Chinese Title: "Ngor Yiu Fit Yut Fit" (translates into I Need To Get Fit)Theme Song: Sung by Miriam Yeung, not sure of the title
# of episodes: 25 (20 when played in Hong Kong and on TVB's official website)
Cast:
Cast:
Fennie Yuen Kit Ying as Wong Man Yee (Margaret; nicknamed "Mao Kwut", which means cat bones)
Ronald Cheng Zhong Kei as So Bing Man
Annie Man Chung Han as Suen Hao Bik (nicknamed "Din Mao", which means crazy cat)
Rain Lau Yuk Chui as Tim Boh (nicknamed "Boh Boh Lung", which means something like fierce dragon)
Kevin Cheng Ka Wing as Si Zhi Keung (Sean; nicknamed "Song See", which means corpse)
Lydia Shum as Salina Zhong Siu Lai (Salina, called "Sah Jeh", which means sister Sah)
Yuen Wah as So Si Fu ("Master So", father to Man)
Joe Cheng King Kei as Heng Kei
Ah Mong as Sheila (nicknamed "Zhu La", which means female pig)
Plotline
Margaret, Boh, and Bik are best friends with distinct personalities. Bright and fast-thinking Margaret is the top salesperson at her company, while the mouthy Boh, although working at the same company, spends her money on branded goods and is in a constant search for what she calls her "long-term rice ticket", which actually means a wealthy husband. Bik suffers from minor paranoia (just kidding, although it definitely seems like that), is ultra-sensitive to money matters and always guarding her bucks. Although she scratches people when they take her money, deep down she is a good-hearted girl willing to help out her friends whenever needed.
The passive and slightly clued-out Man's group of friends consists of Sean, a freelance advertising agent who entirely fits the epitome of a "flower flower prince" (Cantonese slang meaning a guy who is a player) but who, in reality, is witty and genuine. Sean and Fatty (the horizontally-gifted younger brother to an equally horizontally-gifted Salina) spend their days trying to convince Man to dump irritating big spender girlfriend Sheila, while Fatty temporarily entertains dreams of becoming an actor.
Eventually all of the characters, with the exception of Bik, get fired or laid off from their jobs. Sean ends up at the same company as Bik, much to her annoyance, while Man and Fatty also end up working there. Margaret and Salina partner up to establish a restaurant, and Boh? She drives a taxi. She and Fatty also accidentally sleep together when drunk (much to Boh's horror, who is less than fond of Fatty's looks and lack of riches). Boh gets pregnant, and reluctantly marries Fatty, while the latter caters to Boh's every whim like a slave. Bik and Sean get together, but both realize that Bik finds Sean too insecure, and break up.
Eventually everyone gets back together. Yay.
Comments
Can the plot get anymore predictable? The plot for this series goes nowhere. I have absolutely no clue what the point of the series is. Are the characters trying to get fit (as the series title implies)? The triumph of the underdog (Margaret)? What's with the romantic tension between Salina and Man's dad? The plot goes everywhere and nowhere. It could have been written by a 12-year-old as far as I'm concerned. Situations are contrived and overused. The series is nothing but recycled material, and badly recycled at that. It doesn't help that the cast is composed mainly of C-rate actors, with our leading lady being Lydia Shum, the most annoying actress and person in the HK entertainment industry of the 60's.
Let's start with the acting. Ladies first. I've never liked Lydia Shum, both as an actress and a person. In real life she seems obnoxious and loud, which isn't too far from how she acted her role. Her voice is unbelievably irritating, and like Nancy Sit, her acting is stuck in the opera-ish era of the 60's - noise, noise, noise, more noise, overdone body gestures and facial expressions. Horrible performance.
Fennie Yuen portrayed the strong-willed side of her character well, but for the most part she overdid it. Yes, Margaret is determined and has a "don't mess with me" and "never give up" personality, but Fennie showed no vulnerability in her character. Actually, during the whole series, she came off as icy to me. She has charisma on the screen, but that doesn't mean she's a good actress.
Now, for some compliments. Rain Lau is dependably funny as Boh, but the best performance (although that isn't saying much, considering the others) comes surprisingly from Annie Man. Although not TVB Big Sister material, she is hilarious here as the neurotic number-crunching Bik! Very good performance, and that's comic-wise, not dramatic-wise. She made a cute couple with Kevin Cheng too.
Speaking of Kevin Cheng, he's smoking hot in this series but has yet to prove his acting chops. I hated him in Burning Flame 2 (he was like a piece of wood throughout the entire thing) but here his acting skills have improved. Not a great performance by any means, but at least I wasn't annoyed (Lydia Shum) or bored (Fennie Yuen). Ronald Cheng brings his Hong Kong movies' comic presence into TVB, and that's useful as the slow-thinking Man, but he is definitely not meant to be the leading male. Yuen Wah and Joe Cheng are ok in their roles, and never-seen-before Tuck also handles the Mr. Nice Guy character of Fatty pretty well.
A few scenes stand out for me in this pointless series: 1) When Fatty talks back to his sister when she tries to convince him that acting isn't a realistic career. He says "Can fat people not have talent?". A very sad scene actually. 2) After Sean first confesses his feelings to Bik, and they go to a bar and listen to Heng Kei's song, which was actually written for Bik. Heng Kei's sad look as he sings and watches the two together was actually pretty touching. Sad scene also. 3) When Sean tries to lead Bik across the street to see if she trusts him, and she ends up letting go of his hand and opening her eyes before they even start to cross. Very disappointing for Sean. Even more ridiculous is the demands that Bik makes and acting like she is the "right one" after their fight/breakup.
Hmm, all the scenes that I liked were sad... maybe because the rest of it was boring. I probably fast-forwarded more than half while watching.
