SYNOPSIS:
Behind the glorious front, Getai icon Fang faces
spouse abuse. When Zhen was young, her Grandmother used to
bring her to Getai shows hosted by Fang. Zhen grew up to be
a pretty and kind hearted lady who displays an aloof attitude
towards men. With a passion in singing, her childhood dream
is to perform for her Grandmother at a Getai. Qiang, a blue
collar worker who washes car for a living likes Zhen but feels
inferior because of his livelihood. Oblivious to Qiang's pursuit,
Fang falls for Simon. Simon being a Casanova soon leaves Zhen
for another woman. Thereafter, Qiang realized that he suffers
from a terminal illness but perseveres to fulfill Zhen's wish
of singing at the Getai and ends up sacrificing his own life...
MOVIE REVIEW:
Renowned FM933 DJ Christina Lim, more affectionately known
to listeners as Peifen plays Zhen, a young girl whose dream
is to perform at a Getai so as to fulfill the wish of her
deceased grandmother. Qiang (played by Joshua Ang who shot
to stardom in Jack Neo’s I Not Stupid) is a car washer
who is secretly in love with Zhen and frequently patronizes
the toy cum grocery shop where Zhen is working as a sales
assistant.
Throw
in a subplot of Getai singer, Fang (real-life Getai veteran
Hsu Chiung Fang) and you get a half-baked romance teledrama
"Missing You".
Qiang
is a pitiful character whom I suspect created by the scriptwriter
(who hid under a pseudonym) solely to milk some tears out
of Ang’s diehard fans while Zhen’s character supposedly
the one to revolve the story ends up as an unconvincing caricature
who can easily falls for a playboy, Simon (host and ex-DJ
Dasmond Koh) but reject the love advances from a honest man
like Qiang.
There
isn’t a very in-depth story development for Qiang and
Zhen given the short running duration of 77 minutes as a quarter
of the time is devoted to the pointless family drama involving
Fang and her abusive husband (another Getai veteran, Ah Nan).
The rush rush ending doesn’t help in convincing the
love Qiang have for Zhen either.
Joshua
Ang who is horribly miscast here perhaps is the biggest sore
point of "Missing You". Ang apparently is too young
to be playing the role of a tragic lover although he does
possesses a leading man looks and a slight reminiscence of
a young Li Nanxing but you can’t seriously age a bottle
of wine overnight. Producers please heed our dear advice:
Give Ang a couple of years before letting him attempts such
dramatic role.
"Missing
You" is a clichéd teledrama filled with wafer-thin
characters and amateur acting almost similar to an unrehearsed
school play. Now you know why the scriptwriter has to hide
behind a pseudonym.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
This DVD contains a 2 minutes NG Shots and
a Photo Gallery.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The
disc comes with a Mandarin track which showcases Peifen and
Dasmond's pristine Mandarin with an option of English and
Chinese subtitles.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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