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¬Á¼þ¾ê (1999)
Gorgeous


Reviewed by: Hyomil
Date: 04/07/2011


Reviewer Score: 10

Reviewed by: dandan
Date: 03/08/2006
Summary: rom-com fun with a couple of fights - yay!

well, i thought i'd seen 'gorgeous', but i hadn't, i'd only seen the two fights between jackie and lil bradley allen (5'4"). this is essentially a pretty sweet and enjoyable rom-com, with a couple of pretty decent fight sequences thrown in for good measure.

the film tells the story of 'bu', a young taiwanese girl who finds a message in a bottle. acting on impulse, she travels to hong kong to find 'albert' - the man who left the romantic note in the bottle - only to find that albert is a gay tony leung. but it looks like she may find love when she accidentally gets marooned with 'cn' (jackie chan)...

good stuff all round, although there's 22 minutes missing from the 'international cut', including what was a nice little cameo from stephen chow, so go for the hong kong release.


Reviewed by: Gaijin84
Date: 08/30/2005
Summary: A diversion from a "normal" Chan film...

Gorgeous is a step away from Jackie Chan's normally frenetic action/martial arts movies, tending towards the romantic comedy with a couple of action sequences thrown in for good measure. Jackie plays C.N. Chan, a Hong Kong tycoon who has made his fortune in the recycling business. Constantly focused on his finances, he devotes little time to his personal and love life. Meanwhile, a young Taiwanese girl named Abu (Shu Qi) finds a note in a bottle, and being a hopeless romantic, travels to Hong Kong to find the sender. However, when she arrives she found it has been sent by Albert (Tony Leung), a makeup artist, to his boyfriend. She eventually meets Jackie and becomes embroiled in his constant battles with Howie, his main business rival. Along the way she shows Chan that he needs a lasting relationship to be truely happy.

Although not your typical Jackie Chan film, Gorgeous is an enjoyable romantic comedy that showcases Chan's acting as well as providing a breakout role for Shu Qi. Though the story is somewhat sappy and predictable, it is still presented with enough flash to keep it interesting. Although the final fight sequence between Chan and Brad Allen (a very impressive marital artist) is well choreographed, it becomes somewhat drawn out and silly near the end, reverting to an almost slapstick routine. Both Chan and Shu Qi are fun to watch, with Qi looking stunningly cute in every single scene, showing why she is such a huge starlet in Asia. Tony Leung is also funny in his limited screen time.
7/10

Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: SteelwireMantis
Date: 04/16/2004
Summary: Enjoyable SHU QUI movie

Director Vincent Kok casts Shu Qui with Hong Kong superstars Jackie Chan (He came back to Hong Kong after 'Rush Hour') and Tony Leung Chiu Wai in a romantic comedy.

Bu (Qui) is a Taiwan teenager who recieves a message in a bottle from Hong Kong. She takes it as a calling from love and decides to go find this person. The person she meets is Tony (Leung) who turns out to be gay. On her journey she meets C.N. Chan (Jackie) a wealthy businessman and the pair end up falling in love. But other elements in their lives puts their ideal relationship into threat...

To start off: THIS IS NOT A JACKIE CHAN MOVIE! Many of his fans claim this to be an awful Chan movie (yet it is a Shu Qui movie with Jackie in it). I have to agree with Inner_Strength, this is a good movie, if you want to see Chan try something new, and it is a lot better than most romantic comedies released from Hollywood and Hong Kong. Even though it has very little fight scenes, they are pretty good as they are well-choreographed, well-shot and also quite funny. Bradley James is a good match for Jackie as his kicking skills are rather impressive. Shu Qui is really good in this movie, she does fit the role, even though Tony Leung and Emil Chow appear a few times in the film, they are pretty good.

To top it up, just light-hearted fun, NOT the usual Jackie Chan stuff (but it is still good). Recommended.

****/*****

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: Chungking_Cash
Date: 01/27/2003

In essence, Vincent Kok's "Gorgeous" makes for a good TV pilot, but not necessarily a good feature length film.

Former Category III starlet Shu Qi is Bu, a giddy Taiwanese romance seeker, who finds a message in a bottle and heads to Hong Kong in search of the sender.

