Single Blog

Story: Kitty (Rain Li) one day finds out, that her boyfriend Woody (Derek Tsang) isn't as faithful as she believed him to be. After he cheated on her, shy girl Kitty leaves him and is now plagued by self-doubts. Her friend Vivian (Jo Koo) shows her what it means to be able to take what you want as a woman. She also likes to bring the men she seduces into trouble, but fun is everything that counts for her.
May (Monie Tung), a friend with which Kitty and Vivian share an apartment, also has no luck with her love life until she meets her new female boss Elley (Anya). It seems as if some kind of love relationship is unfolding between the two. But is May really ready to enter a lesbian relationship?
Kitty changes her character almost entirely and starts to lead a fun-life with changing partners as Vivian did. However, Vivian herself feels somehow unfulfilled by the life she has, since she met strange, but caring Don (Chan Fai-Hung) to whom she has wholly different feelings.

Review: It's always interesting to take a glance at the (sex-)life of metropolitans. At least that's what the producers might have thought when giving their ok for this movie. Surprisingly enough, "Single Blog" is not near as stupid or cheap as you might have expected it to be at first. In fact, this film is not just a mere money making flick or a tool of promotion for the newest CD of a canto popstar, but an entertaining comedy, that is refreshingly sexy and never leaves any place for boredom. It also doesn't harm the movie that there are some beautiful actresses caught in some specific sex scenes. It has been a while since we last saw a Hong Kong film with such a big amount of self-confidence, revealing more than we could have expected. Furthermore, the movie also seems to have some special message to convey to the audience.

And that's just one of the movie's sore points. In the end, this comedy might have intended to shape some sort of message, but it just can't deliver it. The inserted monolgues of the protagonists, who talk right into the camera about what's on their mind, seem rather forced, instead of serving any special purpose. Therefore, the most disappointing thing is that "Single Blog" unluckily maneuvers around and past what may have been the film's true message and really would have helped to join the different story threads to a whole. But as it is the filmmakers don't seem to know what the essence of the movie is either. Eventually, there is only talk and nothing more. However, the movie can be quite good when it comes to its entertainment value, so that there is no reason to be frustrated when the credits hit the screen a little bit too soon.

You shouldn't expect a great story, of course. The plot is actually rather weak and focuses only on the lives of a handful of individuals. "Single Blog" is based on the experiences of real life persons as they were posted in several Chinese internet forums, but except of the three girls who are in the center of events, most of the time the film has no real continuous storyline. Episode-like the story jumps from one character to the next and just wants to tell the adventures of these admittedly interesting individuals. Still, the story-telling is somewhat unlucky, as everyone will certainly choose his own favorite character and therefore will have to wait until the story progresses enough for one's favorite character to enter the stage again. Fortunately, the several individuals are drawn very appealing and lively, so that the movie is a fun ride to take.

Rain Li may be the movie's actual main protagonist, and as a reserved girl, who undergoes a change to a self-confident woman, taking what she wants, she provides a convincing performance, but all too often she is outplayed by Jo Koo. As men-eating and straightforward Vivian, she doesn't only have the hottest sex appeal, but also has the most interesting character. Moreover, her "love story" with Don is the most appealing one in the movie. The cast gets complemented by some cameo appearances of Raymond Wong and Anya.
There is so much girl power, that you might get to think that this flick is made for a female audience. But in opposition to this there are various sex scenes, which don't provide any actual skin to be seen, yet are still very hot. They are also a lot more revealing and direct than what we expect of Hong Kong movies nowadays. This really plays in favor for the movie along with some very nice jokes, especially since the neat acting achievements of the cast and the good directing, as well as the cinematography, elude any cheap or lewd look.

"Single Blog" is fun to watch, offers some nice jokes, a good amount of eroticism and nice characters. At the end, however, we have to realize that there is nothing more than just this - entertainment. Even though the film itself raised the expectation that there might be a little bit of meaning to the events on screen. Furthermore, the movie struggles with the fact that it is written episode-like and doesn't aim for a mutual goal of the several story threads.
Nonetheless, "Single Blog" succeeds in delivering more entertainment and quality than most comedies coming out of Hong Kong these days. Then again, this is not some sleight of hand, but who cares. "Single Blog" remains quite entertaining, nonetheless.

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