Qie xiao jin jia de lu guan

Having found many interesting and entertaining Asian movies on Netflix, I decided to give this particular one a look, even though teen movies in general don't really interest me. Sadly, I thought the movie was for the most part a misfire. It's a really strange movie, even by Asian comedy standards, and initially the extremely wild and goofy tone does grab your attention. And I admit that there were a few mildly amusing moments here and there. But for the most part, I watched the movie with a stony face. To be fair, the movie seems to be aimed at a Taiwanese audience instead of a western audience, which may explain why this western viewer didn't seem to understand a number of plot elements and attempts at humor. But most of the movie is played out in an "international" slapstick way, and I simply didn't find this humor funny. Also, much of the humor aimed at a gay character borders on being homophobic. Even worse is that the movie is dragged out to about 108 minutes in length; it could definitely have been wrapped up in much less time. The production values are good, and the actors are very likable, which does save the movie from getting the lowest rating. But all the same, I'd recommend you skip the movie, even if you are Taiwanese.