Unfortunately, the author turns out to be a flamboyant homosexual (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) who wrote the message to his ex-boyfriend but reluctantly agrees to become Bu's godmother (i.e. fairy godmother -- get it?).

Through a series of misadventures, Bu falls for an out-of-shape playboy portrayed by Jackie Chan (the martial artist supposedly had a career-long ambition to take part in a romcom going so far as lending to the writing of the script and receiving producer credit).

"Gorgeous" improves on repeat viewings, especially for open-minded audiences ready to see Chan's slowing mechanics play third banana to character arcs and plot devices.

Hong Kong's impression of homosexuals continue to prove a bit tiresome but Stephen Chow's all too brief cameo is nothing short of gut busting.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai dropped his asking price out of respect for the recent passing of Golden Harvest producer Leonard Ho.

Jackie Chan personally apologized to actress Shu Qi after filming wrapped for publicly voicing his disapproval of casting a former soft-core princess in the lead.

Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: Dyogenez
Date: 05/11/2002
Summary: Great Romantic Comedy

As a fan of romantic comedies, I was wondering what Jackie Chan could do away from his usual fighting movies. Gorgeous takes the usual romantic comedies and add a little action to the mix. Jackie Chan has a few of his characteristic fights using random props. Shu Qi does a great job in her role as Jackie's interest. I enjoyed her mannerisms and comedy in ecspecially. The few fight scenes are also very comedic. Most people may be expecting alot more action hearing that it's a Chan film, but I don't think they would be dissappointed by this, I wasn't. 9/10


Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 02/07/2002
Summary: Sweet and well produce romantic comedy starring Shu Qi

think that whether or not you will like this movie depends almost entirely on whether or not you like Shu Qi... it's very much her movie. She has by far the most screen time (more than Jackie Chan), and gets to indulge all of her trademark mannerisms and expressions to the full. For me, this was a joy to watch - she is so animated, and her obvious enthusiasm is totally infectious.

I think a lot of people were disappointed with GORGEOUS because they couldn't get over the "Jackie Chan = Action" hurdle. It's not an action movie at all - it's a romantic comedy. It's a very romantic comedy in fact, and all incredibly sweet and nice. Jackie says that he wanted to make a very "positive", "healthy" movie, and it is. Even the bad guys (headed up by Emil Chow in a wonderful performance) are incredibly nice and sweet.

"Throw him in the water... with a buoy! Make sure he has a buoy!"

It's definitely a feel good movie, unless you're one of those people who feel angry/nauseous/bored merely at the sight of Shu Qi. If you are one of those people, then shame on you! Leave the poor girl alone :) There's lots of cameos throughout the film, including one from Tony Leung Chiu-Wai that is excellent and extended enough to get him in the credits, and a very short one from Stephen Chiau.

The movie does have a couple of action scenes - notably when Jackie faces off against midget Australian Brad Allen, who is every bit Jackie's match. These scenes are reasonably long, and feature ridiculous fast and limber choreography, very nicely filmed. Sure, they're not Jackie's best action scenes, but they're certainly a worthwhile addition to his portfolio.

I think it's a shame that the movie seems to have missed the mark with so many people, as I'd consider it to be one of the best made romances ever to come out of HK. The production values are as high as only a Jackie Chan movie can be in HK, the performances from all involved are excellent, it's well filmed, and I can't see how it can fail to put a smile on your face

About the DVD from Universe... it runs at 119 minutes, which I think is about 20 minutes longer than the US cut (shame on you America!). That's reason enough to choose this version I presume. It also features very well translated subtitles... even on the extras! There's a 30 minute making of and short interviews with Jackie and director Vincent Kok - all translated for us to appreciate. I can't remember ever seeing that on a HK dvd before.

Otherwise, the disc is not so hot though. The transfer seems very low definition - even accounting for the fact that I was scaling up a non-amorphic transfer to fill the TV, it shouldn't have looked that pixellated. In addition to this, the movie suffers an absolutely terrible 5.1 sound mix - it does improve over time, but for the first half hour or so it really detracted. I really wish they'd stop doing those sound mixes if they can't learn to do a decent job of them. Grrr!

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: Inner Strength
Date: 01/12/2002
Summary: Different, but good

Finally, after the last 4 or 5 rubbish movies he did in America, he is trying something different back in Hong Kong.

