Shanghai Kiss (not rated)
IMDb; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Amazon; iTunes

So, I guess I mainly wanted to see this because Hayden Panettiere was in it. I don't remember actually how I first heard of it. But anyway... while I was watching it, for much of the movie I was thinking I'd probably rate it like "meh" or "meh and a half," but by the end, I decided I kinda liked it. Actually it might deserve to be rated higher than just one smiley, I dunno. It's definitely not a bad movie, it's got some things going for it, but it's probably not something I'm going to feel the need to watch again. I should also say I wasn't quite sure what category to put my review in. I was considering "quirky," or maybe "romantic," or "art," or... I dunno. Whatever, I think "seriocomedy" is probably best. In fact I think it's mainly drama, but it's definitely got some humor in it, but not really "comedy," you know?

Anyway... the main character is this 28-year-old Chinese-American guy named Liam Liu (played by Ken Leung, who I mainly know from Lost, and also Year of the Fish). He's from New York, but he's living in L.A., with dreams of becoming an actor. So far he's had no luck, which he blames on Hollywood not wanting to cast Asians. (Or something, I dunno.) Anyway, one day he meets this girl on the bus, named Adelaide (Panettiere). She's very cute, and she has a very cute personality... or I should say "cutesy"; she's supposedly a genius or something, but we don't really see much evidence of that. I found her slightly annoying, but I couldn't quite say why; my feelings about the character were rather mixed. I thought Panettiere portrayed her well enough, and her personality is a type I might find appealing in some people (say, Dharma from Dharma & Greg), but... there was a kind of affected babyish quality that was a bit off-putting, and a kind of pushiness. She invites Liam out for coffee, which he doesn't want to do, because she's only 16. Still... she does have a certain charm, and he agrees.

The movie then flashes forward six months. By then, Liam is deep in a friendship with Addy, though she keeps calling him her "boyfriend," which he isn't comfortable with. The movie doesn't make it very clear what their relationship actually is; I'd say it's somewhere between friendship and dating. We do see them kiss at least once, but I seriously doubt they've ever done more than that. Anyway, Liam also has a friend named Joe, who disapproves of their relationship, whatever it is. Um... I'm not quite sure what to say. Joe likes to rate women based on looks, which I guess isn't unusual, even if it's a bit demeaning (it's not like women don't do the same thing, I'm sure). Actually, Liam does pick up different women at different points in the movie, which I guess is also not unusual... even if such things are an aspect of society of which I don't particularly approve. But whatever, it's not my place to judge. Anyway, he usually seems quite unhappy about what he's doing, presumably because he loves Addy, even if he doesn't want to admit it to himself, because of the age difference.

But the major thrust of the movie isn't really about relationships at all, at least not romantic ones. The drama mainly comes from the fact that Liam hates his father, whom he blames for the death of his mother (when he was 6), and who is an alcoholic. So he never returns his father's phone calls (even though his father is the one supporting him financially, sending checks every month while Liam continually fails to land acting gigs). Until one day, he gets a voice mail from his father saying that his grandmother had died. He returns the call, though he'd never even met his grandmother, and his father tells him she'd left him her house. So he travels to Shanghai, to sell the place (with help from his cousin, Ling Ming, whom he'd also never met before). Liam is impressed by the modernity of Shanghai, and he feels a stronger connection to his Chinese heritage than he's ever felt before. But he doesn't speak Chinese, so he runs into plenty of problems. But when he finds out the price he had been offered for the house was considerably less than he thought (it was in yuan rather than dollars), he decides not to sell. And soon thereafter, he meets a woman named Micki (who we like), and starts dating her. He decides to move to Shanghai, so he goes back to L.A. to get some things, and say goodbye to Joe, and breaks up with Addy (even though they'd sort of never really been a couple, exactly). She doesn't take it well.

The movie then flashes forward two months, and Liam seems to be fitting in in China (though he still doesn't speak the language). However, complications arise with Micki, which I don't want to spoil. In fact, I guess I don't want to say any more about the plot, or how it ends. Aside from the fact that Liam does finally reconcile with his father. Anyway... I did appreciate both the humor and the drama in the movie. And the whole question of... well, questions, actually... of things like where a person really belongs, and with whom they belong. And I guess I liked the ending well enough.