An American in China (2008) Reviews

• Pretty but rather bland

  beijingpearl20032012-09-08

  I give it a 6 for the effort, only wishing there were more such movies made that were more in tune with reality. The opening scenes, in America with the boy and his slutty sister, the sluttier "girlfriend", the goofy best friend and the silly game of beach volleyball...well, if you can get past those cliché clunkers then the rest of the film is more worth watching. We get it. Good-looking American boy with a vapid, empty, meaningless party life, doesn't know where to go with it or what he wants to do; Chinese girl from poor family, working in a factory, sick mom, has to take a second job, dreaming of college, such a noble beauty. They meet when his dad sends him to outsource their company's products to a factory in China. Yawn. Because I am so in love with China I'm willing to watch even stuff and nonsense like this, I held on until the boy gets to China. I must say, for a little, "poor" village, apparently just outside the outskirts of Shanghai, it sure is CLEAN! I found myself thinking, Damn, the filmmakers must have paid a big crew to clean up and sweep each scene. NO trash, no beggars, no hookers, no dirty kids, nobody hawking loogies, everybody looking so perfectly clean and neat--I mean, hell, even American cities don't look that nice! Plus, the girl works in a big, roomy, clean factory that makes toilet brushes and such, and actually goes home each night after work, living with her family; this is just not in touch with the facts. This may rarely happen, anything is possible, but is not very probable. The factory girls usually stay in a crowded dorm, waaaay far from home, are umbilically attached to their cell-phones, and are not quite so good with their English, though I suppose that was a plot device here. There were moments that were very good and you could tell the writer had either been to China and was echoing some of his own experiences as a Westerner there, or had talked to a lot of fellow China travelers. At any rate, it was nice to look at, though the plot is rather bland and not a damned thing happens that you don't see coming a mile away. Get a big bowl of popcorn and settle into it if you're bored and want a little something Asian for the weekend. Netflix sux with their choices of Chinese movies anyway, but this one is OK. Tolerable. Enjoyed it like a serving of sesame chicken, then it's gone.