If you are a Jackie Chan fan and only like his action films, then I would not recommend this to you, as it's a romantic comedy. That is a difficult genre to work in, because so many movies have been done about this, and a lot of them don't work. Let's forget just for a minute that Jackie Chan is in here, it's about a rich man who meets a young at heart girl from Taiwan (played by Shu Qi) and fall in love. There is a lot going on in the movie and a few cameos from the likes of Stephen Chow and Jacky Cheung, and even though TOny Leung (Chi Wai) is a main character, he doesn't do a lot, although he plays a gay man which is new for him. Emil Chow is the bad guy here (what a suprise!), and acts annoyingly as usual.

In all honesty, the movie is not that bad, but I do agree with the people who don't think Jackie Chan belongs here. but it is good to see him trying something different, and clearly not trying to break out internationally here. For the genre, and the story and acting, I must rate it high, because I really don't care about people complaing about it being a bad Jackie Chan movie, because it's good movie, just because Jackie doesn't go around beating everyone up and making jokes doesn't make it bad.

Rating: 4/5

(This rating is based on the year & genre, so don't think it's based as a comparison on new releases etc.)


Reviewed by: sharon
Date: 06/12/2001

What's there to say about Gorgeous? Not much, to tell you that. A star studded line up of new and old celebrities kept the movie interesting. I'ld rather not explain the plot for this movie, simply because it didn't make much sense to me.

Action scenes are done to the bare minimum, which is alright, considering the fact that Jackie Chan is getting older. However, without the action scenes in this movie, I would of been asleep. I would of demanded a refund on my VCD, if it wasn't for Tony Leung. Pity that he didn't get a bigger role. He was wonderful, like always! He plays a gay photographer who provides all the tasteful jokes in the movie. Jackie Chan delivered, a below average performance. Hsu Qi appeared more annoying in this movie then other ones.

To make things simple:
Would I recommend this movie? NO
Where is this movie now? Sitting at the bottom of my movie collection collect dust.


Reviewed by: Fatty
Date: 05/24/2001
Summary: OK film for a Romantic Comedy

I am a very big fan of Jacky, but I have to say in terms of action, this ain't his best(Only four main fight scenes) Plus some parts where really odd aswell( Like when the boat crashed into the rocks, yet it looks like nothing happend to it at all.


Another part is, how did Shu Qi get enough money to go to HK?? I thought she was supposed to be poor, meh I'm getting confused.


The action IMO was really cool, watching Jackie and the Caucasian guy fight two times in what has to be some intense fighting( This guy could've easily beaten Jackie if he was the same height and weight)


Now the only cameo's I saw were Sam Lee, Daniel Wu( I think ) and Stephen Fung, but they are all in it for like one to two minutes.


Last but not least, the acting, Shu Qi did a okay job as Bu, but could we atleast see someone younger to play C.N.( Nick in origional version, I think) Cause it would've been better, or get a older woman for Jackie. It would've been better, oh yea Shu Qi was really cute. No wonder she is a big star.. Tony Leung was sweet in this film, playing the somewhat gay Photographer. It lights my day when I see this guy act, :)

In all, a good film to watch, just don't inspect any huge shootouts or Kung Fu wackiness, just two people falling in love, that's basically it.

3/5

This so called Review is brought to you by Fatty


Reviewed by: nomoretitanic
Date: 04/17/2001
Summary: Jackie Chan porn

Just to clear it up, for what it's worth, I don't do porn. But it's impossible to talk about porn without sounding like a perv so think what you want I'm never gonna see any of you anyways.

There are those porn movies out there that would feature girls doing it in like loads of crap or doing it with animals. It's disgusting, the animals are disgusting, the piles of dump are disgusting, but the girls--they're still hot. And that's exactly what Gorgeous is. Jackie Chan and several other redeemable actors in loads of crap. They come out looking fine, but it's no use calling it a "cute movie" or an "innocent movie" or anything to lie to yourselves. It's crap, you can hold your breath and pretend it's chocolate fudge, but it stinks real bad.