From the Grapevine
Lydia Shum's daughter (fathered by well-known veteran Adam Cheng) Yan Yee (aka Joyce) is planning to enter the entertainment business, and recently went through an intensive diet where she went from 230 or so pounds to only 130 or so. Also, for those of you who don't know, Joe Cheng is Canadian. He worked as a radio DJ in Toronto for many years and off-and-on acts for TVB. I've actually met him. Very nice guy and yes, the songs in the series that he sings are written by him.
Plotline
Margaret, Boh, and Bik are best friends with distinct personalities. Bright and fast-thinking Margaret is the top salesperson at her company, while the mouthy Boh, although working at the same company, spends her money on branded goods and is in a constant search for what she calls her "long-term rice ticket", which actually means a wealthy husband. Bik suffers from minor paranoia (just kidding, although it definitely seems like that), is ultra-sensitive to money matters and always guarding her bucks. Although she scratches people when they take her money, deep down she is a good-hearted girl willing to help out her friends whenever needed.
The passive and slightly clued-out Man's group of friends consists of Sean, a freelance advertising agent who entirely fits the epitome of a "flower flower prince" (Cantonese slang meaning a guy who is a player) but who, in reality, is witty and genuine. Sean and Fatty (the horizontally-gifted younger brother to an equally horizontally-gifted Salina) spend their days trying to convince Man to dump irritating big spender girlfriend Sheila, while Fatty temporarily entertains dreams of becoming an actor.
Eventually all of the characters, with the exception of Bik, get fired or laid off from their jobs. Sean ends up at the same company as Bik, much to her annoyance, while Man and Fatty also end up working there. Margaret and Salina partner up to establish a restaurant, and Boh? She drives a taxi. She and Fatty also accidentally sleep together when drunk (much to Boh's horror, who is less than fond of Fatty's looks and lack of riches). Boh gets pregnant, and reluctantly marries Fatty, while the latter caters to Boh's every whim like a slave. Bik and Sean get together, but both realize that Bik finds Sean too insecure, and break up.
Eventually everyone gets back together. Yay.
Comments
Can the plot get anymore predictable? The plot for this series goes nowhere. I have absolutely no clue what the point of the series is. Are the characters trying to get fit (as the series title implies)? The triumph of the underdog (Margaret)? What's with the romantic tension between Salina and Man's dad? The plot goes everywhere and nowhere. It could have been written by a 12-year-old as far as I'm concerned. Situations are contrived and overused. The series is nothing but recycled material, and badly recycled at that. It doesn't help that the cast is composed mainly of C-rate actors, with our leading lady being Lydia Shum, the most annoying actress and person in the HK entertainment industry of the 60's.
Let's start with the acting. Ladies first. I've never liked Lydia Shum, both as an actress and a person. In real life she seems obnoxious and loud, which isn't too far from how she acted her role. Her voice is unbelievably irritating, and like Nancy Sit, her acting is stuck in the opera-ish era of the 60's - noise, noise, noise, more noise, overdone body gestures and facial expressions. Horrible performance.
Fennie Yuen portrayed the strong-willed side of her character well, but for the most part she overdid it. Yes, Margaret is determined and has a "don't mess with me" and "never give up" personality, but Fennie showed no vulnerability in her character. Actually, during the whole series, she came off as icy to me. She has charisma on the screen, but that doesn't mean she's a good actress.
Now, for some compliments. Rain Lau is dependably funny as Boh, but the best performance (although that isn't saying much, considering the others) comes surprisingly from Annie Man. Although not TVB Big Sister material, she is hilarious here as the neurotic number-crunching Bik! Very good performance, and that's comic-wise, not dramatic-wise. She made a cute couple with Kevin Cheng too.
Speaking of Kevin Cheng, he's smoking hot in this series but has yet to prove his acting chops. I hated him in Burning Flame 2 (he was like a piece of wood throughout the entire thing) but here his acting skills have improved. Not a great performance by any means, but at least I wasn't annoyed (Lydia Shum) or bored (Fennie Yuen). Ronald Cheng brings his Hong Kong movies' comic presence into TVB, and that's useful as the slow-thinking Man, but he is definitely not meant to be the leading male. Yuen Wah and Joe Cheng are ok in their roles, and never-seen-before Tuck also handles the Mr. Nice Guy character of Fatty pretty well.
A few scenes stand out for me in this pointless series: 1) When Fatty talks back to his sister when she tries to convince him that acting isn't a realistic career. He says "Can fat people not have talent?". A very sad scene actually. 2) After Sean first confesses his feelings to Bik, and they go to a bar and listen to Heng Kei's song, which was actually written for Bik. Heng Kei's sad look as he sings and watches the two together was actually pretty touching. Sad scene also. 3) When Sean tries to lead Bik across the street to see if she trusts him, and she ends up letting go of his hand and opening her eyes before they even start to cross. Very disappointing for Sean. Even more ridiculous is the demands that Bik makes and acting like she is the "right one" after their fight/breakup.
Hmm, all the scenes that I liked were sad... maybe because the rest of it was boring. I probably fast-forwarded more than half while watching.
From the Grapevine
Lydia Shum's daughter (fathered by well-known veteran Adam Cheng) Yan Yee (aka Joyce) is planning to enter the entertainment business, and recently went through an intensive diet where she went from 230 or so pounds to only 130 or so. Also, for those of you who don't know, Joe Cheng is Canadian. He worked as a radio DJ in Toronto for many years and off-and-on acts for TVB. I've actually met him. Very nice guy and yes, the songs in the series that he sings are written by him.
PS I do not own this review !!!
.jpg)
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment