Take the sex out of
First-time director and novelist Guo based this romance and its upcoming sequel on his bestselling series of books, and the resulting film has been decried for its oh-so-American consumerism while making more than $90 million at the domestic box office. Behold: the Chinese generation gap — and, boy, does its hair look great.
Our Carrie is Lin Xiao, an editorial assistant at a posh magazine who narrates the misadventures of her unlucky-in-love gal pals while drooling over her boss, a waxenly gorgeous germaphobe. The girls don't make believable friends — bossy business exec Lily couldn't be more different than cockroach-petting goofball Ruby, and long-haired Nan Xiang's only personality trait is that she's really, really pretty and really, really passive. It's dumb fluff made soap operatic with the inclusion of slo-mo and melodramatic Mandarin ballads that builds up to the ultimate girly climax: a slow-clap at a fashion show. Is it good? No. Is it fun? A little. Is there a makeover montage? Of course.
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"Tiny Times"
MPAA Rating: No rating
Running time: 1 hour, 26 minutes
Playing: AMC Atlantic