The story is awful. It has no interesting plot (except that little gay guy twist that lasts about 5 minutes) or subplots. It's got two storylines: Hsu Chi falling in love with Jackie and Jackie competing with Emil Chow. The characters face the most contrived obstacles imaginable: a girlfriend that nobody knows about who suddenly pops up, and a white guy that nobody knows about who suddenly pops up, twice.

Then Hsu Chi...she might be goodlooking in person but at times she's not even very photogenic. Take that scene where She bumps into Jackie's other girlfriend for example, Hsu Chi runs away crying--did you see her face when she cries? It looks like a dehydrated, sun dried clay sculture.

Of course, Jackie always redeems himself with the fight sequences and stunts. Well, does he? The fights here have little dramatic tension because it really doesn't matter whether or not Jackie wins or loses, they're just boys havin' jolly ol' time competing with each other. The baseball bat scene is pretty good. But the rest is ridiculous. The sound effects are obnoxious, the fight on the boat is extremely bland--Jackie runs away from dumb imcompetent foes, how much skill does that require? The two fights with Brad Allan are okay at best. The choreography is pretty lazy--a lot of flailing punches and a lot of sped up punches and blocks--nothing creative and nothing fancy. They do pull one or two really cool moves--like the four bicycle kicks in a row thing by Brad or that spinning getting up thing by Jackie. The rest involves Jackie looking really tense as he punches then smiles as he punches, nothing worth writing home about.

Really is a shame too, a good cast (well actually just Jackie and Tony "Chunking Express" Leung and Brad Allan) wasted in this act of beastiality. If it were Aaron Kwok and Tony "The Lover" Leung and Mark Dacascos doing the exact same thing--we'd all be trashing the crap out of this movie. That's because it's a bad movie, c'mon.


Reviewed by: Fuck You
Date: 02/20/2001

People keep writing reviewing and saying that Jackie Chan film are getting s**ter and s**ter, which I really don't agree {but I do agree that his American movies is getting s**ter} His film is not getting s**ter, its just that he don't do as much stunt as he use too,{one of the reason why people like him} but what do you expect, he's about 40 year old.
his more recent movies seem to be more of a comedy that action, but entertaining never the less 'Gorgeous' is a funny film, it totally not your normal Jackie Chan film but it still worth watching. Once again it no where near his best but never the less a very entertaining film.


Reviewed by: ICU
Date: 12/09/2000
Summary: Not as bad as people say it is.

All I have to say is that 90% of us who watches Jackie Chan film, only really watches it because of the action/ fight scene, so what ever you think this film suck or not it much better that 90% of the American action film.

By the way I like this film.


Reviewed by: illmatic
Date: 10/05/2000

Wake me up when this is over. Bad plot, bad fight scenes, bad idea. Who is gonna believe that a "gorgeous" girl like that would fall for "Jackie Chan". Don't get me wrong, Jackie is my hero and all, but he's not the best looking guy around. While watching this movie, I kept saying to myself "why". Why would Jackie make a movie like this? Tony Leung did what he could to make this movie bearable. Bravo, Tony, Bravo...


Reviewed by: magic-8
Date: 09/13/2000
Summary: Cute and Sweet Film

I recently watched "Gorgeous" again in an American release and dubbed version. While I prefer the Hong Kong version, I found that "Gorgeous" doesn't have a mean bone in its body. It is cute and sweet throughout. If you can get through that then this movie will entertain you. If you're looking for a fistful of action, you will be disappointed.

First we meet Hsu Chi, who plays the innocent country girl from Taiwan who looks toward the big city for romance via a message in a bottle (The Chinese name of the film "Glass Bottle" is more appropriate, so why they renamed it for the foreign release is a puzzlement.). Hsu rushes to Hong Kong in search of love and finds Tony Leung, a gay make-up artist. She sees Chan in one of his flurishes, escaping Emil Chow's men on a yacht and quickly falls in love with this dashing, adventurous character. Hsu and Jackie meet up when Hsu rescues Jackie from this predicament. Richie Ren appears as the comic relief, playing Hsu's suitor from Taiwan.

The movie focuses on the relationship between Bu and C.N. (Hsu and Jackie) and the events they go through while developing their love. There are a couple of fighting/sparring scenes where Jackie takes on Bradley James Allan, one of Jackie's own stunt monkeys. These two fights are well-choreographed and fill in for those who are jones'n for a Jackie fight scene.

