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Movie Review: Double Happiness (Shum)

The opening monologue of this film talks about how this is a typical kind of family story, except it is about a Chinese family living in Canada. And the story is pretty typical - girl wants to become an actress, parents do not approve, conflict ensues as girl decides how much of her life she should give up to please her parents. It seemed like a pretty by-the-numbers coming of age/quest for independence story, including the failed date with the guy the parents like (he's gay!), the love interest that the parents would never approve of (he's white!), and the scenes where she questions whether she is "really chinese" (she actually gets asked directly!). It wasn't bad, and Sandra Oh is likable as the main character, but there was nothing really surprising in the movie, and the construction of the movie left a little to be desired. The monologue sequences interspersed throughout seemed like a forced ploy to let you in to the character's inner thoughts, and it was weird that the movie did not end with one, since it began with one. Lots of threads were left unresolved - the circumstances of the brother being disowned (did he just decide to move away?) and the situation the uncle was in (maybe I just didn't understand what was being hinted at). I guess, this part of the story seemed pretty obvious from the start - there was a little while where I thought they might go for a unique ending, but they did not. And the scenes with her acting tryouts were pretty obviously set up as well. The love interest was a pretty surprising scene at first, and not much was done with it afterwards. I think the more interesting story might have happened after what we saw - once she decides to try out life on her own, out of the direct control of her parents, how does it feel? How do you know if it was the right decision? How do the parents deal with it? But we don't get that here. So, it was interesting, and very funny at times, but predictable, and it felt a little like a first film from the writer/director (which, it turns out, it was - and, perhaps not surprisingly, it sounds like it could have been an autobiographical story).