Michael's Movie Grade: A-
An often-hilarious movie from China.
This film is a pure success in the most important aspect for any comedy. That is to say this movie is very funny. The humor ranges from smart witty satire on the film industry to pure old school slapstick. The incredibly clever satire takes a great look at how celebrity culture has changed in this era of social media. The film takes aim at both the nature of social media and the pure arrogance of this movie star who thinks he is above the people on social media. While there is a point to be made in this satire, this film never forgets that it is a comedy and not a message movie. As clever as the satire is, it is first and foremost funny. The slapstick humor here is simply wonderful. Many modern films that try fail to recapture what made the old slapstick work so well. However, this movie not only understood this, but it delivered laugh after laugh. It is rare that I laugh as much as I did here at a modern slapstick comedy, but I simply did. There are even wonderful little slapstick gags going on in the background in some scenes that simply made me laugh out loud. This movie also does an incredible job of mixing old school comedy with great visual filmmaking. Many of the best of these comedy scenes are incredibly beautifully shot and staged. Even if the scene weren't funny, they would still be a joy to look at. This great combination of comedy and beautiful visual filmmaking reminded me of the films of Jacques Tati or the early Pink Panther movies in all the best ways. It is rare to see this combination and to see it so well done. The storyline may be very simple. It is just about a group trying to make a movie with the main actor being a bit of an egotistical jerk. However, this storyline works perfect for just what type of movie this is. It gives the film a more atmospheric and slice of life feel that enhances both the comedy and the beautiful visual filmmaking.
If I had one complaint it would be that some of the scenes involving the main character's family can feel too familiar and not live up to the rest of the film. However since these scenes don't take up much of the runtime this is a small complaint.
This is truly a wonderful comedy and a pure delight for cinephiles.
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