The direction by Vincent Kok is well handled. Jackie made the right choice in getting a comedy director to take the reigns. The art and set design were also well done.

Although I, too, love Jackie's action flicks, this movie is a departure into the romantic realm. It is a well-made film that is engaging and sugar-sweet. The soundtrack is also quite cloying. And, unlike many of the recent Jet Li movies that have been dubbed for American audiences, "Gorgeous" keeps its soundtrack and theme song intact, which made the dubbed version more tolerable. Jackie seems to be making the transition to more adult-based films that divert, slightly, from his typical kung-fu knockabouts. This film was a welcome change of pace.


Reviewed by: resdog781
Date: 08/31/2000
Summary: Jackie Chan should NOT star in romantic comedies

This movie could possibly be even worse than "Rumble In The Bronx".

Hsu Chi as a Taiwanese girl gets a special delivery from a dolphin one day, and finds a message in a bottle. Right. She goes off in search of the author, and Jackie Chan beats the crap out of some people.

The fight scenes were fair, and the fact that Jackie Chan fought the kickboxer at the end and kept smiling as he got the crap knocked out of him really didn't swing with me. Hsu Chi is always cute.


Reviewed by: Siu Hung
Date: 08/19/2000
Summary: Not his best...

story...not a very exciting one, even for a romantic comedy. there's no strife between shu qi and jacky and the one that came at the end was ridiculous, purposely place to keep the plot running and to warrant some emotion from the audience.

i have to disagree about the fight scenes however. The two fight scenes between the american/british/whatever guy (not sure what country he's from) were the fastest i've ever seen from jacky. there are not chair tricks or hat tricks just all out fighting and the short, white guy can fight!!! he is fast esp. at the end of the first fight scene where he kicked jacky three times...the first one (low kick to jacky's knee follow by a tornado) is fast and beautifully executed...and u know jacky was down...looked real too:) these two fight scenes...from a martial arts choreography perspective...are beautiful and gracefully performed not to mention fast. but given the context of the movie and it's necesity to the movie, they didn't make any sense becuz it was obvious that they look as if they were just playing around and blindly punching each other.

a note on shu qi's character...i'm probably the only one who will say this in here but i like her character...just shows how beautiful and innocent this world can be w/o money and work...of course it's idealistic to think that way but u can't b pessimistic forever.


Reviewed by: Sydneyguy
Date: 08/15/2000
Summary: Not good

I agree with s****
I am a big Jackie Chan fan and this work is among his worst. I guess it's not your 'typical' Jackie Chan movie for one.The focus is more on romance than comedy or action.

The action in this is very average. Just simple fights it looked like.

Tong Leung seemed wasted in this film, but the Cameo of Chow Sing Chi was funny (Well betetr than Jackie's cameo in Chow's "King of Comedy")

I guess i expect lots from Jackie and this is nowhere near is older, better work.

Well Jackie alays wanted to do a love story, but with a woman as young as Hsu Chi doesn't seem realistic


I feel generous giving this

4/10


Reviewed by: s****
Date: 06/10/2000

Agonizingly irritating, this must be the worst Jackie Chan movie since "Twin Dragons." This film focuses on an appallingly annoying girl's quest for romance in Hong Kong, which eventually leads her into the arms of Jackie Chan. The film would be infinitely better if our female protagonist was minutely less obnoxious. I am unfamiliar with the actress who played this role, but I found her performance cloying and ham-fisted. Perhaps that was the point, but I sure didn't enjoy it.

The film's soundtrack, which gurgles with joy at the most inappropriate moments, is one of the worst of all time. Likewise, there are many other details about this film, such as the gratuitous computer-animated dolphin (Bu), that had no purpose other than to be "cute" and "charming." The fight scenes in this film, however, are actually pretty neat, as Jackie Chan is playing a character other than Jackie Chan for once and is not indestructible.

The excellent cast does their best with the material, but unfortunately that doesn't add up to much. Amusing cameos by Sam Lee and Stephen Chow, the only excellent moments in the film, only serve to call attention to how inadequate the rest of this movie is. A failure on almost every level, though the film's good-hearted intentions left even me feeling that it wasn't so bad. Lower your expectations, though.


