Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2 (单身男女2) Movie Review | by tiffanyyong.com
Recommended Audience: Fans of Louis Koo 古天乐, Miriam Yeung 杨千嬅, Gao Yuanyuan 高圆圆, Vic Chou 周渝民, Daniel Wu 吴彦祖 and romantic comedy movie fans
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2 (单身男女2) Movie Synopsis
After the “Earthling” Cheung Shen Ren (Louis Koo) loses Chen Zixin (Gao Yuanyuan) to the “Martian” Fang Qihong, he decides to keep it cool and reverts to singlehood graciously. Cheng and Fang, meanwhile, live happily ever after…… That seems to be the fairytale ending from DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART. In reality, the story is far from over: the three finds themselves once again entangled in an even more complicated relationship in DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART 2.
After jilted by Chen, Cheung starts dating “Goddess of Stocks” Yang Yang Yang, who works in an opposite building. Yang has been turning a blind eye to Cheung’s philandering until she meets Paul, a romantic returnee from France whose devotion has melted her heart.
Afraid to lose his lover again, Cheung determines to settle down and marry Yang, but fate works in mysterious ways. It turns out that Chen’s wedding with Fang has been delayed and she is now directly working under Yang. A chance encounter with Chen again makes Cheung question his decision, because even though he appears to have emerged unscathed from their previous relationship, he was profoundly hurt and still hasn’t fully recovered.
Paul is in love with Yang; Yang has accepted Cheung’s proposal; Cheung is unable to get Cheng off his mind; and Chen is about to marry Fang. A quadrangular relationship among five people – who is really the love of their life?
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2 (单身男女2) Viewer Rating: 4/5 ****
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2 (单身男女2) Movie Review:
Spoiler Alert
I had difficulty rating this film, as my left and right brain have been squabbling for the past few days telling me what rating to give. The logical choice will be to give this a full mark, or almost full mark. The cast were BRILLIANT. Besides charming Louis Koo, and handsome Daniel Wu with the female lead Gao Yuanyuan from the first film in 2011, now there’s Vic Chou (My first secondary school crush when he appeared in my life as Hua Ze Lei from Meteor Garden :P) and Miriam Yeung (my role model for acting after watching her Love Undercover in 2002). You know you can’t go wrong when the cast are so good-looking and great with their acting!
Besides, this is one of the rare films where the CGI was pretty natural, especially the octopus, so much that me and my friend wonder if it’s a CGI octopus or not! Moreover, the film played to its strength and made clever use of the first film for the flashbacks. No real worries for those who did not watch the first film, but of course, having watched that will always be advantageous to know the characters beforehand!
I like how the characters were introduced, showing how there is every reason for an identity mix-up, and well, just like the classic romance film “Turn Left Turn Right” (左走向右走), coincidentally by the same directors, this kind of situation is very possible in the real life! That’s basically my left brain talking.
My right brain, on the other brain hand, was obsessively upset for many days after watching it. It actually took me some time to prepare myself (emotionally) to write this review. I love the first film. When Chen Zixin chose “Martian” Fang Qihong over “Earthling Cheung Shen Ren, I was overjoy. A man who two-times and sleeps around is definitely not someone a girl should marry. So when Part 2 is out, I kinda expected what’s going to happen.
Yes, as usual, “true love”-or so they say, conquer everything (and Yes, I’m feeling sour, because my favourite Martian guy was dumped!) This made completely and utterly no-sense here, why any women could believe that Shen Ren would stop his philandering behaviour, especially when Chen Zixin witnessed everything across the building herself how Shen Ren continued his usual post-it notes and magic tricks with different women right after their breakup or even the riotous mass-“surprise” birthday celebrations all his girlfriends gave him. True love?
While some might find the first film simple, just like their theme song “Love is Simple” (爱很简单), the sequel’s trailer got me totally confused yet excited. Together with two more classic songs, the film introduced Miriam Yeung who was one of my favourite Hong Kong actress for her numerous comedy-romance films, and Vic Chou! It’s such an odd combination that I will never have imagined them together. Yet, their chemistry in the film was uniquely sweet. The handyman who’s always there when the girl needs him, he’s like the romantic-version of “Da Ren Ge” （大仁哥）. The amazing quadrangular relationship made it super confusing to explain verbally, but it was definitely fun to watch.
