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XINwei

Philippines

XINwei

Philippines
Ugly Beauty chinese drama review
Completed
Ugly Beauty
4 people found this review helpful
by XINwei
Jul 2, 2021
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 10
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.5

Give Zheng Hehuizi the acting award she deserves ?

Ugly Beauty (2021) is a Chinese contemporary drama that tells the "ugly" and the "beauty" of the entertainment industry.

Do not let the somewhat cliché identical twins' plot exchanging roles put you off. This drama is one of THE best in terms of script AND acting!

Just look at the character poster of the female leads' actress, the one and only Zheng Hehuizi who played the roles of Yao Menggui - a rising starlet who is aloof and overly confident, and her twin sister Xiao Mu - gentle and caring countryside girl who now works as a delivery rider in Beijing.

After an accident, Yao Menggui had to leave and let Xiao Mu replace her for her graduation play. But things didn't go as planned, the pretending game went on and chaos followed.

Again, this may sound tropey for some but it's totally UNIQUE. The story-telling takes us to plot twists from start to finish. It's not as grand as those mind-boggling suspense dramas, quite predictable, too, but never one to not leave you surprised.

This will certainly not work had they picked the wrong actress to play this dual role. Zheng Hehuizi deserves to get acting awards, fame, and more challenging roles in the future!

Her portrayal of the twins still leave me in awe! She just switches between 2 personalities so seamlessly - even her tone of voice, and the look in her eyes changes. You can totally tell who is who! And what's more challenging? She has to act out like she's acting as the other twin while assuming that she's still the former one. And, did we even forget that in the drama, her profession's an actress?

Like, she's SUUUUPER TALENTED in acting ? And it's not the overpowering kind. It helped a lot that the male lead's acting and the second male lead's are both lukewarm and matches well with her energy. Overall, the acting is really good. Which it has to be, considering that the drama is about the acting world.

And speaking of the acting world, the drama has successfully tackled the toxic environment of the entertainment industry - fandoms, depressions, pretentiousness, dirty marketing tactics, and more. It tackles each issue carefully and teaches us lessons we should learn in the subtlest way. It's so well-embedded in the story.

Also, it's not just about romantic love. Love between parents, siblings, friends were also portrayed very well. Values such as being filial, honest, loyal, forgiveness, and acceptance.

Overall, it's such a beautiful story with not even one dull moment - 24 episodes are all jam-packed with plot, comedy, romance, and suspense. It's nice to see a drama that doesn't overly make one character evil but rather make them a 3-dimensional character with flaws and stories to tell.

MUST WATCH! ? I hope more people discovers this gem. And I want more Zheng Hehuizi ? You can watch it on YouTube wuth English Subtitles.

PS. The OST is also a HUGE plus
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