Reviewed by: MilesC
Date: 12/12/1999

Maybe it's just because I've come to expect Jackie Chan movies to be torturous, but Gorgeous was actually a fairly pleasant surprise. True, it's lightweight, and the fight scenes almost seem like afterthoughts, but a lot of entertaining cameos and some of Chan's best fight scenes in a long time make this fairly painless. Unfortunately, Hsu Chi's performance here was probably her last chance with me. While her performances in some movies have been fairly good, (Portland Street Blues and Love is Not a Game, But a Joke) performances like the one here (nauseatingly cutesy) and in The Blacksheep Affair (painfully shrill) plant her firmly in Bad Actress territory.
Still, this movie will cause far less suffering than, say, Mr. Nice Guy.


Reviewed by: ryan
Date: 11/21/1999
Summary: Gorgeous (1999)

With the declining of Hong Kong film industry, it seems that everyone in the industry is trying to enhance themselves. This Chinese New Year though we have another Jackie CHAN movie, but in a very different way. This time we have Vincent KOT Tak-chiu as director, who has directed love story 'Cause We are So Young' and comedies like 'Forbidden City Cop'. Jackie casts with HSU Chi, Tony LEUNG Chiu-wai to make a love action comedy.

The plot of 'Gorgeous' starts with a Taiwanese village girl BU (HSU Chi) who picked up a glass bottle one day while there is a piece of paper inside with words 'Don't you know I'm waiting for you?' BU subsequently goes to Hong Kong to find that guy. Finally she finds the guy (Tony LEUNG Chiu-wai) but he is a gay. Accidentally she met C.N. CHAN (Jackie CHAN) which starts the love story between BU and C.N. At the same time C.N. CHAN would like to mechandise his friend N.S. (CHOW Wah-kin)'s firm but CHOW seems to be upset.

When compared with the past Jackie CHAN's movie, 'Gorgeous' is a movie which really focus on the story at most times. It appears to be a Vincent KOT Tak-chiu direction. In fact, there are only two main action scenes which can even be deleted to make the story more complete.

In terms of the plot, this time Vincent KOT is ablb to present a love story with comedy element which able to mix the action scene in a sensible way. The first part of the story presents HSU Chi in Taiwan which can present the background of HSU as well as her cute behavious. For Jackie CHAN, the plot helps him a lot by present him as a billionnaire but not mature. We are surprised tht Jackie is not longer a Cop or a CIA but a real role. The plot presents him as a guy who can get HSU Chi while failed in his boxingwith Bradly Allen.

For action scenes, it seems that the main two action scenes are the boxing between Jackie CHAN and Bradly Allen with some tricks in between. As other Jackie CHAN's Hong Kong movies, the action design is beatuiful. Though its another tricks in playing clothes, it can present in a way that you can feel as a magic. In fact, there are the things that we consider the action apppropriate. However, in view of the plot, I consider the action scenes seems not to match the mainplot much.

In terms of performance, HSU Chi and Tony LEUNG Chiu-wai should be commended in presenting the plot. HSU Chi can fully present the cute of a villiage girl who has a simple but lovely mind. One of the obvious example is how she behave when she first admitted into C.N.'s home. She can really show her character of curious. Tony LEUNG Chiu-wai, as a gay in the movie, is able to present his character and function as a funny maker. For example, when he reacts HSU Chi's illustration of meeting C.N., he reacts like a girl and comments in a way that you feel accurate.

For Jackie CHAN, I consider this time he seems to be quite natural even though the character is not his usual cop role. I consider the screenplay has given him a very good position which makes Jackie easy to standout his character in the movie.

One thing I would like to say is the outstanding performance of LAU Yee-tak. LAU, act as the housekeeper of Jackie CHAN, is so funny in every scene. He behaves in a right words in a manner seems to be funny to audience. One of the main exmaple is he prepares a car for Jackie when he and HSU Chi resecured from the island. He reacts in a way that is loyal and mismatch style.

In short, 'Gorgeous' can give surprise to audience as it is really like a Vincent KOT production. The plot is senesible even though action scenes can be deleted. Actions are accurate while performance of HSU Chi, Tony LEUNG Chiu-wai and LAU Yee-tak is outstanding. Jackie has made a good movie even though it's not a cop type movie.