I’m definitely disappointed when they keep Daniel Wu sidelined as a guest appearance. Please, if there’s ever a Part 3, since the female lead has yet to marry, BRING DANIEL WU BACK! You will most probably walk out of the cinema discussing which guy would you choose. And I pondered over the question for days. Not because I don’t know who to choose but because I don’t know WHY ON EARTH will the female lead chose him (I’m not sure if by now, it’s clear to you which guy the female lead has chosen, if it isn’t clear to you, TOO BAD, go watch the film! If it is, yes, Martian’s definitely my choice!)
So that’s one mark is lost to the ending that I didn’t like. So glad this is my personal film review and I get to write them in the way I want! Many thanks to mig.me and Clover Films for the tickets!
Do You Know?
The film was screened during the Busan International Film Festival 2014, Toronto International Film Festival Official Selection 2014 and the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival 2014 Opening film.
The three songs in the movie were David Tao’s 1997 “Love is Simple”《爱很简单》、Faye Wong’s 1994 ”I’m Willing”《我愿意》、Huang Xiao Hu’s 2009 ”Love is Not So Simple”《没那么简单》.
Miriam Yeung grabbed the opportunity to join this film as “I love that I can still enjoy that ‘superior’ feeling of being pursued by handsome men, that feeling of being a single woman, because I can’t have any of that in real life anymore. So acting is a way for me to go into my dream world.”
The building that Fang Qihong designed for Chen Zixin in the first movie and climbed by Cheung Sheng Ren in the second film was a building in Guangzhou’s Zhujiang New Town.
Although Daniel Wu and Miriam Yeung had almost no interaction and very little scenes together in this film, they were considered the golden couple for Hong Kong romance comedy film. They’ve acted as a couple for several films since 12 years ago in films such as Love Undercover 1 (2002) and 2 (2003) (新紮師妹 I/II)and Drink, Drank, Drunk 2005 (千杯不醉).
Miriam Yeung don’t know how to swim and said that her water scenes with Vic Chou was almost as difficult as giving birth.
Behind The Scenes and Interviews
Check out Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2 (单身男女2)Facebook Page!
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2 (单身男女2) is out in cinemas on 13 November 2014.
xoxo
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*Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for the movie review.
1/2 of #TheEpiphanyDuplet, Tiffany Yong juggles her ABCs – Acting, Blogging and Coaching/Consulting as she is fuelled by passion and drive to succeed.
It is not easy to make a living in Singapore just purely based on Acting, so with Blogging to help her with her online presence, and Coaching kids drama, private tutoring and freelance social media consulting to finance her life, she is currently leading the life most people hope to have: Living the Dream!
The song used. I try to find. I can’t find it.. that version on david tao’s song.. so nice to hear.. do you have a copy of the soundtrack?
amazing gao yuanyuan…
I just watched this last night. Never expect myself to love this sequel even more than the first one! Generally there is a tendency of a good romantic comedy losing its magic in sequel(s) probably due to overwhelming casts n more complicated stories. Kudos to the directors in this sequel for tactfully selecting the right casts that live out their characters ever so naturally….their chemistry was awesome to unfold the story brilliantly.
I figured most ppl found this ending not desirable n hearts went to their favourite Martian QiHong whom they think don’t deserved to be dumped. Frankly speaking, I never thought Chen will consider going back to Cheung ever again after his continuing nasty cheating habits n their bitter love history. But as the story unfolds more n more sentimental side of Cheung especially the part where he only get to slumber in her old apartment 4B, watching her playback video while listening to their song again n again till rise of the following morning, my heart was moved by his subconscious devotion towards Chen…
And just when i thought that was the heartfelt moment of this movie, I was amazed with another momentum towards the end of the movie. Watching Cheung climbing up the tall building, ascending towards the wedding venue of Chen n QiHong, I admitted that I initially find it a little too dramatic n abit of show off of Cheung’s great physique. But as I watched him starting off climbing like a pro n effortless Spider-Man till he eventually struggling with fatigue n exhaustion towards reaching the peak of the building, I found myself shrinking in my seat, deeply moved by Cheung’s hardsteel determination on climbing all the way up to the tall building, risking his life fighting for the love of his life for the second time. Found my tears streaming down my cheeks this time, realizing myself subconsciously relating my own past experience. Torn between two lovers.
And unlike Chen, I have chosen my Martian instead, my loving hubby to-date
And Chen’s character allowed me to secretly have the taste of the road not taken…
The reason she chose the earthling was simple. She was in love with the earthling since the first film. Her initial choice was him. She picked the martian because the earthling told her that he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t stray. In the last scene he won her over by showing her that for her he can overcome his instincts. If he could overcome self preservation, climbing the building, than avoiding infidelity is much easier task in comparison.
