The description is a little off, but the trailer shows more of the plot. Li Yu Ran is a cold-hearted attorney that believes she can be happy and take care of herself without anyone's help. But after an accident, she is sent to a station that sends people to the afterlife. But, they made a mistake. Li Yu Ran has a LONG time before she is supposed to die, and the afterlife's Director needs time to correct the mistake and send her back. Apparently, it takes a lot of paperwork xD. But in the meantime, they also made another mistake. A housewife was admitted too early to the afterlife. The Director then asks Li Yu Ran to fill in for this housewife to take care of the family until they can send her back to her own life.
Plot holes, plot holes galore. While I was interested in this story, I'm not sure if some of the mechanics of body switching/ memory retention was explained well. But at the same time, this is a fantasy movie, so I guess I could let those things slide. Besides that, Kwai Lun Mei's acting was great. She was a little slapsticky in the beginning, but it toned way down from then onward. It was great to see how she was able to adapt to her new familiy and yet also keep her attorney badass version of herself. The story deals with how she warms up to each one of the family members.
The only real issues I had was some pacing issues. Sometimes, things would happen all of a sudden (eg. her son.... you'll see), just to bring in some conflict. I didn't understand how her memories worked and also the ending didn't really make sense, based on the rules that the Afterlife's Director had set. That may be another plot hole issue (alternate universes???). There's a chance that my issues could have been caused by translation issues (I watched this movie in an AMC theater with subtitles). Maybe my issues could be cleared up in a second viewing.
But the whole movie was heartwarming and cute. While not laugh out loud funny, it was able to keep a smile on my face. When the pacing was right, you really understood how each of the characters cared for each other. Kwai Lun Mei carried this movie. The parts with her and Chen Kun's character were also good. It is light on the romance, as only the later scenes with Chen Kun and Lun Mei involved any. If you have time for a movie to leave you feeling warm, fuzzy, and slightly confused, you should probably check out this movie.
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This review may contain spoilers
Short but good. If you want something to "fill the gaps" while watching something "on air"
8/10 is my rating for this 2017 Chinese comedy drama. Run time is 1 hour and 30 minutes. It is a remake of a 2015 South Korean movie entitled "Wonderful Nightmare."After a fatal car crash Li Yuran (Gwei Lun-mei) who has been too focused on her career ro give any thought to having a family, is given a second chance. There was a mix-up and she was taken too early, so she is asked to assume a role of a woman was admitted to the afterlife too early while they sort out the error. After seven days she will be able to resume her life as a career focused, high power, attorney. The role she is in is about as different from her former life as it could be she has two children, a working architect husband, Zhang Tao (Chen Kun) and is a full-time housewife. Her daughter Xing Xing (Ouyang Nana) is an angsty teenager who has just began seeing a boy. Her son, Tian Tian (William Wang), is young and immediately senses something is different about his mother.
Spoiler 🚨 I really liked the premise. It had sort of a "Freaky Friday" feel. The fact that she was so out of her element in the beginning gave it a strong comedic aspect. I liked the relationships she developed with the daughter and the son although seven days did not seem like long enough to have that occur to the depth that it did. I could see her finding a way of having the "best of both worlds" if she were to be able to continue in that role. I was a little disappointed with the ending, not in the way the story went for her, but in not knowing what happened to the family she had been a part of. She looked for them but never found them and I did not feel there was a good explanation as to why she could not find them. Overall enjoyable but not a rush out to watch. I am interested in the South Korean version just to see how closely the two follow.
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Dream or real
Simple drama about life. Everybody here write about plot holes. For me what they think as a plot hole i see as 1 big confusing plot in the end. After all how can we understand the nature work of 'GOD' work with time and everything ^_^. Maybe if they make drama from this movie, everything will be more elaborate.Ok. Agreed with anomoly. The pacing is a little bit quick, but however this is movie not drama, Li Yu Ran so quick to adapt with her situation & make everything seem easy and came naturally. Yeah there's been confusing in the first day of her 'awaken' that quite funny actually. Love how she still have her nature habits as a lawyer when she have to deal with her daughter incident.
Sometimes in Chinese drama I think no matter how small they have to put a little bit karma in every drama. Like here. It's like Li Yu Ran got instant karma, she have to hear the exact word that she said in her earlier case (Rape case) said to her face. She finally got the feeling of the mother of the girl.
Ok now we talk about that confusing plot.
1. Why they don't erase her memory. When she just wake up as 'the mom', or when she wake up as 'the lawyer.'
2. Why all of Zhang Tao family be gone... Ok a little bit imagination here. If we want to make a line to the end, does it because actually Zhang Tao family could be her family in the future... Or maybe all of this only dream... :P It could be.... ^_^
This drama will gonna be perfect if only like the Zhang Tao family were not vanish, but simply just didn't recognize her. But overall I still enjoy this movie.
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How to experience 'What If'
This movie was cute and reminded me the US version 'The Family Man with Nicolas Cage'. The story becomes a little detached midway but finds its pace towards the end. The FL was good in showing the edge and breakdown of one's bias through time. The ending was open-ended much like the US version which leaves hope for a better outcome in the end. The family element was interesting yet relatable. The 'purgatory' scenes felt more like references from 'Beetlejuice or Jupiter's Landing' odd, old, detached and disheveled. The overall production was okay. However, this is a solid movie worth watching.Was this review helpful to you?
Good enough to pass the time
This was a good-enough, cute-enough movie, nothing groundbreaking. I didn't really feel too emotionally connected with any of the characters, because for me the acting was a little flat. I did like the basic story line and the progression of the FL. Going from career driven to family woman was an entertaining watch. The ending was a letdown for me (my own personal opinion), only because the ML looked so different. I spent a lot of time wondering if it was the same guy, and since I'm easily distracted, I couldn't focus on the story.Was this review helpful to you?
