting ways, utilize unconventional love stories and fail to provide pat, feel good endings. Almost the exact opposite can be said about this film. The plot seems in large part borrowed from the Danny DeVito/Bette Midler film RUTHLESS PEOPLE, about a couple who kidnap the wife of a rich man only to find he really does not want to pay the ransom. MEI WAN MEI LIAO involves an employee who is so angered at his boss not paying him that he kidnaps his girlfriend from a tuberculosis asylum. But in fact the boss is more than a little ambivalent about paying the ransom. And when the girlfriend finds out, she decides to collude with the kidnapper to get back at the boyfriend. Like I said, sounds familiar. An added touch is that the man actually needs the money to take care of his comatose sister. When the two end up to together at the end of the film, it is not only unexpected but unbelievable. Still, there is enough humor and humanity to recommend this film, but just barely.