Just finished watching both 1 & 2 and came across your review. I agree I much prefer the martian over the earthling. It was dissapointing that Daniel Wu didn’t have a bigger role. I have a theory if there is a third installment. If you think about it the main girl really didn’t experience being with the earthling as a couple in the first one other than the few dates they had. So it got me thinking is it that she completely loves the earthling or that she doesn’t want to regret not knowing what it would be like to be with him.
It may turn out that she realises once being with him that she does truly love the martian and that she and the earthling aren’t compatible. Just a thought I wanted to share to give us hope. Sorry for the long ramble.
Thanks for your “ramble”.. it’s not exactly a ramble actually… I hope so too… The insecurity being with Earthling and him ending up in bed with someone else easily… was simply too intolerable. I suffered the insecurity before so I know how torturous it was. Love Daniel Wu…
I enjoyed the first movie because I’m all for my favourite Martian! When I saw that they were having a sequel, I figured something like this would happen. I’m yet to watch the movie but considering this disappointing ending (not acting.. I’m pretty sure these peeps are amazeballs) .. I don’t think I’m gonna watch it. Curious as I may be, Martian’s getting heartbroken is not worth it coz my tears are precious. AND I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOUR REVIEW UP THERE. Considering his ways with women, I can’t even see why would she choose him over my baby. WHYYYYY. (sorry for the long rant). Thanks for sharing! Merry Xmas!
I’m not really into movies. Sometimes I find movies like this cheesy but yah, I do watch them for entertainment. The story looks interesting.
OMG Vic! He’s even more handsome here! I agree, I’m really disappointed with the ending, Martian love!
Very interesting with lots of twists and turns in the plot…always good to know about cinema from other countries….
omg louis koo <3 i need to watch this now
I have been eagerly anticipating since I heard there’s a part 2 months ago!
Shared the same thoughts as you cant believe she get together with louis khoo
I’d love to see the movie because of the storyline and romantic twist. Of course, I couldn’t get the song “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” out of my head. It’s the title of a popular British song from back in the days.
I just saw the poster 2 days ago, and was contemplating to watch the movie. Vic Zhou and Louis Koo were 2 of my biggest idol, once upon a time! lol
This sounds like a really sweet movie, true chick flick, LOL. I wonder if I will be able to get it in Canada?
Good to see Vic Chou again in a film. Also good to hear “Turn Left Turn Right” which is a good film. Being directed by the same director is interesting. I hope I get to see this soon. – Fred
I both love and hate films like this – love because we all love a girlie film every now and then. Hate, because it is not reality. Pah dating sucks! Fab review chick! 🙂 Simone x
Just by the title, it’s already interesting for me because I’m such a sucker for romantic (+ comedy) movies. I love watching movies that has some love triangle or love conflicts and see how they will resolve it. Just sad that I don’t think this will be shown or even available here in PH.
This is a complex plot that can make the overall story really interesting. It would be a good movie to watch.
The part where the actress said that doing those water scenes is as difficult as giving birth. Funny. This must be a great movie.
I love romantic movies and I am sure that if I watch it, I will tear up like you.
Have been meaning to catch this movie to get a good laugh! maybe i’ll go tommorow 😉
Why do I feel so old? haha I don’t get much excitement anymore in terms of love story or romantic movies.haha is there a real action involved or just story about it?
The action part comes in when Louis Koo do some Spiderman and climb a building to propose?
hmm, totally not my kind of movie. not a fan of chinese movies to begin with, unless it involves kungfu and martial arts. not into rom com either, unless there’s my eye candy. heehee…
I love watching Chinese Kung Fu films but not into romantic comedy films. But based on your review, the films seems a good one. That octopus scene is something to see.
wow!that’s a n interesting movie to watch.I would love to watch it.
Wow I loveee Louis Koo & Daniel Wu!!! It’s amazing how they still look so young when they’re already 40+! Gao Yuan Yuan looks gorgeous. I might watch it in the cinemas after all 🙂
I agree with you that Daniel Wu is so handsome and charismatic that his presence if there is ever a part 3 is a must, not as a guest appearance but as a leading part. The movie is a great way for me to spend some nice time because I love romantic comedies.
Sounds like a jumble of relationships and loyalties. The Martian angle sounds interesting. I am not sure if I will enjoy this movie if I watch it !
Looks like a great movie…thanks for sharing:)
Seems like an interesting movie! Your review made me want to watch it. I feel a bit curious about it, actually. I like watching movies from different countries. Thanks for sharing!
They look so good together!
Anyway, I’ve watched a couple of Korean telenovelas a few years back, my favorites were Attic Cat and Full House. 🙂